Federal political parties should work together to quickly adopt recommendations made by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s inquiry into foreign interference before the next election, says Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
In her report made public Tuesday, Hogue made 51 recommendations — 24 of which she said should be adopted before the next federal election.
However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to prorogue Parliament while his party holds a leadership race to succeed him means that Parliament is unable to enact any of Hogue’s recommendations that involve changes to legislation such as the Canada Elections Act. It is widely expected that opposition parties will make good on their promise to defeat the minority Liberal government when Parliament resumes sitting on March 24, plunging Canada into a federal election.
Former CSIS directors Ward Elcock and Richard Fadden break down the final report from the foreign interference inquiry that finds no evidence of ‘traitors’ in Parliament, but points to serious threats from misinformation, disinformation and transnational repression.
Speaking to reporters after the report was made public on Tuesday, May outlined a plan for Parliament to adopt at least some of Hogue’s recommendations before that occurs.
“In the interest of Canada, we get together, we put these in place, we ask the prime minister — whoever it will be — to have the speech from the throne identify areas of unanimous consent motions that we could pass,” she said.
She said Parliament could push the changes through in as little as 30 minutes if it takes that route.
Meanwhile, May said political parties should act on the recommendations that touch them, such as ensuring that party members are Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
But it might not be that simple.
Public Safety Minister David McGuinty and Democratic Institutions Minister Ruby Sahota announced more money to fight foreign interference on Tuesday, but Sahota’s office said it is too soon to know whether the government will try to implement some of Hogue’s recommendations before the next election.
“We’re going to need time to review the actual report and recommendations in full before being able to answer any of that,” said Myah Tomasi, director of communications to Sahota.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party will adopt the report’s recommendations regarding political parties but changing the elections law is up to the Liberal government.
“They could have not prorogued Parliament and we would have been able to make things happen in Parliament. They could recall Parliament,” Singh said. “So, it’s really up to them if they want to implement the recommendations of Justice Hogue.”
However, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said if the Liberals want to adopt the inquiry’s recommendations more quickly, they should call an election now. Blanchet also didn’t commit to proactively implementing the recommendations regarding political parties, pointing out that parties are private entities.
The Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office said the report confirms many of the concerns the Conservative Party has raised over the past two years concerning foreign interference. It said the party will “carefully study” Hogue’s recommendations but did not say whether it would work to put her recommendations in place before the next election.
In her report, Hogue found that foreign states have been trying to interfere with Canada’s democratic institutions. She said there have been a small number of isolated cases to date that may have had some impact on the outcome of a nomination or an election, but she said the impact to date has been minimal.
“There is no evidence to suggest that our institutions have been seriously affected by such interference or that parliamentarians owe their successful election to foreign entities,” she wrote.
However, Hogue said a threat exists to future Canadian elections.
“I have learned that the foreign interference threat is real,” Hogue wrote. “There are a number of foreign states who are actively working to secretly, and often illegally, meddle in our democratic institutions. They use a wide range of strategies and tactics, some of which are incredibly sophisticated.”
Hogue said disinformation campaigns on social media platforms now constitute an important source of foreign interference.
“This emerging trend is quite concerning because disinformation is especially challenging to combat, and efforts to regulate social media platforms to curb it have been unsuccessful so far,” Hogue wrote. “Canada needs to reflect on this threat and find ways of dealing with it.”
To thwart attempts by other countries to meddle in the next vote, Hogue recommended Canada act “promptly.”
Among her recommendations:
- Allowing only Canadian citizens and permanent residents to vote in party nomination and leadership contests and requiring parties to have members declare their status.
- Updating elections law to prohibit trying to influence the way someone votes at all times — not just during election periods and including nomination and leadership contests.
- Prohibiting foreign entities from contributing to a third party to carry out activities regulated under the law and prohibiting third parties from using property or services provided by a foreign entity for those activities.
- Requiring clear marking for all paid and unpaid communications during an election, nomination or leadership contest that have been generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence.
- Amending elections law to “prohibit false information being spread to undermine the legitimacy of an election or its results.”
- Expanding sections of the elections law that prohibit lying or committing fraud in an election to nomination and leadership contests.
Security and intelligence expert Wesley Wark, a senior fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said Hogue’s report includes important recommendations on improving intelligence, adopting a foreign interference strategy, better protecting Parliament and making parliamentarians more knowledgeable about threats.
However, Wark said recommendations to change legislation can take time to implement.
“These recommendations are for the future. A future government of whatever stripe is going to inherit them and is going to have to act on the ones that they think are implementable and important,” Wark said.
