Canada’s new foreign influence commissioner says only 30 people have disclosed working for foreign governments or foreign principals with his office as of Tuesday.
That’s a far cry from the roughly 2,422 foreign agents Public Safety Canada has estimated are active in Canada, raising questions from opposition MPs about how effective the Liberals’ registration scheme will be.
The registry of foreign influence activities was created by the Liberal government in response to concerns about foreign governments and entities covertly meddling in domestic politics. It allows people or organizations in Canada doing legitimate work with foreign countries to publicly disclose those activities.
But as of the Oct. 3 deadline, there were only two names on the public registry, and roughly 30 more being vetted by Foreign Influence Commissioner Anton Boegman’s office.
Conservative MP Michael Cooper noted that, if Public Safety Canada’s estimates were accurate, that would mean just one per cent of foreign agents complied with the law.
Under opposition questioning, Boegman noted that the requirement to register with his office is new. Now that the deadline to register has passed, Boegman said he was focused on raising awareness and encouraging voluntary compliance with the registration scheme.
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“This is a brand new registry, the requirements are brand new, our focus has been reaching out and communicating with industries and sectors, with individuals and organizations who may have a registration requirement. That’s certainly what the focus is right now,” Boegman said.
“I expect, as the information becomes better known, I expect that as individuals understand more about the registry that the number of registrants will increase.”
Failing that, Boegman noted that his office does have “teeth” — including imposing monetary penalties of up to $1 million — to ensure foreign agents register with his office.
In January, Public Safety Canada published an analysis about the new foreign registration requirements, noting that it would apply to individuals and entities that “enter into arrangements with a foreign principal … for the purpose of conducting influence activities targeting Canada’s political or governmental processes.”
Those “influence activities” can be perfectly legal and above-board, such as traditional lobbying. Foreign “principals” is broadly defined, and can mean states or economic entities.
Based on a similar scheme already in place in Australia, the federal government estimated that 2,422 entities (872 individuals and 1,550 businesses) would register with Boegman’s office.
“We are looking at the registration requirements, we are looking at those registration submissions that come in. We are working with partners to identify potential registrations should be happening,” Boegman told MPs.
“We are taking steps to enforce the law … (but) the registration deadline recently passed. We’re currently looking at all the registration submissions that we have seen, we’re currently validating those, and we’re currently determining if we need to take any additional steps.”
Boegman is Canada’s first foreign influence commissioner, a position ultimately created after a flurry of media reporting in 2023 and 2024 about foreign countries allegedly attempting to covertly meddle in Canadian political affairs.
The articles detailed how adversarial foreign countries — particularly China and India — have allegedly engaged in the transnational repression of diaspora communities in Canada, including assassination plots, as well as allegations of funnelling money or influence into Canadian politics behind the scenes.
Foreign interference is not new. But in the wake of those stories, it was thrust to the forefront of Canadian national security discourse. The then-Trudeau government launched a public inquiry, led by Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue, former attorney general of Canada.
The Hogue inquiry found that while foreign interference did not change the outcomes of federal elections in 2019 and 2021, it nevertheless undermined some voters’ rights and presents a significant threat to Canadian democratic institutions.
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