44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 4, 2023 10:00AM
- May/4/23 4:32:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, before I begin, I just want to make a quick remark to the member for Wellington—Halton Hills. Obviously every member of Parliament, every person who has the privilege of representing their constituents and who was elected here to come do the good work that Canadians expect, is in solidarity with him. Of course, what is transpiring or has transpired is unacceptable.
I will be splitting my time with the member for Scarborough—Guildwood, a very learned and honourable member. It is a pleasure to split my time with him. I always look forward to his remarks, but he will have to listen to my remarks first.
Foreign interference is a matter of crucial importance. No country is immune to the threat of foreign interference. A country like Canada, which invests in democracy and is proud of the integrity of its electoral system, is liable to be considered an attractive target by bad actors, including individuals, organizations and even foreign governments, that may attempt to create tension or arouse suspicion about our government and our institutions.
However, I want to reassure Canadians. Our security and intelligence organizations keep close tabs on these threats and advise us on how to keep our citizens safe. We are continuously working on strengthening our safeguards.
The Government of Canada is always looking for new and innovative ways to improve the robust measures we have implemented to fight foreign interference. We look to the experience of our international partners to see what can and should be done in Canada. Accordingly, on March 6, 2023, the Prime Minister announced new measures to fight interference. I would like to go over some of those initiatives.
First is the creation of a new national counter foreign interference coordinator in Public Safety Canada to coordinate efforts to combat foreign interference.
Second are the applications for review by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, or NSICP, and by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, or NSIRA, on the state of foreign interference in Canada's federal electoral process and the way our national security organizations have reacted to this threat.
Third is the development of a plan to follow up on the outstanding recommendations by the NSICP, the Rosenberg report and other reviews on these matters. The report entitled “Countering an evolving threat: Update on recommendations to counter foreign interference in Canada’s democratic institutions”, was presented on April 6.
Finally, there is the $5.5-million investment to strengthen the capacity of civil society partners to prevent disinformation, promote democratic resilience and raise public awareness about foreign interference.
The Prime Minister also said that Public Safety Canada would launch public consultations. These consultations would help guide the creation of a foreign influence transparency registry in Canada to ensure transparency and accountability from people who advocate on behalf of a foreign government and that communities who are often targeted by attempts at foreign interference are protected.
The Minister of Public Safety launched those consultations on March 10, 2023. They will continue until May 9, 2023. The Government of Canada has also invested significantly in our ability to fight foreign interference.
The Government of Canada has also significantly in our ability to fight foreign interference. Budget 2023 allocates $13.5 million, starting in 2023-24, and $3.1 million ongoing to Public Safety Canada to establish a national counter-foreign interference office. Budget 2023 also allocates $48.9 million to the RCMP to protect Canadians from harassment and intimidation by foreign actors, increase its investigative capacity, and more proactively engage with communities at greater risk of being targeted.
These investments build on budget 2022, in which the government committed to providing $13.4 million to renew and expand the G7 rapid response mechanisms over five years in order to counter foreign threats to democracy.
What is more, $12.9 million will be invested to establish a research security centre of excellence at Public Safety Canada in order to protect Canadian research while strengthening the security posture of universities and research institutions.
These major investments will help build the Government of Canada's capacity and strengthen its ongoing efforts to fight foreign interference. As I said, we announced the launch of public consultations to guide the creation of a foreign influence transparency registry in Canada. Although protecting our country is the top priority, we also have to make sure we protect communities that are often targeted by attempts at foreign interference. These consultations with key stakeholders and the Canadian public will inform the path forward, including new measures to strengthen national security.
In addition to these consultations, the government is always working to ensure that our democratic institutions are protected from malign foreign influence. For example, before the 2021 federal election, we implemented the critical election incident public protocol, a mechanism to notify the public of a threat to the integrity of a general election. We also renewed the G7 rapid response mechanism to strengthen and share best international practices to address foreign threats to democracy in G7 countries.
Ahead of the 2019 election, we created the security and intelligence threats to elections task force. This task force coordinates the sharing of intelligence and information among the Communications Security Establishment, Global Affairs Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. During the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, CSIS and the RCMP worked in close collaboration with task force members on coordinating efforts to fight foreign interference by raising awareness, assessing threats and preparing a government response to these threats. The task force remains active outside election periods as well, in light of persisting threats to democratic institutions, including foreign interference and disinformation.
However, protecting our institutions goes even farther. We are fortunate to be able to rely on the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. It investigates threats, advises the government and takes every measure necessary to mitigate threats to our national security. This includes threats from foreign actors.
I look forward to questions and comments.
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- May/4/23 4:43:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, in beautiful British Columbia, for the very important question and for his participation in the debate today.
I am very happy that our government has launched consultations to set up a foreign agent registry. We need to be judicious and diligent on the foreign agent registry.
As I have said before in this House and publicly, I am in favour of a foreign agent registry modelled after those of other countries. We should obviously undertake to adopt best practices. That is what we are doing. We are consulting with our partners and with various parties, and that is the direction we should be going in.
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- May/4/23 4:45:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question, which is very important.
We must always stand for and uphold our Canadian values of human rights, minority rights and democracy. We must also always stand against any foreign actors that go against the values of democracy, human rights and minority rights.
As for our relationship with countries around the world, we must co-operate with many countries, we must challenge them when they do not fit our values and we must compete against them. That is what we have said in the past with regard to the relationship with the People's Republic of China and the Chinese government. We must compete with them and co-operate with them, but we must also challenge them when their values do not align with Canadian values.
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- May/4/23 4:46:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question, which is very important.
As to whether there should be a public inquiry or not, an individual who is held in very high esteem will be making that determination and the determination on a number of recommendations the government will follow. I look forward to seeing those recommendations.
What we need to ensure is that all Canadians, the almost 40 million of us, have confidence in our electoral system, that there is no election interference and that we understand that in the world we live in, we must deal with foreign actors who do not have the best intentions here in Canada and in other parts of the world.
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- May/4/23 4:48:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the issues and matters in front of the government and all members of this House are of very important, even critically important consideration. Obviously, whatever decisions are made will meet the proper threshold. I am not privy to all the information regarding what has transpired, so for me to opine on that would be—
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