Canada continues its push for transparency and introduces the Foreign Influence Registry

OTTAWA: As Canada finds itself at a critical juncture in its democratic history, the threat posed by foreign influences, especially the CCP, requires our immediate attention and decisive action.

In my column last week, I highlighted how a coalition of the Canadian diaspora group led by Gloria Fung and Marcus Kolga may have put pressure on the government to immediately implement a Foreign Influence Transparency Registry (FITR). Their joint efforts appeared to pay off with the introduction of legislation by Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc of the ruling Liberal Party on Monday. The recently introduced Bill C-70, An Act Respecting Countering Foreign Interference, promises to address these pressing concerns.

Bill C-70 as “An Act Respecting Countering Foreign Interference” strikes an oxymoronic chord. While the title suggests a comprehensive approach to countering foreign interference, the details fall a bit short, as other experts highlighted in the past week.

As Canada finds itself at a pivotal moment in its democratic history, the threat posed by foreign influences, especially the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), requires our immediate attention and decisive action. Reading Jonathan Manthorpe’s (author of Claws of the Panda) recent column, it becomes clear that the CCP’s long-standing campaign to influence our political, academic and business sectors goes back decades. Manthorpe’s column highlights why Canada has been an easy choice for the CCP and why registering late is better than standing idly by.. “For 75 years, Canadians have been the guinea pigs as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has selected and tested tools of influence and coercion for its campaigns of international political warfare.” I do not need to remind Indian readers how deep and insidious these attempts are to undermine all democracies.

In political columnist Tasha Kheiriddin’s National Post column this week, she further underscored the urgency of addressing these challenges within our legislative framework. Her criticism of Bill C-70 highlights significant gaps, particularly the failure to protect the integrity of party nominations and electoral processes from interference by non-citizens, a crucial aspect of protecting our national sovereignty. It’s an important first step, but she goes on to suggest: “It would have been easy for C-70 to change the election law to require that anyone participating in the electoral process in any form, including party nominations, must be a Canadian citizen, period,” and this seems obvious to everyone except the government.

The Foreign Influence Transparency Registry (FITR) in Canada as constructed is not nearly sufficient given what the Canadian government now knows about malign state actors seeking to undermine our elections and democracy itself. The law takes some cues from the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and the recent Australian law of 2018, which was enacted to combat China’s blatant interference in their democracy, for which the government should be applauded.

However, opposition parties are demanding more and a seat at the table to strengthen it. Bravo democracy at work, united around our national security. There is still hope for us in Canada.

Let’s highlight a few important points. The law does not fully include the necessary measures to cleanse our political and electoral processes of pervasive foreign influence, which will continue to operate through overt and covert channels. As part of strengthening our democracy, many intelligence and policy experts demanded that the FITR go beyond the limited scope of traditional legislative measures and aim to enhance the capabilities of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), expanding its mandate of the RCMP would be realigned to focus on national security and robustly addressing transnational repression against Canadians by all foreign state actors, both communist and other democracies. Leblanc announced such measures when he rose in the House to introduce this legislation, which recognizes the long-awaited review of our intelligence and policing activities that will now begin. These are very positive signs that the Liberal government is finally taking the threat very seriously.

In our geopolitical rivalry with communist China, and as noted by Manthorpe, the CCP has skillfully manipulated our cultural and political naivety to its advantage. Likewise, Kheiriddin’s analysis points to an urgent need for legislative reform that can effectively address and mitigate the risks of foreign interference, far beyond the reach of current measures.

Canadian politicians need to open their eyes and understand that we are not Beijing’s favorites because of our wide spaces and beautiful vistas, but rather because of our naivety and proximity to the United States, where we became the soft underbelly of the ‘Hybrid War’ that was waged against America by the CCP.

As introduced, FITR serves as a defensive mechanism and a proactive tool, now giving lawmakers and intelligence agencies the power to protect Canadians from undeclared foreign influence on our soil. It would ensure that all actors, regardless of origin, are held to a standard that protects the integrity of our democratic processes. This includes any agent acting for a government or state-affiliated commercial entity; in the case of the CCP, that is virtually any company. I must emphasize that this act does not target specific communities of Asian descent, as Canadian Senator Yuen Pao Woo claimed when he called for no action. It’s not racist. Rather, it is about protecting all Canadians from secret foreign agendas that seek to undermine our collective decision-making and national interests.

The FITR should send a strong message to China, Iran and Russia that Canada is finally committed to preserving the sovereignty of its political processes and is willing to take bold steps to defend its democratic institutions. In fact, in terms of our strained relationship with our Five Eyes counterparts, this action by the Liberal government could indicate that Canada is trying to be seen as a serious player, given its proclivity for Beijing-adjacent policies and politicians’ anger at their deeds and actions seemed to have caused. became switch hitters in line with the corporate interests of the Laurentian Elite, which promoted unbridled investment in a brutal and genocidal regime. A regime I might add has imprisoned more than two million Uyghurs sent to concentration camps over the past decade as a just policy for re-education and economic advancement in East Turkestan (Jinjiang). The regime’s use of these people as slave labor is now well documented. The many who resisted are now dead because of this so-called progressive cultural assimilation policy.

The call to action was clear to all in the diaspora groups and to those advocating for the protection of national interests. Canadians must rally now as a nation to support our elected officials to work together and pass the Foreign Influence Transparency Registry before the end of 2024 so that we are prepared for the 2025 general election.

By doing so, we strengthen the resilience of our democratic institutions and ensure that our national policies and political landscape reflect the true will and interests of all Canadian peoples. The CCP and other evil states have had free reign in Canada for decades, but Canadians are finally waking up to the Tiger that is already in Canada.

Dean Baxendale is a publisher, writer and human rights activist. He is the CEO of Optimum Publishing and the China Democracy Fund and a contributor to The Sunday Guardian.