The federal government is facing criticism for failing to implement a foreign agent registry a full year after legislation mandating it became law.Blacklock's Reporter says despite a June 2025 target date set by officials, cabinet has yet to act on key steps needed to enforce the measure, leaving MPs and watchdogs questioning the delay.“The foreign registry was something all MPs in the previous Parliament across party lines worked to expedite,” said New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan in the House of Commons. “But to date that Act has not yet been enacted. We still do not have the registry up and running.” When she pressed ministers for an explanation, none responded..The registry, authorized under Bill C-70 An Act Respecting Countering Foreign Interference, was passed on June 19, 2024. It requires anyone lobbying public officials while “acting at the direction of, for the benefit of or in association with a foreign entity” to register or face up to five years in prison or a $5 million fine.Kwan warned that foreign interference remains an unaddressed threat to Canada’s institutions. “It is a mystery to me how it is that after the election we still have not heard the Prime Minister raise the issue around foreign interference,” she said.The Department of Public Safety had previously committed to launching the registry by this month. .“We are working towards a June time frame,” Sébastien Aubertin-Giguere, associate assistant deputy minister, testified before the Senate national finance committee last December.He said cabinet must appoint a commissioner and complete IT infrastructure and staffing before the law can take effect.“June is the time frame but there might be a lot of contingencies,” he noted at the time, without offering further explanation..According to documents submitted to the Commission on Foreign Interference earlier this year, Kwan was among those likely targeted by Chinese Communist Party agents. Allegations included undisclosed financial support from the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver to her election opponent. “A number of pertinent questions remain unanswered,” Kwan wrote in a 2023 letter to the Elections Commissioner.Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also criticized the delay, saying the registry should have been operational well ahead of the April 28 election. “Why haven’t the Liberals got the foreign agent registry up and running?” he asked on April 9. “Then we would know proactively who is working on behalf of a foreign government.”
