Ottawa's Inquiry into Foreign Interference should demand full disclosure of Trudeau cabinet documents, insists an independent watchdog following the release of the inquiry's interim report.Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue released the document on Friday that considers foreign interference in Canada’s last two general elections.“The Liberal party would have been in government with or without foreign interference in 2019 and 2021,” she wrote. Hogue named the People's Republic of China (PRC) as a foreign actor seeking to influence Canadian elections, based on reports from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, but said Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran were other possible interfering states. India may have tried to give financial support to certain 2021 election candidates.“The PRC does not support any particular party, but rather supports politics and positions that it views are pro-PRC, regardless of the political affiliation of a particular candidate,” Hogue wrote.“Governments from people’s countries of origin have targeted them on social media and through cyberattacks, surveilled them and threatened them verbally and physically. People spoke about family members in their countries of origin having their passports taken away or denied so they cannot come to Canada to visit."Hogue insisted the electoral system "remains fundamentally sound." However, Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch says until the Trudeau cabinet coughs up all of its information, Hogue doesn't have the details she is due to reach a firm conclusion.The first footnote of the report reads, “Some documents contain redactions for Cabinet confidence, solicitor-client privilege or protection of personal information. Discussions as to the applications of these privileges is ongoing.”Conacher said that's not acceptable.“The foreign interference inquiry commissioner should not tolerate this excessive secrecy by the Trudeau Cabinet and should demand disclosure of the records. If the Trudeau Cabinet continues to hide records from the inquiry into foreign interference, Canadians are justified in assuming that disclosure of the records would make the Cabinet look bad, and that is why the records are being kept secret," Conacher said in a statement shared with Western Standard."The inquiry's initial report says that foreign interference will only be stopped if the federal government makes key changes across the whole government that will effectively detect, deter and counter interference. All the huge loopholes and flaws in Canada’s election, political donation and spending, and lobbying and ethics laws must be closed because they make it legal for foreign governments, businesses and organizations to influence Canadian politics and politicians in secret, including by making false claims on social media sites."Democracy Watch has repeatedly complained that Canada's ethics and conflicts of interest laws have seen increasingly lax interpretation and enforcement. Conacher says the pattern has continued with the foreign interference inquiry."Closing the huge loopholes in Canada's key democracy laws will not be enough to stop foreign interference unless the laws are effectively enforced. All the enforcement agencies must be changed from weak, secretive lapdogs who are handpicked by and protect the ruling party cabinet into transparent, effective and accountable watchdogs that are fully independent of the ruling party cabinet, and all political parties," Conacher said.
Ottawa's Inquiry into Foreign Interference should demand full disclosure of Trudeau cabinet documents, insists an independent watchdog following the release of the inquiry's interim report.Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue released the document on Friday that considers foreign interference in Canada’s last two general elections.“The Liberal party would have been in government with or without foreign interference in 2019 and 2021,” she wrote. Hogue named the People's Republic of China (PRC) as a foreign actor seeking to influence Canadian elections, based on reports from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, but said Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran were other possible interfering states. India may have tried to give financial support to certain 2021 election candidates.“The PRC does not support any particular party, but rather supports politics and positions that it views are pro-PRC, regardless of the political affiliation of a particular candidate,” Hogue wrote.“Governments from people’s countries of origin have targeted them on social media and through cyberattacks, surveilled them and threatened them verbally and physically. People spoke about family members in their countries of origin having their passports taken away or denied so they cannot come to Canada to visit."Hogue insisted the electoral system "remains fundamentally sound." However, Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch says until the Trudeau cabinet coughs up all of its information, Hogue doesn't have the details she is due to reach a firm conclusion.The first footnote of the report reads, “Some documents contain redactions for Cabinet confidence, solicitor-client privilege or protection of personal information. Discussions as to the applications of these privileges is ongoing.”Conacher said that's not acceptable.“The foreign interference inquiry commissioner should not tolerate this excessive secrecy by the Trudeau Cabinet and should demand disclosure of the records. If the Trudeau Cabinet continues to hide records from the inquiry into foreign interference, Canadians are justified in assuming that disclosure of the records would make the Cabinet look bad, and that is why the records are being kept secret," Conacher said in a statement shared with Western Standard."The inquiry's initial report says that foreign interference will only be stopped if the federal government makes key changes across the whole government that will effectively detect, deter and counter interference. All the huge loopholes and flaws in Canada’s election, political donation and spending, and lobbying and ethics laws must be closed because they make it legal for foreign governments, businesses and organizations to influence Canadian politics and politicians in secret, including by making false claims on social media sites."Democracy Watch has repeatedly complained that Canada's ethics and conflicts of interest laws have seen increasingly lax interpretation and enforcement. Conacher says the pattern has continued with the foreign interference inquiry."Closing the huge loopholes in Canada's key democracy laws will not be enough to stop foreign interference unless the laws are effectively enforced. All the enforcement agencies must be changed from weak, secretive lapdogs who are handpicked by and protect the ruling party cabinet into transparent, effective and accountable watchdogs that are fully independent of the ruling party cabinet, and all political parties," Conacher said.
