(Ottawa) He is normally the rather low-key type; little was heard of him in the media during the decade he spent at the helm of the commissioner of federal elections. But as his departure draws near, Yves Côté communicates loud and clear his concern about seeing the “viruses” of disinformation and misinformation spreading in Canada, and he calls for “high vigilance”.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Before the Roe bomb c. Wade does not break out, last Friday, another issue monopolized the attention of the majority of newspapers in the United States: the investigation into the events of January 6, 2021. We heard, among others, politicians from Georgia and Arizona Recall Ex-President Donald Trump’s Pressure to ‘Find Votes’
Yves Côté is following this saga with interest. “It is deeply discouraging, deeply depressing to see what emerges from these hearings, and more broadly from what is happening in our neighbor to the south,” he said in an interview last week in his office. of Gatineau, which he is about to leave.
He agrees with the observation made by several experts: Canada is not immune to this phenomenon.
Here too, we tried to mislead people, tried to raise questions about the way the ballots were counted by saying that we used machines to do it, which is completely false .
Yves Côté, Commissioner of Canada Elections
And we must resist, pleads the outgoing commissioner.
“It really is a societal challenge, a collective challenge to which responses must take multiple forms. And it challenges not only politicians, but also interest groups, universities, and also parents, in the training they give or choose to give to their children,” he insists.
“It’s a fight that is vast, that is complex, and unless everyone puts their shoulder to the wheel, it risks becoming more and more pernicious, but also more and more complex”, adds Yves Side.
From Pierre Poutine to Pierre Poilievre
In the space of 10 years, Mr. Côté has been able to observe the evolution of the tactics of those who seek to cheat in the game of democracy: taking office in the wake of the Pierre Poutine affair (robocalls , Where robocalls), here he is bowing out in the era of bots who spread propaganda online – and elected officials like Pierre Poilievre.
This same deputy who, according to certain observers of the political scene, imports into the country a populism with Trump sauce. And who had launched a full-throttle charge against the Chief Electoral Officer (DGE) in 2014, then in his clothes as Minister of State for Democratic Reform.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Pierre Poilievre, leadership candidate
of the Conservative Party of Canada
What impact could the election of Pierre Poilievre to the Conservative leadership have? “I won’t fall into your trap,” laughs the outgoing commissioner. I had watched what was going on and I draw conclusions, but these are personal conclusions that I prefer not to share. »
He also doesn’t want to dwell too much on allegations of Chinese interference in the latest election campaign. In early June, former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole said his party may have lost eight or nine seats due to Beijing’s actions. And a few days ago, The Canadian Press reported that suspicious activities of the Communist Party have been observed on the Chinese social network Douyin.
“We never comment on any investigations we may or may not have launched. But more generally, I would say that Canada, like many other countries, is not immune to attempts by countries with different views of [faire de l’ingérence] in Canada – and people who think we’re safe are wrong,” he said.
Protection of personal information
Before finishing his boxes, Yves Côté (re)gives the federal parties a duty: to reform the way they manage personal information.
At present, although formations must develop a policy on this subject, nothing in the Canada Elections Act does not say what kind of protection they must offer – a situation that the commissioner, the former privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien and the CEO of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, have denounced for years.
“It is time for Parliament to act. If you want Canadians to maintain their confidence in political parties, in the way things are done, one of the actions you could and should take is to meet their expectations and adopt a minimally restrictive regime,” underlines Yves Côté.
In August, he will give way to Caroline Simard, formerly of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.