(OTTAWA) Senior officials have been touting to Justin Trudeau for nearly a year the merits of a registry of foreign influence agents to counter foreign interference, as Australia did in 2018.
The Prime Minister of Canada even had a conversation on this subject with the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, on June 30, 2022, show documents obtained by The Press under the Access to Information Act.
In a memo to Justin Trudeau, Clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charette says the registry has proven itself in countries that have adopted it. This tool makes it possible, without a shadow of a doubt, to highlight the activities carried out by individuals or entities on behalf of authoritarian countries, she argues.
“Registries of foreign influence agents are considered internationally as one of the best tools to counter foreign interference. The United States adopted the Foreign Agents Registration Act to this end in 1938,” she wrote in a document dated August 18, 2022.
“The UK government plans to create a similar register by adopting an amendment to the National Security Act. Australia adopted a register (Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS)) in 2018”, adds the highest official of the federal government.
The effectiveness of this register is such that in Australia, there has been a noticeable drop in the activities of foreign agents, who have stopped requesting meetings or participating in events because they were required to declare all in the register, under penalty of imprisonment or fine.
Australia’s experience demonstrates that former politicians or former senior civil servants have chosen to cease their activities as foreign agents rather than making their association public. Other organizations have ceased operations to avoid submitting to the registry.
Janice Charette, Clerk of the Privy Council, in a document dated August 18, 2022
However, the Trudeau government is slow to take the necessary steps to create such a register. Former diplomats serving in China, David Mulroney and Charles Burton, argued before a parliamentary committee two months ago that the lack of a registry facilitated foreign interference in Canada.
Abused, Justin Trudeau does not flinch
Seeking to calm the political storm caused by the revelations of the daily The Globe and Mail and the Global News network on the strategies employed by China to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 elections, Justin Trudeau announced a trio of measures on Monday evening, laying the groundwork for the creation of a register.
But there is still no question, at least for the moment, of launching the public inquiry, despite the insistent demands of the opposition parties, which continued to hammer on this nail during question period. Wednesday, the day the Prime Minister answers all questions.
PHOTO BY BLAIR GABLE, REUTERS
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre during question period on Wednesday
“Falseness”, “puns”, “diametrically opposed to the truth”: the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, went there with linguistic acrobatics to avoid accusing his interlocutor of lying about Chinese interference, which that it is forbidden to do in the House.
After making those veiled accusations, Pierre Poilievre adopted the style of crown attorney that had served former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair quite well against Stephen Harper during the Senate spending scandal.
“Yes or no”, “Names, please”, he notably summoned, in vain.
Twice rather than once – in French and in English – Justin Trudeau wanted to go on the attack by asking his opponent to explain why three of his deputies had met with an elected German far-right.
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during question period on Wednesday
Pierre Poilievre completely ignored the volleys.
New interference details
The prime minister had gotten a taste of the pointed questions he would be asked when he stopped in front of parliamentary reporters ahead of his weekly caucus meeting on Wednesday morning, as fresh revelations made headlines.
According to what Global News reiterated, Justin Trudeau was informed of China’s intentions to favor a handful of candidates, but this time the allegations come from reports from the Privy Council Office, the Prime Minister’s department, and the committee national security secrets.
This latest report, quoted by the Anglophone network, says that “an interlocutor from the embassy [de Chine] founded a group of community leaders called the ‘tea party’ to select the candidates he would support and ultimately publicly endorse.
It also states that a former Chinese consul informed companies linked to Beijing “of the rules regarding political contributions” and “urged certain business leaders to make donations through Canadian subsidiaries and acquisitions. “, always according to Global News.
Conservatives, Bloc Québécois and New Democrats continue to insist that the way forward is that of a public and independent inquiry. On Monday, Justin Trudeau argued that nodding would have been the “politically easy” solution.
With the collaboration of William Leclerc, The Press