Prime Minister's Office dragging heels on Foreign Interference legislation: Intelligence Source

Days before Ottawa’s Foreign Interference Commission issues its first report regarding allegations Chinese agents interfered in recent Canadian federal elections, a coalition of diaspora groups and Members of Parliament is pressing the Trudeau Liberals to implement a foreign agent registry, regardless of Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s findings.

“The Inquiry into Foreign Interference has clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of our democracy, and multicultural communities to the threat of foreign interference, intimidation and transnational repression,” coalition organizer Gloria Fung stated. “We call on all parliamentarians to support (a foreign agent registry) and help protect these vulnerable communities and our democracy against the threats posed by foreign authoritarian regimes.”

Four government sources in Ottawa have informed The Bureau that a number of legal measures to counter hostile state activity, including a foreign agent registry, have been in the works in Ottawa since at least 2022.

These laws were essentially finalized by Public Safety Canada and the Department of Justice before January 2023, a senior intelligence source said.

The source, with direct awareness of work on these laws, told The Bureau that some members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s caucus have been supportive of implementing counter-interference laws, but that officials in Trudeau’s office have stood in the way.