Following claims that Chinese agents interfered in recent Canadian elections and stole industry secrets from Hydro-Québec, Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos is calling on the Canadian government to take a much harder line against China — a country he describes as “an evil authoritarian regime.”
Housakos has introduced a bill, S-237, that would establish a foreign influence registry in Canada — a system that would compel agents working on behalf of a foreign government to either register their interactions with public officials in Canada or face criminal penalties.
Under this proposed law, any foreign-backed agent who fails to declare any interaction with a “public office holder” — like a cabinet minister, an MP, a senator or a senior government official — could be charged with a crime and face hefty fines and up to two years in jail.
While the registry is meant to act as a deterrent, it also would empower police to charge people for things that are not necessarily criminal under current law.
The proposed registry is similar to registries that exist elsewhere in the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance (made up of Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom).
In the U.S., for example, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires people working for a “foreign principal” to publicly disclose their activities.
A number of former U.S. president Donald Trump’s staffers were charged under the law after promoting foreign interests stateside.
The 1938 law was enacted in response to concerns about Nazi and communist propaganda in the U.S.
Housakos said Canada needs this sort of law now to deal with a different threat — an “increasingly belligerent” China.
Canada has a long list of grievances against Beijing that demand some sort of response, he added.
‘Evil’ regimes trying to manipulate us, senator says
“There’s no doubt countries like China, Iran, Russia, just to name a few of the evil authoritarian regimes, are trying to influence our institutions, our laws,” Housakos told CBC News.
“All of these regimes are very active in Canada and we have a prime minister and a government that refuses to take concrete steps.”
Bill S-237 represents “a small but important step” toward curbing that interference, he added.
Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos has introduced legislation to establish a foreign registry in Canada, a system that would force agents working on behalf of foreign governments to register their interactions with public officials in Canada. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
“Canada has been under siege from regimes like Beijing, like Moscow, like Tehran, and now we need to step up and take action to protect the security of our institutions. We need to put these nations on notice that if you’re going to set up spy operations or policing activities to intimidate Canadians, there will be consequences,” Housakos said, referring to reports that China has established “police stations” in Canada and elsewhere to keep an eye on Chinese nationals living abroad.
“We need some laws with teeth.”
A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said “protecting Canada’s democracy is a responsibility” the government takes “extremely seriously.”
The spokesperson said CSIS and the RCMP are regularly investigating allegations of foreign interference.
The spokesperson did not answer questions about whether the government would enact a foreign registry.
Margaret McCuaig-Johnston is a senior fellow at the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa and an expert on China.
She said China’s alleged interference in our democracy — through what Global News has described as a “clandestine network” of candidates in the 2019 election — is “extremely serious.”
Citing unnamed sources, Global News reported last week that China was behind “a vast campaign of foreign inference” in Canadian politics, including attempts to “co-opt and corrupt former Canadian officials to gain leverage in Ottawa” and a campaign to “punish Canadian politicians whom the People’s Republic of China views as threats to its interests.”
Speaking to reporters Sunday, though, Trudeau denied that he had any knowledge of the alleged interference, though he said he had instructed officials to look into the claims and co-operate with the parliamentary committee investigating the issue.
“But let me be clear, I do not have any information, nor have I been briefed, on any federal candidates receiving any money from China,” he said.
McCuaig-Johnston said Canadian police must mobilize to investigate these claims. She said she also supports the idea of a foreign registry along the lines of what Housakos is proposing.
She also pointed out that the last parliamentarian to propose such a registry may have been targeted by the Chinese government himself.
Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu in the House of Commons on April 13, 2021. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu has accused the Chinese government of targeting him with a disinformation campaign during the last federal election because he introduced legislation to enact a foreign registry. Chiu ultimately lost his seat in a riding with a large number of Chinese-Canadian voters.
“It should really be the government that brings this registry in,” McCuaig-Johnston said, adding that the state of Canada-China relations leaves Ottawa with little to lose
“Canada is still in the deep freeze. We’re still being punished for Meng,” she said, referring to Canada’s 2018 arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant.
“We have to set all the pressure aside and say, ‘We’re going to do what’s right for Canada,’ and that includes a foreign registry act.”
‘This shouldn’t be a partisan issue’
In an interview with CBC Radio’s The House, Dan Stanton, a retired CSIS intelligence officer and the director of national security at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute, said action against China needs to be above everyday party politics.
To start, Stanton said, Canada needs to amend the existing CSIS Act to empower national security agencies to deal with “foreign influence,” not just Cold War-era style foreign “interference.”
“This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. There needs to be a Team Canada approach. It shouldn’t be an us vs. them issue. It needs to be multi-party, because all parties are vulnerable,” he said.
While Canada has done little to counter China up to now, Stanton said he thinks there’s now a “window of opportunity” for the Liberal government to take legislative action to safeguard Canada’s interests.
He said he’s encouraged by the fact that the Commons procedure and House affairs committee (PROC) will be probing these election interference allegations in the coming weeks.
“The government gets it. They really do. And I think they genuinely want to push back. There’s a good opportunity to get some legislative changes,” he said.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
