EDITORIAL: Foreign interference report a bust

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The final report of Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference, headed by Justice Marie-Josee Hogue, is a huge disappointment.

It gives Canadians a false sense of security that current government measures to combat foreign interference are working, for the most part, and all the government has to do is improve its internal and external communications to combat it.

Justice Hogue has also created enormous confusion by saying an explosive report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians — which found some members of parliament were wittingly or unwittingly working against Canada’s interests in league with foreign powers — was flat-out wrong.

The problem is that the secrecy surrounding this issue means Canadians have no independent way of determining why NSICOP came to the conclusion it did and why Hogue categorically rejects it, saying there were and are no traitors in Parliament.

The major problem — which Hogue, to be fair, identified in her report — is that her mandate agreed to by all the parties was confined to the very narrow question of foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

By contrast, she said, the existential threat posed by foreign interference today is fuelled by sophisticated media and social media campaigns of misinformation and disinformation that go on 24-7.

This in addition to “transnational repression” of diaspora communities living in Canada by foreign powers, which she described as a “genuine scourge” to democracy.

Another major concern raised by Hogue is the unwillingness of Canada’s political parties to impose stricter controls on who can vote in party nomination and leadership races, which Hogue has described as a “gateway” to foreign interference.

This includes the current race to choose the next Liberal leader and prime minister of Canada — where critics say the process for verifying voters’ identities should be the same as for verifying voters’ identities during a federal election.

The political parties are reluctant to do this because they want to keep control of the leadership and nomination processes by which they choose their party leaders and nominated candidates.

In other words, they are part of the problem, not the solution.

Justice Hogue has recommended 51 measures to address foreign interference, but many of them won’t be ready in time for this year’s federal election.