EDITORIAL: Liberal catch-22 on foreign interference

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The Trudeau Liberals say the RCMP will decide whether criminal charges should be laid against parliamentarians alleged to have knowingly colluded with foreign powers named in the recent report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.

But NSICOP also said that without legal reforms to how Canada deals with foreign interference, it’s unlikely these or any other parliamentarians suspected of collusion in the future will ever be charged, “owing to Canada’s failure to address the long-standing issue of protecting classified information and methods in judicial processes.”

So what the Trudeau Liberals are selling Canadians to combat foreign interference is a catch-22, where the solution to the problem is impossible because of a circumstance inherent in the problem.

The problem, as the NSICOP report explained, is that, “Canada’s current legal framework does not enable the security and intelligence community or law enforcement to respond effectively to foreign interference activities. This impedes the federal government’s ability to engage other orders of government and law enforcement with respect to sharing and use of classified intelligence, respectively.”

Further, NSICOP said: “Significant differences persist in how ministers, departments and agencies interpret the gravity and prevalence of the threat, including the threshold for response.”

The NSICOP report concludes: “The government was aware in 2018 that the reforms implemented under (its) Plan to Protect Democracy were insufficient to address foreign interference in democratic processes and institutions. It has yet to implement an effective response to foreign interference in democratic processes and institutions. This is despite a significant body of intelligence reporting, the completion of foundational policy work, public consultations and having been called to do so by this committee.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was given an unredacted version of the NSICOP report in March, introduced Bill C-70 (An Act Respecting Countering Foreign Interference) in May, a month before a redacted version of the damning NSICOP report became public.

It addresses some of the concerns raised by NSICOP.

But legislation is only as good as the will of the government to enforce it and provide the resources needed to make it effective.

Since NSICOP says the Liberals knew about these problems for years and failed to act, despite repeated warnings to do so, what confidence can Canadians have in them going forward?