EDITORIAL: Secrets eroding trust in our democracy

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How can Canadians have confidence in Canada’s ability to counteract foreign interference if the process is permanently shrouded in excessive secrecy?

On Monday, Justice Marie-Josee Hogue said her inquiry into foreign interference by China in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections will not identify at least 11 candidates and 13 political staffers who wittingly or unwittingly may have been under the influence of China during the 2019 election.

“In the present case, the allegations are based on classified information, which means the commission can neither make them public nor even disclose them to the persons who might be the subject of these allegations,” Hogue said.

Public disclosure would also violate the legal rights of those named in the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians report to defend themselves, she said.

Hogue’s ruling as the inquiry resumes its investigation into foreign interference isn’t surprising, but it is concerning given that the lack of public disclosure about foreign interference by the Trudeau government created the need for Hogue’s inquiry in the first place.

Since then, Canadians have learned the allegations of interference were not limited to China and the Liberals, but include allegations that other foreign actors such as India and Russia may have attempted to influence the Conservatives.

Hogue’s ruling suggests no one is going to be identified by the foreign interference inquiry whose mandate is to “examine and assess the interference by China, Russia and other foreign states or non-state actors … to confirm the integrity of, and any impacts on, the (2019 and 2021 general elections).”

Hogue has already concluded that while foreign interference did not change the overall results of the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, it tainted the electoral process and “undermined the right of voters to have an electoral ecosystem free from coercion or covert influence.”

She also warned foreign interference “continues to occur frequently” and is “likely to increase and have negative consequences for our democracy unless vigorous measures are taken to detect and better counter it.”

But if we’ll never know the specifics of how it happened and who participated in it, wittingly or unwittingly, how can we have confidence that foreign threats will be effectively contained going forward, the most important issue at stake here?

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