Good morning. I’m Abigale Subdhan, an audience editor at The Globe. Canada’s foreign interference commission will release its final report today, answering how Ottawa can better detect, deter and counter malicious meddling from abroad. More on what we know so far, plus a look at DeepSeek and rebuilding Jasper. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Ottawa is planning pandemic-level relief for workers and businesses if Donald Trump imposes tariffs
- A expert oversight panel has found that solitary confinement continues in federal prisons despite the commitment to end it
- Donald Trump’s order to temporarily halt foreign aid means Ukrainian veterans organization will shut down
Foreign interference
Hogue inquiry final report lands today
How can Canada better protect its democracy from the threat of foreign interference? That’s one of the major questions that the Foreign Interference Commission, led by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, will answer today when it releases its final report.
The public inquiry was established in September, 2023, after months of reporting by The Globe and other media on Chinese foreign interference and disinformation campaigns, drawing on confidential national-security sources and leaked secret documents.
The report will cap off countless testimonies from a cast of characters, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, other politicians, leaders of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Chinese diplomats. It is also being released at a notable time amid the Liberal leadership race and the possibility of a federal election coming sooner rather than later.
Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue asks a question as CSIS representatives appear at the Foreign Interference Commission in Ottawa on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
What has happened so far
Since last January, Justice Hogue and her team of lawyers have heard hours of testimony and reviewed hundreds of documents in a public inquiry focusing on how China, Russia, India and other foreign actors may have tried (and, in the judge’s view, failed) to skew the overall outcome of the last two federal contests.
Justice Hogue’s first report, which was delivered on May 3, 2024, after the initial phase of hearings, called foreign meddling a “stain on our electoral process” that may have affected results in a small number of ridings.
Some foreign-interference measures were put in place in the aftermath of that first report: Parliament passed legislation that would create a mandatory registry for people undertaking “influence activity” in politics on behalf of foreign powers; give Canada’s top spy agency more authority to combat threats; create new foreign-interference criminal offences; and establish a Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner.
The second phase of the inquiry, which took place last fall, examined the steps the federal government can take “to detect, deter and counter” foreign interference, and asked bigger questions about who is responsible for preventing it in the future.
What to expect from the final report
- The big question: All eyes will be on what Justice Hogue says about federal politicians suspected of working for hostile powers. The House of Commons asked the public inquiry to investigate a June, 2024, report by an intelligence watchdog that said some parliamentarians have been unwittingly or wittingly compromised by foreign states. Many wonder whether Justice Hogue’s recommendations to Ottawa will be to release the names of the parliamentarians (although the Inquiries Act does not allow her to publicly name them), and to also address discrepancies from Trudeau, who previously testified that he had not seen evidence of any MP committing treason.
- The looming federal election: The bulk of the final report is expected to focus on protecting elections and countering disinformation and harassment of diaspora communities. Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault recommended to the commission in November, 2024, steps that needed to be taken to protect the voting process from disinformation and foreign adversaries. Some proposals that were already in legislation died when Parliament was prorogued, and it’s unlikely that many of these recommendations, if accepted by Justice Hogue, can be implemented before Canadians head to the polls.
- Protecting diaspora communities: Justice Hogue is expected to make recommendations for federal resources and education in diaspora communities that face harassment from governments abroad. The inquiry heard from representatives of Canadians who trace their roots to Hong Kong, Tibet, Uyghur settlements in China’s Xinjiang region, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, Eritrea, Ethiopia’s Tigray province, Sri Lanka’s Tamils and Sikh populations in India. Some recommendations from the testimonies include government funding to educate diaspora communities about identifying signs of foreign interference, and implementing a national hotline and secure online reporting system.
What we hope to learn more about
It’s not clear what the inquiry will say about India’s alleged role in the June, 2023, killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar or allegations of New Delhi’s involvement in other violent acts in Canada.
It is also unknown what Justice Hogue will say about allegations from Trudeau in his Oct. 16, 2024, testimony. He told the inquiry that he received highly classified intelligence that Conservative Party politicians and members were involved in or were susceptible to foreign interference – including a report that alleged meddling in the 2022 leadership contest in which Pierre Poilievre was elected. He later acknowledged that Liberals and members of other political parties were also compromised.
The Shot
‘Fire is not good or bad. Fire just is. It’s part of the landscape.’
Destroyed forest is all that remains in the snow after the Jasper wildfires roared through Jasper National Park last summer. January 14, 2025.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
Jasper is slowly recovering after last summer’s wildfire destroyed dozens of homes and several businesses. For 100 years, the approach in Jasper National Park had been to fight and put the fires out, to ignore what the Indigenous peoples in those lands always knew: The cycles of nature need to run through.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: An expert listed as a contributor to an Alberta pandemic report is demanding his name be removed, stating he was unaware of his inclusion and disagrees with the recommendations.
Abroad: A Rwandan-backed militia has marched into the city of Goma in a dramatic escalation of the Congo war, seizing control in defiance of UN demands for its withdrawal.
Bad business: Experts renew calls for reparations from Canadian companies with historical ties to the slave trade.
Good business: A little-known Chinese startup called DeepSeek released new powerful artificial intelligence models, sinking AI tech stocks.
Correction: In yesterday’s edition we said that punk lovers found a haven in a New Brunswick capital city bar. The Haven Music Hall is in Saint John, not Fredericton.