For 2 ½ years, the federal Liberals have studied, considered, consulted on – and perhaps even seriously pondered – the creation of a foreign-agent registry.
What they have not done, however, is take a single concrete step toward enacting legislation, even as the evidence of China’s meddling has piled up. Justifiably, much of the attention on Ottawa’s reaction to revelations of Beijing’s attempts to influence Canada’s democracy has centred on the Trudeau government’s curious lethargy in setting up a full-throated public inquiry. Just as curious, however, is the similar foot-dragging in creating a foreign-agent registry.
The Liberals first broached the notion in February, 2021, when Robert Oliphant, parliamentary secretary to the foreign affairs minister, told a House of Commons committee that the government was “actively considering” a registry similar to that of Australia or the United States.
That consideration was still active by December, 2022, when then Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Ottawa was preparing to launch consultations on the possible creation of a registry. Three months later, those preparations were evidently still in the works, even after revelations by The Globe of extensive meddling by China in two successive federal elections.
On March 6, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a package of measures aimed at combatting foreign interference (and the perception that the Liberals had not acted with sufficient vigour), including the creation of the ill-fated special rapporteur position and a foreign-agent registry. To be more precise, Mr. Trudeau announced that the government would launch consultations. Mr. Mendicino then talked about the “potential creation” of a registry.
And potential creation is where things stood up until Mr. Mendicino was dropped from cabinet last month. Shortly after the cabinet shuffle, his successor, Dominic LeBlanc, said the registry was an “important part” of the response to foreign interference.
Those are welcome words from Mr. LeBlanc, but they are only words. The government has yet to propose legislation, 30 months after first signalling its intentions. Why the delay?
The Liberals have repeatedly pointed to concerns of a backlash on Chinese-Canadians, with Mr. Trudeau solemnly pronouncing in March that Canadians must “be mindful of our history” in proposing “registries of foreigners.”
That history, sadly, includes racist measures such as the head tax on Chinese immigrants and the mass detention of Japanese-Canadians during the Second World War.
Two things need be said. The most important is that Chinese-Canadians are among those most directly affected by China’s meddling. They do not need protection from a foreign-agent registry. They deserve protection from Ottawa by all means necessary, including a registry that makes clear who is acting at the behest of Beijing or other foreign powers.
Which leads us to a second crucial point. The Liberals have, several times, tried to hint that a foreign-agent registry is somehow (or at least could be) of a piece with the head tax or internment camps. Mr. Trudeau’s reference to “registries of foreigners” is a case in point.
A registry as implemented in the U.S. or Australia is not a registry of foreigners – it is a compendium of those acting on behalf of a foreign power. As we have written before, it is in essence a type of lobbying registry. That is a critical difference, and one the Liberals have sought to blur, time and again, as they delay.
But Mr. LeBlanc’s installment as public safety minister could open the door for action, finally. He has a wealth of choices on which to model a Canadian foreign-agent registry. There is the U.S. law, on the books since 1938. Or if he prefers legislation tailored to a parliamentary democracy, he could peruse Australia’s foreign-registry law, in operation since December, 2018. Or there is the United Kingdom’s 2023 law (with regulations coming into force next year).
Alternatively, Mr. LeBlanc could dust off the private member’s bill from former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu in 2021. Or Mr. LeBlanc could take a look at the measure proposed by Conservative Senator Leo Housakos, which received first reading in February, 2022.
All of this is to say that by this point it should be completely clear to the Liberals what they need to do to set up a foreign-agent registry. The only thing that remains unclear is why it has taken, and still is taking, so long to act.