Opposition MPs, national-security experts and human-rights activists are accusing the federal government of dragging its feet on setting up a foreign agent registry.
The last Liberal government, under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, passed enabling legislation in June, 2024, to set up a registry and name a commissioner to oversee it.
But the new government of Prime Minister Mark Carney has still not announced a coming-into-force date for that legislation, the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act. Nor has it named the independent commissioner to oversee the registry.
“For a government that promised to work at speeds not seen in generations, it’s frustrating that the registry is still not up and running,” Conservative foreign-affairs critic Michael Chong said in an interview Tuesday.
“Certainly they are dragging their feet on it,” interim NDP Leader Don Davies said in a separate interview. “It is certainly deleterious, considering that foreign interference and transnational repression are serious issues that are still with us.”
Campbell Clark: Carney’s can-do government is way behind on foreign registry
The government is supposed to consult opposition parties on whom it selects as commissioner to oversee the registry. Those discussions have not taken place yet, even though Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said in August that the commissioner would be named in September and the registry would be up and running in the fall.
The United States has had a foreign agent registry since 1938, while Australia set up one in 2018 and Britain in 2023.
“The pace the government is working at is that we could very well have a second federal election without the protection of a commissioner and the registry,” Mr. Chong said.
The Trudeau government tabled the foreign agent registry after the fallout of reporting on Chinese foreign interference in Canadian domestic politics that led to a public inquiry, headed by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue. Her final report on the matter was tabled in January.
In her first inquiry report in May of last year, Justice Hogue issued a call for the government to vigorously enact measures to tackle what she called a “malign” threat to Canadian democracy.
She described foreign interference as “a stain on our electoral process” that discourages diaspora communities from participating in Canadian democracy.
Editorial: The sad history of the foreign agents registry
Justice Hogue identified China as the “most persistent and sophisticated foreign interference threat to Canada.” She also cited India, saying intelligence revealed a “Government of India proxy agent” may have attempted to clandestinely funnel money to candidates in 2021.
The acts of foreign interference that occurred, or are suspected to have occurred, “impacted the process leading up to the actual vote,” she wrote.
Mr. Anandasangaree’s office would not say when a commissioner would be named or when the registry would be set up.
“Preliminary work is underway. As per the process Parliament ratified, we will consult with Opposition parties on the individual who would lead it in the very near future,” communications director David Taylor said.
The Carney government has moved to repair fractured relations with China and India, which the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has identified as the principal countries involved in foreign interference in Canada.
Stephanie Carvin, a national-security expert at Carleton University, said it’s disappointing the government is failing to address the national-security risks identified by the Hogue Inquiry into foreign interference earlier this year.
“The absence of a registry, or even clear communication about how the government intends to balance enhanced relations with countries like China and India with foreign interference concerns, suggests a failure to absorb the lessons of the past two years,” Prof. Carvin said.
Gloria Fung from the Canadian Coalition for a Foreign Influence Transparency Registry said the new government appears to be uninterested in confronting foreign interference.
“Sincerity and seriousness are sorely lacking,” she said. “Canada’s institutions, and the communities most vulnerable to foreign interference, cannot afford further inaction.”