Federal officials are promising increased transparency and regular communications about potential foreign interference in this general election campaign, which is the first since Justice Marie-Josée Hogue released her report into the issue in Canada.
Justice Hogue had said that the federal government needed to be better at informing Canadians, many of whom she said learned about foreign interference from the media.
During a briefing Monday, federal officials said that the threshold for informing the public about a critical incident under the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol remains high – which is crucial so that the communication itself does not become a disruption or influence the election, according to Laurie-Anne Kempton of the Privy Council Office.
“A public announcement could also inadvertently serve a foreign state’s goal to sow discord and discredit democracy,” she said.
She added that the government will communicate regularly about potential threats during the election period, including through briefings with reporters. Those briefings could take place on a weekly basis.
The Critical Election Incident Public Protocol was activated on Sunday, when the election was called. That protocol, which is administered by a panel of five senior bureaucrats, determines the process for informing the public of an incident or incidents that would affect Canada having a free and fair election. It was in place during the 2019 and 2021 election campaigns.
Canadians will also see a “more active” federal government response on issues around misinformation and disinformation, said Allen Sutherland, also of the Privy Council Office. He said it would be organized by the panel members in their capacity as senior leaders of the public service.
Mr. Sutherland said responses would look similar to a February announcement concerning then-Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland. Global Affairs Canada’s Rapid Response Mechanism said that it had detected “co-ordinated and malicious activity” targeting her that had been traced back to a WeChat account linked to the Chinese government.
“This is really an example that we hope has test run the approach that we’ll use for this election,” he said.
Larisa Galadza, a director-general at Global Affairs Canada, said that officials are still calibrating the right level of detail in these announcements and that every case would be different. Officials emphasized during the briefing that they want to be as transparent as possible while also protecting national security.
The five senior bureaucrats who make up the panel are also regularly briefed by the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, which is made up Canada’s intelligence agencies as well as Global Affairs Canada. The task force is actively monitoring the election campaign and works with the panel to determine if an incident meets the threshold for a public announcement.
Since the last federal election, the task force’s scope has been expanded to include monitoring of domestic and violent extremist threats directed at elections, according to the federal government, as well as electoral security.
SITE Task Force chair Vanessa Lloyd, who is deputy director of operations at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said that the People’s Republic of China is “highly likely” to use AI-enabled tools to attempt to interfere in this election campaign, as well as social media to promote narratives favourable to its interests. She said she also expects it to specifically target Chinese communities in Canada using clandestine and deceptive techniques. Ms. Lloyd pointed to the governments of India, Russia and Pakistan as other actors of concern.
Ms. Kempton said that government officials have been in contact with social-media and technology companies and will continue to do so throughout the campaign. She urged the companies to uphold commitments to prevent the spread of fake information and to correct disinformation on their platforms.
“The government continues to be supportive of efforts by these companies to increase the transparency, authenticity and integrity of their systems and help safeguard our elections responsibilities,” she said.
At a press conference earlier Monday, Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault said he had written to social-media companies, such as X and TikTok, to discuss election security. He said he plans to publish his letter and the companies’ responses, and he said he has been satisfied with the replies he’s received so far.
Mr. Perrault said Elections Canada estimates this election will cost Canadians $570-million. It will take place on April 28.