The House of Commons is expected to pass a wide-ranging bill Thursday to combat foreign interference , by expanding powers for Canadian intelligence gathering, introducing new criminal offences and creating a foreign agent registry. Bill C-70, the Countering Foreign Interference Act, comes as the Liberal government faces mounting pressure to tackle threats to diaspora communities and Canada’s electoral process. Last week, a startling report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) alleged parliamentarians are “wittingly” or “semi-wittingly” collaborating with foreign governments.
0:36 ‘Must take foreign interference with all the seriousness it requires,’ says Trudeau of NSICOP report On Tuesday, MPs passed a Bloc Québécois motion for the public inquiry into foreign interference to investigate these bombshell allegations. Story continues below advertisement The commission of inquiry, led by Quebec Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, released an interim report last month that determined China meddled in the last two elections. The efforts did not change the outcome of the 2019 and 2021 votes but did “taint the process” by undermining the rights of Canadians, Hogue found.
The email you need for the day's top news stories from Canada and around the world. The Conservatives, who support Bill C-70, have accused the Liberals of dragging their feet on foreign interference, and introduced a motion to fast-track the bill so it’.