Loopholes in election, political finance, lobbying and ethics rules and weak enforcement make secret, unethical interference and misinformation legal

Hearings dominated by government and political party witnesses who have an interest in keeping loopholes open and/or covering up problem areas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, September 23, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch released the submission it has filed with the Hogue Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Canadian politics responding to both the Stage 2 Factual Phase hearings, and also the initial Policy Phase consultation documents.

DWatch’s 32-page submission calls on the Inquiry to broaden the scope of its examination this fall of whether Canada’s anti-foreign interference system is effective, and its witness list, to address all the loopholes and flaws in federal laws, and weak enforcement systems, that allow for secret, undemocratic and unethical foreign interference activities. Democracy Watch is an intervener in the Inquiry and is represented at the Inquiry by Wade Poziomka and Nick Papageorge of Ross & McBride LLP.

Out of the 67 witnesses scheduled so far for the Inquiry’s hearings this fall, 52 are Cabinet ministers or government representatives, and 12 come from other federal parties or Parliament, none of whom are likely to point out loopholes or flaws that benefit themselves, their lobbyist friends or party supporters.  Last March, Democracy Watch submitted to the Hogue Inquiry a list of 10 key witnesses and about 140 key questions to ask them, but the Inquiry has not, so far, scheduled 5 of the 10 witnesses to testify.

Parliament did pass Bill C-70 in June after a rushed review, but Bill C-70 only closes some of the foreign interference loopholes, and it establishes a very weak, ruling-party Cabinet controlled enforcement system.  Click here to see Democracy Watch’s full submission to the House of Commons on Bill C-70, and click here to see a summary of the submission.

So far, the Inquiry is largely ignoring the following “dirty dozen” major loopholes and flaws in laws across Canada, as well as many other loopholes:

1. Secret lobbying is legal;
2. Secret fundraising of unlimited amounts of money for parties, riding associations, contestants and candidates is legal, including by lobbyists;
3. Secret campaigning for parties etc. is legal, including by lobbyists;
4. Secret investments by Cabinet ministers, MPs and senators, and secret jobs by MPs, are legal, and lobby groups can secretly give gifts to politicians, and sponsor interns (i.e. spies) in MP offices;
5. Third-party businesses (including foreign-owned businesses), interest groups and individuals can secretly spend an unlimited amount of money supporting or opposing a nomination contestant or party leadership contestant, or trying to influence a policy-making process;
6. One individual, or a corporation or organization with just a few shareholders/members, can spend more than $1.6 million trying to influence a federal election, and an unlimited amount to try to influence a policy-making process, with no disclosure of the source(s) of its funding;
7. Foreign governments, political parties, businesses, unions, organizations and individuals are allowed to try to influence voters in federal elections;
8. It’s legal for third-party businesses, interest groups and individuals, including foreign-owned and/or funded, to set up an online pseudo-media outlet and post as much disinformation as they want about politicians, parties and their policies;
9. Money-laundering and proceeds of crime laws are weak;
10. Businesses, organizations and individuals, including foreign-owned or funded, can provide a loan of products and services worth an unlimited amount of money to parties etc. for up to 3 years;
11. Anyone and any entity, including a foreign business, organization or individual, can pay an unlimited amount of the personal care expenses of an election candidate, and;
12. Nomination contestants, candidates and parties are not required to disclose their donors until after voting day, and riding associations only disclose donors once a year.

“Unfortunately, so far the Hogue inquiry is largely ignoring a dirty dozen loopholes in Canada’s election, political donation and spending, lobbying and ethics laws, some of which were created in the past couple of years by all federal parties, that make it easy for foreign governments, businesses, organizations and individuals to influence Canadian politics and politicians in secret, including by making false claims on social media sites,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “Canadians can only hope that the inquiry broadens its scope and witness list and, in the end, makes strong recommendations to close all of these loopholes.”

The Inquiry is also ignoring systemic weaknesses that mean enforcement systems for all the key laws are subject to political interference by the ruling party  Cabinet, and are underfunded, ineffective, secretive, slow to act and unaccountable, as follows:

1. All key watchdogs over elections, political finance, lobbying, ethics and anti-corruption laws are chosen by the ruling party Cabinet through secretive, partisan processes;
2. Almost all the key watchdogs serve at the pleasure of the ruling party Cabinet, and so they can be fired at any time for any reason;
3. All the watchdogs are allowed to make secret rulings, and to bury investigations without any public disclosure;
4. None of the watchdogs are required to do audits or inspections or any other enforcement action that is proven to be effective;
5. None of the watchdogs is required to investigate or rule on allegations of wrongdoing in a timely manner;
6. The lobbying and ethics watchdogs cannot impose any penalties for violations of key rules, and most of the penalties in other areas are too low to discourage violations;
7. The public is not allowed to challenge a decision to drop an investigation, even if the law was clearly violated;
8. Political parties, candidates, riding associations, nomination and party leadership contestants and third parties are all allowed to choose their own auditor to audit their spending;
9. Anti-money laundering and proceeds of crime enforcement is weaker than in many other countries, and;
10. Whistleblower protection is weak and much worse than in many other countries.

“Laws don’t enforce themselves, and unfortunately the inquiry is so far largely ignoring that the ruling party Cabinet and opposition politicians choose their own anti-foreign interference watchdogs, and many are Cabinet-controlled as well as underfunded, ineffective, secretive and unaccountable,” said Conacher.  “Canadians can only hope the inquiry will, in the end, make strong recommendations for key changes to make enforcement of all the key laws fully independent, effective, transparent, timely and accountable.”

Click here to see the Backgrounder that summarizes all the loopholes and weak enforcement problems that make foreign interference legal and easy to do across Canada at every level of government.  Click here to see summary list of 17 key changes that need to be made to stop foreign interference.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch s Democracy Watch s Stop Foreign Interference in Canadian Politics Campaign