Current enforcement agencies are all partisan, underfunded, ineffective, secretive, too slow to act and unaccountable

New, fully independent anti-foreign interference, anti-corruption police force needed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, October 23, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, as the Hogue Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Canadian politics holds policy roundtables on national security and anti-foreign interference enforcement systems, Democracy Watch released the policy paper it submitted to the Inquiry calling for key changes to make every enforcement agency independent, well-resourced, effective, transparent, timely and accountable.  Click here to see the policy paper.

Among the needed changes, a new, fully independent anti-corruption and anti-foreign interference police force needs to be established.  The RCMP and FINTRAC are currently too much under the control of the ruling party Cabinet, and the RCMP was clearly ineffective, secretive and very slow in investigating the SNC-Lavalin and Aga Khan scandals, and has also been very secretive and slow in enforcing the federal lobbying law (Click here to see details) and anti-money laundering law, and FINTRAC also has a weak enforcement record.

The Inquiry has, so far, largely ignored 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 anti-corruption and anti-foreign interference 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, including the heads of CSIS, the RCMP and FINTRAC, 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 are 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 watchdog’s 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, slow to act and unaccountable,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “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, well-resourced, effective, transparent, timely and accountable, and to establish a new, fully independent anti-corruption and anti-foreign interference police force.”

Democracy Watch has also submitted a list of key questions to the Hogue Inquiry to be asked of the participants in the Policy Phase roundtables that are being held this week about the many loopholes and flaws in Canada’s election, political finance, lobbying and ethics rules, and weak enforcement systems, that make secret, unethical and undemocratic foreign interference and misinformation legal across Canada.  Click here to see the list of key questions.

Democracy Watch also filed a 32-page submission in September calling on the Inquiry to broaden the scope of its examination to address all the loopholes and flaws in federal laws, and weak enforcement systems.

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.

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 Stop Foreign Interference in Canadian Politics Campaign and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign and Stop Unfair Law Enforcement Campaign