Strong measures also needed to stop foreign interference in nomination and party leadership contests – Elections Canada should run them

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, October 22, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, as the Hogue Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Canadian politics holds policy roundtables on disinformation and foreign interference in nomination contests and political party leadership contests, Democracy Watch released the policy paper it submitted to the Inquiry calling for strong measures to stop disinformation, expanding on the many laws in Canada that already prohibit false claims.  Click here to see the policy paper.

Democracy Watch also called on the Inquiry to recommend strong measures to stop foreign interference in nomination and party leadership contests.

DWatch’s policy paper calls for the following key anti-disinformation measures:

1. Prohibit all false claims made by anyone at any time anywhere about elections and other processes in Canada, including false election promises by parties and party leaders;
2. Prohibit anonymous social media accounts and Internet sites;
3. Prohibit Internet, social media and all other companies from allowing fake videos and audio files to be posted on their sites and prohibit TV, radio and telecommunications companies from allowing the transmission of a fake audio or video;
4. Have complaints about disinformation go to federal agencies, boards, commissions and tribunals (ABCTs) that already have expertise in various issue areas;
5. Change all ABCTs into fully independent enforcement entities with the heads appointed through a fully independent, merit-based process that does not involve any politicians;
6. Empower the ABCTs to order Internet and social media companies to remove false posts and webpages, and to block sites that refuse to remove or prevent false claims from being posted on their site;
7. Empower the ABCTs to penalize misleaders with significant fines;
8. Strengthen and expand whistleblower protection for anyone who reports clear evidence of wrongdoing in politics.

“The right to freedom of expression does not include the right to mislead voters, and given false claims harm elections and political processes, they should be clearly prohibited in the same way it is illegal to yell fire in a crowded theatre when there is no fire, with strong penalties for misleaders,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “It is very important to establish enforcement entities that are completely independent of the government and all political parties so that they can be trusted to make rulings penalizing false claims.”

Democracy Watch also called on the Inquiry to recommend the following key measures to stop foreign interference through nomination and party leadership contests:

1. As it does for elections, Elections Canada should be running contests, including auditing spending and donations of contestants;
2. As in elections, prohibit anyone who is not a Canadian citizen or who is not 18 or older from voting in contests;
3. Require third parties (businesses, organizations and individuals) to register and disclose their donors and spending if they spend any money during a contest;
4. Only allow a third-party individual to spend a very small amount, and citizen groups to spend an amount based on how many voters support them, and prohibit businesses from spending during contests;
5. Require contestants to disclose their campaign staff and volunteers.

“As long as political parties run nomination and party leadership contests, foreign interference that happens in contests will be covered up,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “Elections Canada should run contests just like it runs elections, and all the loopholes that currently make it legal for foreign-sponsored proxies to interfere in contests in secret must be closed to actually stop foreign interference in contests.”

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 will be 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 Honesty in Politics Campaign