This bill would modernize and protect Canada’s electoral processes by introducing new ways of combatting threats of foreign interference, disinformation, dark money, ballot manipulation, and the misuse of personal data. It’s not perfect. But it’s a worthwhile first step that parliamentarians should support.
The 45-page bill includes measures intended to rein in foreign election interference, outlaw dodgy political donations, rename electoral districts, and kneecap the Longest Ballot protest movement.
The U.S. seems to have either no strategy or several competing ones. The principal one seems to be to bomb everything. This didn’t work in Vietnam, Afghanistan or in either the Gulf War or the Iraq War in the sense that matters most: winning the political game. Whatever happened to learning curves?
Prime Minister Mark Carney has given Canadians hope and is a savvy leader for our times, but he should be listening to his caucus, too. The Liberals who have been speaking anonymously to The Hill Times are right: attacking a sovereign nation without authorization from the UN Security Council violates international law. His MPs would have told him that.
The impact of this destructive regime is by no means confined to foreign lands. It’s time to confront it with resolve.
The likeliest alternative, unfortunately, is for Donald Trump to decide that the solution is yet more force. Perhaps including ‘Boots on the Ground’, because it will be hard to make the Strait of Hormuz safe without controlling the Iranian islands on the north side of the Strait.
This author has deep respect and support for both leaders and their general approach to democratic governance, but there’s an unsettling difference between the two responses to what is clearly another illegal war. Spain’s response is a courageous and inspiring stand which helps to rebuild the shattered norms of global peace and security.
This is a classic example where the government is clearly pursuing a strategy—a reset of our relationship with India—while also trying not to provoke any political backlash among voters who will be angered by such a reset. Maybe the government just doesn’t know what its plan is or how to message it.
A more restrained reaction from Mark Carney on the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran—less cheer-leading and more of the caution displayed by some European leaders—would have sat better at home.
No matter what the unnamed government official said, we can be fairly certain that there are agents of the Indian government who could pose a direct and credible threat to Sikh Canadians.
The prime minister is a highly accomplished man and has already established himself in world leadership ranks. He now needs to elevate the soft power of diplomacy over the hard power of militarism.
‘We can’t abandon our Canadian values for trade purposes,’ says former Chretien-era Liberal cabinet minister Herb Dhaliwal
Parties should move to implement watertight nomination and leadership processes to shut out hostile actors trying to influence Canadian politics.
The question is no longer whether we support Ukraine or not, but how we do so in a world where old assumptions no longer hold.
Appointing former B.C. chief elections officer Anton Boegman as the foreign influence and transparency commissioner is a ‘positive development,’ says the NDP, but Canadians shouldn’t expect the watchdog and registry to ‘catch spies,’ says Dan Stanton.
So as we continue to work on conventional rearmament, it’s worth keeping an eye on this. Because if there’s a way we can do this, we should.
This is the appropriate time for the government to beef up oversight and accountability mechanisms, not weaken them.
Canada needs to bolster its national security apparatus. That’s not a compelling reason to launch a new agency, which would be a disruptive, time consuming, and costly machinery change.
Now, more than ever, governments in Canada must invest in democratic innovations and demonstrate that democracy is about much more than marking a ballot every four years.
The Liberal government published the draft regulations for the long-awaited foreign agent registry nearly 18 months after royal assent, but opposition parties say they have yet to be consulted on a potential commissioner.
The world is watching U.S. President Donald Trump as he puts America on a collision course with democratically elected European governments and the European Union, says Canada’s former UN ambassador Bob Rae.
Lloyd Axworthy is right. Canada needs to be more engaged and prepared and we need to stick together, especially right now at a time of great upheaval and while Trump is trying to squeeze us out. Parliament, the government, the political parties should be working together for the sake of our country. Canada should also reach out to its European allies and put together a united front against any aggressive actions taken by the U.S. president that violate the international law.
The promised defence industrial strategy offers a significant opportunity to advance Canada’s innovation performance and the high-value jobs that should go with it. The biggest question is how we build the leadership and management skills that are essential for success.
P.E.I.’s call for an inquiry is proof that even provinces removed from the country’s geopolitical epicentres are feeling the ripple effects of foreign influence.
As relations rebuild with the Indian and Chinese governments, the Canadian government should be working just as hard to fulfill promises to protect people at home from transnational repression.
