goldstein: u.s. decades ahead of us in combatting foreign interference
after years of downplaying foreign interference in our ...
sep 11 2024
3 minute read
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after years of downplaying foreign interference in our democracy by china, the trudeau government has belatedly set its hair on fire about foreign interference by russia.
this in the wake of the u.s. department of justice announcing last week that it has charged two employees of rt, a russian state-controlled media outlet, in a covert $10-million scheme to create and distribute video content to north american audiences with pro-russian messaging, delivered by a handful of american and canadian podcasters.
the unsealed doj indictment also alleged a u.s. company that arranged and distributed this content was founded by two canadians.
in the wake of the doj announcement, public safety minister dominic leblanc said “any canadians who illegally assist in russia’s persistent attempts to use disinformation, criminal and covert activities, and corruption to undermine our sovereignty and democratic processes, will face the full force of canadian law.”
good to know.
liberal mps on the public safety and national security committee this week called for an emergency meeting to launch an investigation into canadian involvement in the scheme.
liberal mp chris bittle tweeted on x that “russia is using a canadian company to spread far-right, russian propaganda. our democracy is at stake. canadians deserve answers.”
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indeed we do, including why canada still doesn’t have an operational foreign influence transparency registry, which the u.s. has had since 1938 and under which the doj laid its charges.
the u.s. foreign agents registration act (fara) requires foreign agents engaged in political activities in the u.s. to disclose their relationship with the foreign power they represent, as well as money paid in support of their activities.
the doj indictment charges two russian nationals with conspiracy to violate fara and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
it hasn’t charged the podcasters, who said that as far as they knew, they were being paid by a u.s.-based company, that they retained editorial control of their podcasts and that it is not illegal to express views the doj considers pro-russian or intended to cause political divisions in the u.s.
the alleged crime is not the content of the podcasts but that the money these podcasters were paid — about $100,000 per video — was supplied by russian operatives using false identities.
obviously, canada needs to take this issue seriously, including the long-standing failure of the trudeau government to respond to this type of foreign interference.
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after years of downplaying foreign interference by china, the trudeau liberals were finally compelled by mounting public and opposition pressure to create a foreign interference registry as part of bill c-70 — an act respecting countering foreign interference.
it was unanimously passed by parliament and given royal assent in june.
but we’re still a long way from having a working registry — details to come, according to the trudeau government — despite the fact the u.s., our closest ally, has had one for 86 years.
the reason the liberals are suddenly committed to examining this type of foreign interference by russia is that they hope to link the conservatives to the podcasters in part by arguing they express similar views.
the real concern is that no measures to counter foreign interference will be effective unless our government has the political will to implement them; issues the liberals ignored and downplayed for years until they were finally forced to act in the face of public and opposition pressure critical of their lack of response to interference by china.
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