OTTAWA, ON, June 3, 2024 /CNW/ – Today, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, issued the following statement:
“Today in Parliament, our government tabled the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians’ (NSICOP) Special Report on Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Processes and Institutions.
The Government of Canada welcomes NSICOP’s report and thanks its members for their work in putting the report together. We will consider the Committee’s recommendations as part of our work to continuously refine and adapt our measures to counter foreign interference.
There are, however, elements of the report with which the government respectfully disagrees. The government’s concerns center around the interpretation of intelligence reports, which lacked the necessary caveats inherent to intelligence, as well as the lack of acknowledgment of the full breadth of outreach that has been done with respect to informing parliamentarians about the threat posed by foreign interference.
The Committee rightly stresses that all parliamentarians must be part of the solution – and the government wholly agrees with that view.
The government will also consider the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency’s (NSIRA) review on foreign interference in the 43rd and 44th federal general elections, and the Initial Report from the Public Inquiry on Foreign Interference, and looks forward to receiving the recommendations from the final report from the Public Inquiry later this year.
Canada has recently put in place several measures to protect people in Canada and ensure that Canada’s democratic system remains free and fair. Notably, the government recently introduced Bill C-70, An Act respecting countering foreign interference, and Bill C-65, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act, both of which will further our efforts to combat foreign interference and protect Canada’s democratic processes and institutions.
Much work has been done over the last number of years to further strengthen Canada’s safeguards against foreign interference, and these reports will help further inform and bolster these efforts.
Once again, I would like to thank all the members of NSICOP for their work in carrying out their important mandate.”
Quick Facts
In 2019, the government put in place the Plan to protect Canada’s democracy that includes measures to strengthen our electoral system against disinformation and cyber threats. The plan includes initiatives such as the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol (CEIPP), the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, the Digital Citizen Initiative, the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism and the Canada Declaration on Election Integrity Online. The plan was updated in 2021, in order to renew or improve certain key elements.As part of ensuring that Canadians can continue to have confidence in the strength and the resilience of Canada’s democracy, the Prime Minister requested that a review be conducted by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), and spoke with the Chair of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) about a review on foreign interference during the 43rd and 44th federal general elections.The government has taken several steps to ensure that MPs are adequately warned on the threat of foreign interference.In December 2020, Minister Blair sent a lengthy and detailed letter to all Parliamentarians, describing the threat of foreign interference.Newly-elected MPs receive a series of security briefings from the House of Commons;The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) has increased the number of defensive briefings it provides to elected officials. According to CSIS’s 2023 public report, these increased by 31% to 122 in 2023, including 19 to federal elected officials in 2023 alone.In 2019 and 2021, political parties received dedicated threat briefings at the Secret level from Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force.
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Backgrounder: Protecting Canada’s Democratic Institutions from Foreign InterferenceNSICOP Report: Special Report on Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Processes and Institutions
SOURCE Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs
