By Geoff Russ, July 9, 2024
Foreign interference is no longer just a threat to Canada – it has already arrived. In fact, it’s a cancer poisoning our political system, posing the gravest internal danger to our collective security since the Cold War.
As an open, participatory democracy, our political parties are the entry point for bad actors serving foreign interests. Our democracy is also cyclical, with the Liberals and Conservatives competing to form government.
The Liberals are far more exposed to entryism by foreign agents due to their very loose membership process, which enables anybody over the age of 14 and possessing a Canadian address to vote in leadership elections. This is something the Liberals must fix if Canada is to maintain the integrity of its democratic process.
After almost a decade in government, the Liberals are on track for a punishing defeat in the next federal election. The party has sustained devastating losses many times before, and always found ways to recover, even after 2011 when the party was reduced to less than 40 seats and pundits began to predict their demise.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has led the party since 2013 and is determined to lead the Liberals into the next federal election. If he loses, which looks increasingly likely, the way that his successor wins the party leadership should be a grave concern.
Foreign agents from authoritarian states like China and Iran, and even from democratic nations like India, are actively trying to influence the outcomes of our elections. At the same time, the power and sway of diaspora politics is growing in Canada, evidenced most notably by the widespread and ongoing anti-Israel/pro-Palestine demonstrations in cities and on college campuses across the country.
On June 21, 2024, the Liberals suffered a crushing defeat in a byelection for a seat in the party’s thought-to-be stronghold of Toronto-St. Paul’s. Remarkably, the Conservative candidate eked out a win despite a heavy campaign blitz of the riding by several Liberal Cabinet members, as well as by Liberal volunteers from across the Greater Toronto Area.
The loss indicates that the Liberal grassroots membership is weaker than ever. Riding association meetings are becoming sparsely attended, and polls have consistently displayed a collapsing enthusiasm for the party.
Who are the Liberal Party’s “grassroots” members? Traditionally, they are Liberal supporters who are attracted to the party’s policies as they pertain to Canada. They see the party as a vessel to better the lives of all Canadians, first and foremost – via national child care or dental care program, or by combatting climate change and the like. Foreign affairs, while important, are not the chief priority for grassroots members, nor is pandering to diaspora politics.
If grassroots members cannot muster the numbers in the next leadership election, the party’s loose membership rules could see it further hijacked by diaspora politics or, even worse, the interests of foreign governments.
Former Liberal MP Han Dong left the party to sit as an Independent last year following investigative reporting that implicated him in having been part of foreign influence efforts on behalf of the Chinese government. It is important to note that Dong has not been charged with any crimes, and a judge recently found no “documented evidence” to support the allegations.
However, Dong has testified during a public inquiry that international students voted “en masse” for his 2019 nomination campaign to be the Liberal candidate for the Toronto riding of Don Valley North. According to Dong himself, these international students attended New Oriental International College in Markham, Ontario, and he believes most of them did vote for his candidacy.
Further reporting has revealed that the United Front Work Department (UFWD), a branch of the Communist Party of China, has interfered in political systems across Canada, Australia, and the United States.
Overt foreign interference, at the behest of the Chinese government, allegedly took place in several ridings during the 2021 federal election, with the intent of weakening or defeating Conservative Party incumbents – perhaps in retaliation for then-Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’s hardline stance against China’s Communist government.
Unless steps are taken now to crack down on foreign interference, it’s entirely possible that future elections will see thousands of temporary residents marshalled to vote for specific candidates who see the interests of foreign governments as paramount. This applies not just to Chinese interference, but also to the Iranian government, whose Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have an active presence in Canada.
Anti-IRGC activists in Canada’s Iranian diaspora – such as Mojdeh Shahriari of StopIRGC – already claim that the IRGC has infiltrated Canada in a similar way to China. The IRGC was recently listed as a terrorist group by the federal government, but its influence is unlikely to be fully curbed without a massive operation involving CSIS and the RCMP that could take years.
While foreign interference is certainly alarming, another more subtle threat to Canadian democracy is the growing focus on diaspora politics that sees powerful and influential voting blocs exacerbate fault lines and fissures in modern society. Often tied to conflicts abroad, such as the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, these groups are attempting to turn Canada away from its traditional allies.Diaspora politics is not a new phenomenon – it dates back hundreds of years. In 1885, the large Irish Catholic diaspora in Liverpool, England, helped elect an Irish nationalist politician to the United Kingdom’s House of Commons. However, Ireland was still a constituent part of the United Kingdom, barely a day’s sail away from England, and Irish independence was a domestic matter.
In Canada, diaspora politics is increasingly focused on using Canada’s power and influence to impact affairs on the world stage. Increasingly media savvy, diaspora groups – often well-financed with foreign funding – are increasingly using social media (especially TikTok) to spread propaganda that sows dissent and undermines Canadian sovereignty. The success of these influence campaigns is seen today in the antisemitic campus protests and anti-Israel activism that runs rampant in communities across the country.
Without strong party membership rules, diaspora forces beholden to China, Iran, or other authoritarian regimes could supplant grassroots members.
Canada needs firm laws dictating the internal operations of political parties. Membership in those parties should be restricted to citizens and permanent residents across the board. And entrusting the future of our country to teenagers as young as 14 – malleable minds at a severe risk to foreign influence via social media – is a recipe for disaster.
It’s important to state the obvious – most Canadians, regardless of their ancestries, are loyal to Canada. And while it is not unreasonable for Canadian citizens to have attachments to their ancestral countries, their first allegiance must be to Canada.
So, what can be done? The Hogue Commission investigating foreign interference is a positive step, as are calls to create a foreign agents registry. However, this is not enough.
A recent exchange in the Canadian Senate highlighted the complicated issue of competing loyalties. During a debate over the need for a foreign agent registry, British Columbia senator Yuen Pau Woo asked the following question: “What advice would you give to Chinese Canadians who want to build good ties with their motherland – build good ties with the People’s Republic of China – and who want to participate in charitable activities in Canada for the benefit of Canadians?”
Senator Percy Downe of PEI responded with the following: “Obviously, the first comment I would have is, that I know many Canadians of Chinese descent who consider Canada the motherland, not China, and their loyalty is to Canada, not to China. That’s what we expect from all our citizens.”
Senator Downe was absolutely correct. Indeed, Chinese Canadians have borne the brunt of Beijing’s most aggressive efforts to interfere in Canadian affairs.
While the Liberal government may fall in the next federal election, the party itself has a track record of rising, phoenix-like, from the ashes of political defeat. That’s why all Canadians have a stake in ensuring that foreign interference is removed from its internal party elections.
For the sake of our democracy, the Liberal Party must reform its membership process and safeguard it against diaspora politics and foreign interference. Canada cannot risk having major political parties co-opted by foreign governments.
Geoff Russ is a writer and policy analyst based in Vancouver, and a former reporter with The Hub.