Influence registry will deter few foreign agents without independent enforcement, say national security experts

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Nearly two years after tabling the initial legislation, the government’s belated nomination of a former British Columbia Elections head to oversee the foreign agents registry is “better late than never,” say NDP public safety critic Jenny Kwan.

Though the Foreign Influence Transparency Registry is not expected to be a “silver bullet” against election interference or transnational repression, much work remains before it is locked and loaded to address the problem, and lingering concerns remain about who will ultimately determine its aim, according to national security experts.

“I really hope Canadians don't take this as some sort of silver bullet,” national security expert Dan Stanton told The Hill Times. “I think the registry is going to be good for elections and as due diligence to buttress the Lobbying Act, but I think a lot of Canadians believe it’s going to catch spies, and it won’t.”

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Interim NDP Leader Don Davies says Boegman's appointment is a 'positive development,' but called the nearly two-year delay in setting up the foreign influence registry 'inexcusable.' The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Davies also added that, while he appreciated the heads-up, his colleague and his party’s public safety critic, Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), had not been provided the same courtesy, despite her “driving force” in pushing the government to act.

Kwan, who has been warned by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that she is an “evergreen target” of interference and repression by the Chinese government due to her advocacy on human rights, told reporters she was “cautiously optimistic” and welcomed Boegman’s appointment as “better late than never,” but that the work was far from over.

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While Stanton said he is generally optimistic about the nominee selection and the independence of the eventually operational registry, one of his primary concerns is that the average Canadian may expect more from it than it can deliver.

Stanton said the registry will create the appearance of deterrence against clandestine influence operations, but the vast majority of registrants will do so for benign relationships and agreements. However, he added that malicious actors would never register in the first place, nor would any proposed financial or criminal penalty be sufficient to deter them in the most extreme cases.

“I don’t want to sound like a downer, but this registry is just ticking a box,” Stanton explained. “The government shouldn’t be let off the hook simply because we have a registry; it’s not going to make us safer on its own. That requires better counterintelligence and law enforcement.”

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