As the prime minister travels to China this week in a bid to reset the fractured diplomatic and trade relationship, critics and diaspora groups are accusing his government of slow-walking the long-awaited foreign influence registry to prioritize economic concerns over safeguarding Canada’s democratic institutions.
“If this government is looking to move forward with expanding trade with China, they need to do it with eyes wide open and the proper safeguards to protect Canadians,” NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.) told The Hill Times. “They have failed entirely on that.”
Kwan, her party’s public safety and national security critic, accused Prime Minister Mark Carney (Nepean, Ont.) of “dragging his feet” on the implementation of the long-awaited Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act (FITAA), Bill C-70, despite its expedited passage with the support of every opposition party in June 2024.
The draft regulations for the bill were published earlier this month in the Canada Gazette, beginning a 30-day consultation period that ends on Feb. 2.
The draft details the requirements for the proposed Foreign Influence Registry, including information that organizations and individuals operating in Canada will need to provide when entering into an agreement with a foreign entity to influence Canadian institutions and officials.
Businesses, financial trusts and partnerships, non-profits and charities, and educational institutions would all be required to register as part of the proposed registry, with identifying information regarding those involved and the details of the arrangement, including the purpose and nature of the influence activity, published in a public registry.
The regulations also lay out the administrative monetary penalties for non-compliance or failing to register within 14 days of entering into an agreement, ranging from $50 to $1-million, as well as criminal penalties for more serious infractions, with a maximum fine of up to $5-million and/or up to five years in prison.
The document estimates that approximately 872 individuals and 1,550 businesses would be affected by the proposed regulations, with roughly 1,767 registrants required to submit information annually, and an estimated additional 54 new registrants each year. Those estimates are based on registration rates under Australia’s foreign agent registry, which it set up in 2018.
The proposed regulations cannot be fully implemented until Carney’s government appoints a commissioner to head the registry.
Last August, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree (Scarborough–Guildwood–Rouge Park, Ont.) told CBC News the long-awaited commissioner would be named in September 2025, with the registry to launch later in the fall.
According to the legislation, the appointment of the commissioner is to be made after consultations with the leader of the opposition, the leader of each “recognized party” with at least 12 members in the House of Commons, and leaders of every other recognized party or parliamentary group in the Senate. The appointment will also require approval by resolution in both parliamentary chambers.
In a statement to The Hill Times, Simon Lafortune, Anandasangaree’s press secretary, said that the registry can only be officially launched once the regulations have been finalized and the commissioner has been appointed, and that a secure IT solution will be procured through a third-party contract.
The regulations estimate a cost of $1.25-million in 2026 for the development and acquisition of the IT system, with annual maintenance and support costs estimated at $500,000 per year until 2030.
“The regulations are an essential step in getting the registry up and running, [and] establish requirements necessary to implement FITAA, including the necessary details to establish the registry,” wrote Lafortune. “The creation of the registry will also help to strengthen Canada’s democratic institutions and political processes by discouraging covert or deceptive foreign influence activities. Foreign influence transparency remains a priority for the Government of Canada, and we will be launching the registry as soon as possible.”
In a Jan. 12 statement, Kwan wrote that Canadians are being asked “to trust a system that does not yet exist,” and that the continued delay in appointing a commissioner for the registry “undermines the Hogue Commission’s findings and further puts Canadian democracy at risk.”
Conservative MP Frank Caputo called the Liberals’ continued delays ‘no surprise’ and demonstrated the Carney Liberals are not ‘a government that takes foreign interference seriously.’ The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
“Equally troubling is the fact that the government’s proposed regulations do not fully comply with the intention of the Act itself,” Kwan wrote, noting that “Parliament was explicit” in its intention that it apply to officials from all levels of government.
Additionally, Kwan criticized the lack of registration requirements for individuals linked to foreign-funded institutions or media outlets, “which only serves to undermine confidence and accountability in the system” and leaves “Canadians in the dark.”
In an interview with The Hill Times on Jan. 9, Kwan said the Liberals “can have regulations coming out of your eyeballs, but if there’s no one to enforce them, it doesn’t matter.”
“It’s 2026, and we still have yet to appoint a commissioner,” Kwan said. “Carney is dragging his feet and not taking seriously the damage foreign interference can do to this country.”
While Kwan said that the Carney government is sending the message to Canadians—particularly diaspora communities in the crosshairs of transnational repression—that their concerns about foreign interference are not a priority, she said that same message is also being sent to the perpetrators.
“The Liberals are sending a clear message to those foreign interference actors that this is not a priority for the government, and they can continue to run amok,” Kwan said.
Economic engagement cannot trump democratic integrity, say diaspora groups
Diaspora groups who spoke with The Hill Times said that Carney’s trip to China this week while leaving Canada without an operational foreign influence registry “underscores a critical gap in Canada’s ability to address foreign interference and “leaves Canadians without basic transparency.”
“At a time of heightened geopolitical tension, this lack of accountability undermines public trust and weakens democratic safeguards,” said Landson Chan, a spokesperson for Hong Kong Watch. “Economic engagement must not come at the expense of democratic integrity or human rights. Trade discussions cannot overshadow the responsibility to protect Canada’s institutions and electoral processes.”
Chan added that while Carney’s trip is being presented as an effort to strengthen trade and investment, “Canada can pursue global engagement without compromising its values.”
Gloria Fung, a spokesperson for the Canadian Foreign Influence Transparency Registry Coalition, told The Hill Times that she has difficulty explaining the delay in implementing the registry, aside from concerns about “offending China.”
“I wonder whether our government has forgotten all the lessons we learned from the exposure of malicious foreign interference through the public inquiry,” Fung said, pointing to the findings in Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s final Foreign Interference Commission report, released last January.
Released Jan. 28, 2025, Hogue’s report warned that “the fight against foreign interference will be a never-ending battle” requiring “relentless effort and perseverance,” and that China is the “most active perpetrator of state-based foreign interference” in Canada, followed by India.
Stephanie Carvin, an assistant professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, says the trade and foreign interference agendas need to progress ‘hand in hand, not one or the other.’ Handout photograph
“Canada cannot seek to recalibrate trade with China at the expense of our national security,” Fung said. “I really want to give the prime minister a serious warning to remember the lessons learned from our previous over-reliance on China.”
National security expert and former Canadian Security Intelligence Service analyst Stephanie Carvin told The Hill Times that while Canada can’t afford to ignore an economy of nearly 1.5 billion people, she is concerned that the Carney government is “moving full steam ahead” without taking the necessary steps to safeguard Canada’s national security and its diaspora communities.
“It’s obvious that the trade agenda has overtaken the foreign interference agenda, given the threats from the United States, but these two issues should move hand in hand, not one or the other,” Carvin said. “So it’s unfortunate that [the latter] has fallen so far behind, because it sends the signal that the government isn’t as concerned as it should be—intentionally or not.”
“Jumping into these negotiations without taking steps to reassure those communities’ that you are addressing their concerns is just adding complications to his overall agenda,” Carvin added. “If those communities felt more reassured about foreign interference, I think it would make it easier overall for Carney to advance his trade agenda.”
