Canada needs to take a harder line on 'evil authoritarian regimes' like China: senator

Following claims that Chinese agents interfered in recent Canadian elections and stole industry secrets from Hydro-Québec, Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos is calling on the Canadian government to take a much harder line against China — a country he describes as "an evil authoritarian regime."

Housakos has introduced a bill, S-237, that would establish a foreign influence registry in Canada — a system that would compel agents working on behalf of a foreign government to either register their interactions with public officials in Canada or face criminal penalties.

Under this proposed law, any foreign-backed agent who fails to declare any interaction with a "public office holder" — like a cabinet minister, an MP, a senator or a senior government official — could be charged with a crime and face hefty fines and up to two years in jail.

While the registry is meant to act as a deterrent, it also would empower police to charge people for things that are not necessarily criminal under current law.

The proposed registry is similar to registries that exist elsewhere in the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance (made up of Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom).

In the U.S., for example, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires people working for a "foreign principal" to publicly disclose their activities.

A number of former U.S. president Donald Trump's staffers were charged under the law after promoting foreign interests stateside.

The 1938 law was enacted in response to concerns about Nazi and communist propaganda in the U.S.

Housakos said Canada needs this sort of law now to deal with a different threat — an "increasingly belligerent" China.

Canada has a long list of grievances against Beijing that demand some sort of response, he added.

China has been accused of meddling in Canada's elections. A Chinese national was mysteriously fired from Canada's National Microbiology Lab. A Chinese national working at Hydro-Quebec has been criminally charged for alleged economic espionage. China's ambassador threatened MPs and senators with "forceful measures" as payback for Parliament describing China's treatment of its Uyghur minority as a genocide. And Beijing arbitrarily detained two Canadians for more than 1,000 days.

"There's no doubt countries like China, Iran, Russia, just to name a few of the evil authoritarian regimes, are trying to influence our institutions, our laws," Housakos told CBC News.

"All of these regimes are very active in Canada and we have a prime minister and a government that refuses to take concrete steps."

Bill S-237 represents "a small but important step" toward curbing that interference, he added.