Ottawa to announce countermeasures to election interference
Thestar.com
January 30, 2019
Alex Boutilier
The Liberal government plans to unveil countermeasures to protect this year’s federal election from foreign interference Wednesday, and is expected to reveal how Canadian voters will be informed of foreign meddling in domestic affairs.
Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould will speak to reporters in Ottawa about the government’s plans, which are the result of months of planning between agencies including Canada’s spies, foreign affairs bureaucrats and election authorities.
Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould will speak to reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday about the government’s plans to protect this year’s federal election from foreign interference.
The announcement comes a day after The Logic reported Ottawa plans to spend $7 million on awareness campaigns to make Canadians more resilient to bad information on the internet. Gould’s office refused to confirm the report.
The Star reported in December that a multi-agency push -- including spy agencies like the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Communications Security Establishment, along with Global Affairs Canada and the Privy Council Office -- have been working for months on a plan to address potential meddling by foreign powers in this October’s election.
Wednesday’s announcement is expected to detail how voters will be warned about election interference. The question of how public servants will alert the Canadian public about election interference, while not appearing to interfere with the election themselves, has been top of mind for non-partisan bureaucrats.
It also comes as Ottawa is facing pressure to bolster Canada’s defence against the kind of meddling seen by some of Canada’s closest allies, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
A new report by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank, released earlier this month, made sweeping recommendations about how to combat disinformation campaigns, specifically attempts by Russia and Russian-backed individuals to subvert or influence this year’s election.
“As Canada approaches the 2019 federal elections, the government must pay closer attention to disinformation and influence campaigns that target Canadian media, decision-makers, civil society, and other groups,” said the report.
“The information warfare that the Kremlin is currently engaged in against Canada and its allies is total, and its objective is to tear apart our society and undermine our trust in our government, media institutions, and each other.
“We must be prepared for a very long fight.”
Russia is the most commonly cited culprit, after the U.S. intelligence community accused the Kremlin of meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by backing Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Similar allegations have been made around elections in France, in Germany, and during the Brexit referendum in the U.K.
There’s no reason that Canada should be spared from such interference, wrote researcher Marcus Kolga.
Kolga argued the government should develop ways to detect and identify disinformation campaigns, including those launched by proxy groups. The government should mount a national media literacy campaign, so the public can be more discerning when it comes to information found online. Overt propaganda, such as the RT television network, should be regulated with warnings, Kolga said, and Ottawa should work with social media companies to staunch the disinformation flowing through its platforms.
Federal authorities should also develop relationships with ethnic communities and religious leaders, to help counter disinformation campaigns specifically targeting diaspora communities.
The recommendations are ambitious, at least compared to the modest election law tweaking and public education measures the Liberal government has taken to date.
The Star requested an interview with Alexander Darchiev, the Russian ambassador to Canada, and provided detailed questions. That request was not returned Tuesday.
