Evidence of meeting #40 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was registry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
Okay. It certainly doesn't exactly instill confidence, I would submit.
I was going to say that there was a 3% compliance rate. Based upon Public Safety numbers, there's a 1% compliance rate, and in answer to a question posed by Ms. Normandin, you said you're satisfied with everything and it's good. Shouldn't alarm bells be going off with a compliance rate of 1%?
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
I think that, if you look at the estimates that were done, my understanding is that the estimates show a range of registrations that may be required over the course of a registration period, not instantaneously, not all at once. There are different political and government processes—
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
But 1%? Thirty out of a potential 2,422 based on Public Safety's numbers is not even coming close to scratching the surface.
I just want to be clear that if you are acting on behalf of a foreign principal to engage in political or governmental processes and are subject to registration, that's not an option, is it?
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
It's not an option.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
It's not an option, and if you don't, you're breaking the law, aren't you?
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
If you don't, you're breaking the law, yes.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
What steps is your office taking to enforce the law?
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
As I said, we are looking at the registration requirements. We are looking at those registration submissions that come in. We are working with partners to identify potential instances where registration should be—
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
You may be doing a lot of looking, but you're not doing a lot of acting.
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
The registration deadline was October 3. Prior to that—
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
Are you in the process of issuing any notices of violation?
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
Not currently, no.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
Are you in the process of opening any investigations?
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
We have not yet reviewed fully all of the information that was received over the weekend.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
You've just explained you've taken zero steps. You're not even in the process of taking steps to enforce the law.
Do I have that right?
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
No. We are taking steps to enforce the law. However, we have not yet commenced any work on that side. The registration deadline recently passed, and we're currently looking at all the registration submissions that we have seen. We're currently validating those, and we are currently determining whether we need to take any additional steps.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
In short, you've done nothing with 1%, but, as you said to Ms. Normandin, you're satisfied with that.
Now I want to turn to another matter, and that is the privacy breach that your office committed in relation to retired diplomat and prominent China expert, Dr. Charles Burton.
Dr. Burton submitted a submission to register, and when your office replied, the reply was sent not to Dr. Burton but to a third party and, as a consequence, disclosed personal information of Dr. Burton's that was intended for your office. It constituted a privacy breach, did it not?
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
That's correct.
October 6th, 2026 / 11:25 a.m.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
Okay.
Dr. Burton has been targeted by the Beijing regime. He has been told by CSIS that his encrypted communications are being monitored and have been monitored since 2012. He was detained in 2018 by Beijing's ministry of state security, the same ministry, by the way, that the Carney government has entered into a law enforcement co-operation agreement with, as surreal as that is. Dr. Burton is the target of Beijing's transnational repression activities, and his information, which was in the care of your office, was recklessly leaked to a third party.
Given that, how can other Canadians who want to register and are the targets of hostile foreign states have any confidence that your office will properly safeguard their personal information?
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
Protecting personal information is, of course, a priority for the office. The information in the leak regarding Mr. Burton was a misdirected email. It had information related to the registration number. No other personal details were contained in it. Of course, it should not have happened.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
How many other emails have been sent to a third party?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Chris Bittle
We are over time. Thank you so much.
We'll go to Ms. Mingarelli for five minutes.
Liberal
Giovanna Mingarelli Liberal Prescott—Russell—Cumberland, ON
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being with us today, Mr. Boegman.
We often assume foreign interference targets elections, but strategic sectors, such as agritech, may be equally valuable targets.
Is Canada's new registry designed to expose those activities, or will it largely depend on the voluntary co-operation of the very actors it seeks to monitor?
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada
The mandate is broad. The registry is designed to be activity-focused, not country- or sector-specific. If there are activities in any of these sectors that meet the requirements of the law, then the individuals or entities who are doing the influence activities on behalf of the foreign principal would need to register. That would happen in agribusiness, it would happen in other business sectors, it would happen in procurement and it would happen in academia. Our focus has been to identify sectors and sector organizations so we can work with them to make sure those sectors are aware of what the registration obligations are.