There are clearly a lot of institutions that are pretending to be civil institutions but that in fact, as we know from some of the leaked CSIS documents, are under the supervision of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party. We know that some of those leaders, 100- some in number, have been vetted by the Chinese embassy. One can assume that those institutions to some extent have a mandate to serve Chinese purposes. They often have addresses that are the same as the so-called police stations that we are concerned about, where the Chinese government is engaging in activities off-site that probably involve some degree of influence or espionage activities.
I think we need more transparency on that. The commissioner can provide that kind of information so people are aware, when they're dealing with institutions that may have a function which serves the interests of a foreign state in addition to their social function, that these are institutions that sign petitions in newspapers that support the Hong Kong national security law, urge that Meng Wanzhou be released early, or other things that the Chinese government feels are positive and that probably most Canadians would feel are not in the Canadian interest.
That being said, I think people have the right to have a political choice, and if their political choices correspond with the interests of China in Canada, that's well within their rights as Canadian citizens.
What it really comes down to is whether they are receiving funding or support from a foreign power. When you look at things coming up on the Internet for elections, it's perfectly legitimate for governments to put together videos of politicians saying things they wish they hadn't said or doing embarrassing things. However, if those videos are funded and supported by a foreign power, it's a different level of participation in our democratic process.