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For the week of Feb.9, 2025:

Super Bowl LIX Sunday. The biggest day of the year for American sport, TV and gambling.

Declan Hill of the University of New Haven (UNH)

Canadian investigative reporter and academic Declan Hill says the explosion of government-blessed betting on both sides of the U.S./Canada border threatens the integrity of sport and the health of sports fans.

Hill is associate professor at the University of New Haven Sports Integrity Center, Crime Waves podcast host and author of two books on match-fixing. He is Bob Mackin’s guest on this week’s edition of thePodcast. 

Plus hear from Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. What does he promise to beef-up security at Canada’s un-policed ports? 

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

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thePodcast: How legalized sports gambling could ruin Super Sunday
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For the week of Feb.9, 2025: Super Bowl

Bob Mackin

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre vowed Feb. 5 to beef-up security at Canada’s ports to stop shipments of fentanyl and precursor chemicals.

But he was noncommittal when asked if that would include restoring the Ports Canada Police or installing RCMP detachments on the docks. Despite national security warnings, Jean Chretien’s Liberal government defunded the force in 1997.

Poilievre came to Tymac Launch Service, with DP World’s Centerm in the background, on one of Vancouver’s coldest mornings of the year. He proposed life jail sentences for fentanyl kingpins as part of his reaction to Donald Trump’s tariff threats. Poilievre was joined by Delta candidate Jessy Sahota, a constable in the Delta Police.

theBreaker.news also asked Poilievre about the war of words in the Conservative nomination contest for Richmond East-Steveston.

As theBreaker.news reported, in the wake of the Hogue Commission’s final report, challenger Wai Young (an ex-Vancouver South MP) is peddling disinformation against her rival, the riding’s 2019-2021 MP Kenny Chiu. The foreign interference inquiry’s report confirmed China worked to unseat Chiu and other Conservatives in 2021.

CLICK AND WATCH theBreaker.news questions for Poilievre.

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Bob Mackin Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre vowed Feb.

Bob Mackin

A former Conservative Member of Parliament on the comeback trail shot back at his opponent for the Richmond East-Steveston nomination.

Kenny Chiu called Wai Young “reckless, dishonest and unfit for public office” after her response to the Jan. 28-released Hogue Commission public inquiry final report.

Kenny Chiu at David Lam Park during the June 4, 2024 Tiananmen Square Massacre memorial (Mackin)

Young sent a Jan. 30 email to her supporters, headlined “No Evidence of Foreign Interference: Richmond Rift Can Now Heal.” In it, she claimed “thousands” of people in Richmond told her they accused Chiu of dividing the community and helping increase Asian hate and racism.

Chiu said in a Feb. 3 statement that, by equating discussions of foreign interference with racism, Young is mirroring “the exact language used by foreign regimes to shut down dissent and intimidate critics.”

“This is not about political games—it is about the security and sovereignty of Canada,” said Chiu, a guest on this week’s edition of thePodcast. “Every other major democracy has taken decisive action against foreign interference. Why is Wai Young fighting so hard to stop Canada from doing the same?”

The Hogue Commission confirmed Chinese government actors meddled in the 2019 and 2021 elections. The 2019-elected Chiu originally proposed a foreign agents registry, but became the target of a Chinese social media disinformation campaign before Liberal Parm Bains upset him in the 2021 election. A leaked Canadian Security Intelligence Service report said Chinese consul general Tong Xiaoling had worked to replace Chiu with a Liberal candidate.

“Young’s eagerness to declare the issue ‘resolved’ ignores the fact that the Conservative Party of Canada was among the victims of false narrative disinformation in 2021,” Chiu said. “Many Chinese-Canadians were targeted and harassed by foreign state actors—something she conveniently refuses to acknowledge.”

From Wai Young’s Jan. 30 email to supporters of her nomination campaign (Wai Young)

Investigators from the Commissioner of Canada Elections found indications that Chinese government officials directed an anti-Conservative campaign in 2021 that was “carried out and amplified by an array of associations and individuals using various communication channels.”

Former leader party Erin O’Toole testified before Hogue that foreign interference cost the Conservatives as many as nine seats in the 2021 election. In 2023, a Chinese diplomat was expelled for targeting relatives of Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong.

Young was a one-term, Vancouver South Conservative MP, elected in 2011 and defeated in 2015 by Liberal Harjit Sajjan. In 2018, she finished fourth in the race for Vancouver’s mayoralty.

Young’s Coalition Vancouver party received endorsement from the Wenzhou Friendship Society, a Richmond organization aligned with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Vancouver Consulate.

Hogue’s report said the Chinese government relies on proxies, individuals or organizations that take explicit or implicit direction to engage in foreign interference.

The Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, Hogue wrote, “tries to control and influence Chinese diaspora communities, shape international opinions and influence politicians to support PRC policies.”

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Bob Mackin A former Conservative Member of Parliament

Bob Mackin

Five hours after Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum vowed to send 10,000 national guard members to its border with the U.S., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has vowed similar on X (formerly Twitter).

“Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are and will be working on protecting the border,” Trudeau said. “In addition, Canada is making new commitments to appoint a Fentanyl Czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada- U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering.”

The Florida Panthers, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the Stanley Cup visited President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Feb. 3. (Margo Martin/X)

“Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together.”

Trudeau also said he earmarked $200 billion under a new intelligence directive to battle organized crime and fentanyl. Trudeau had previously promised to spend $1.3 billion on more officers and equipment on the border.

The announcement came at 4:36 p.m. Ottawa time, less than five hours before the scheduled 25% U.S. tariffs (10% on energy) and Canadian counter-tariffs were to come into effect. Earlier, when a reporter asked Trump what Canada could do to avoid the tariffs, Trump reiterated that Canada should “become our 51st state.”

It also came the same day that Trump hosted a quintessential symbol of Canada — the Stanley Cup — along with the reigning champion Florida Panthers and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman at the White House.

Trump posed with a custom gift Panthers’ jersey and the Cup on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. A Canadian team has not won the Stanley Cup since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens.

Between Sheinbaum and Trudeau’s announcements, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre laid out a six-point plan at a hastily called news conference in Vancouver. Poilievre proposed immediately stationing Canadian Forces troops at the border and adding 2,000 Canada Border Services agents.

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Bob Mackin Five hours after Mexico’s President Claudia

All the big five U.S. networks featured Donald Trump’s controversial tariffs against Canada during their weekly Sunday political talk shows on Feb. 2.

Guests included B.C. Premier David Eby (FOX), Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland (CNN), Ambassador Kirsten Hillman (ABC), Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem (NBC) and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (CBS).

CLICK AND WATCH highlights of an unprecedented Sunday in North American politics and media.

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Bob Mackin All the big five U.S. networks

Bob Mackin

Consumers brace for economic upheaval on both sides of the border. Reporter’s notebook on Day 1 of the biggest, cross-border war of words in more than 160 years

Timing is everything

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) and President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November 2024. (Sen. Dave McCormick/X)

A day of drama on Feb. 1. Twelve days after Donald Trump’s second presidency began. Thirty-six days before the Liberal Party chooses a replacement for the resigning Justin Trudeau, likely Mark Carney.

Feb. 1 was also 495 days until the kickoff of the FIFA World Cup 26 — when the governments of the U.S., Canada and Mexico are supposed to work together to host the biggest single-sport event in history. (Three quarters of matches in the U.S., including the final. The remaining 25% split by Canada and Mexico).

Trump set Feb. 4 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern/Feb. 3 at 9:01 p.m. as the effective date for 25% tariffs on Canadian goods (except for 10% on energy).

Why did Trump choose Feb. 4? One clue. It’s the anniversary of George Washington’s 1789 election as the first president.

Trump blames fentanyl

Feb. 1 was also the day after the second anniversary of the NDP-requested, Trudeau Liberal-approved decriminalization of small amounts of hard drugs in B.C. (including fentanyl).

Trump’s 2,083-word Executive Order is titled “Imposing Duties to Address the Flow of Illicit Drugs Across Our Northern Border,” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and National Emergencies Act.

It cited the Jan. 23-published, Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre “Operational Alert, Laundering the Proceeds of Illicit Synthetic Opioids,” produced with RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency, Homeland Security Investigations, Canada Post and CIBC. The report “recognized Canada’s heightened domestic production of fentanyl, largely from British Columbia, and its growing footprint within international narcotics distribution.”

The week before U.S. election day, on Hallowe’en, the RCMP announced the Oct. 25 “take down [of the] largest, most sophisticated drug superlab” in Falkland, B.C.

The RCMP news release said the lab had the potential to produce 95.5 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl.

In December, thePodcast featured Peter German, the chair of the Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute and author of a report about one of Canada’s biggest vulnerabilities: the un-policed ports.

Stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight

Instead of following protocol, Eby went first. He spoke alone, seated at a table in his downtown Vancouver office for eight minutes, looking straight into the camera at 4:30 p.m. Pacific.

Trudeau appeared after an unexplained three-hour delay, at 9:11 p.m. Eastern. He spoke standing up for 13-minutes, flanked by Public Safety Minister David McGuinty, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, three officials whose trips to Washington, D.C. failed to stop Trump.

Trudeau said Canada would slap a 25% counter-tariff on $155 billion of U.S. goods —$30 billion to start and $125 billion in three weeks.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) and B.C. Premier David Eby (CPAC)

Trudeau downplays security threats

“We have one of the strongest, more secure borders in the world between Canada and the United States. As I said, less than 1% of fentanyl going into the United States comes from Canada. Less than 1% of illegal migrants going into the United States come from Canada.”

Trudeau quoted seizure figures. For obvious reasons, smugglers do not declare their cross-border shipments.

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B.C. Presidential history

Eby mentioned President Warren G. Harding’s 1923 visit to Stanley Park, the first presidential visit to Canada. Some 50,000 attended the Vancouver rally. (Eby didn’t mention that Republican Harding died a week later in San Francisco.)

He also mentioned Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 visit to sign the Columbia River Treaty, but strategically omitted Bill Clinton’s two Vancouver visits (Clinton-Yeltsin Summit 1994 and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit 1997) and Joe Biden’s two vice-presidential visits (Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony and Canada 2015 Women’s World Cup final).

Then: Pig War. Now: Bigly War.

The Trump-Trudeau trade war is the biggest cross-border war of words since the Pig War of 1859 to 1871.

Sparked by an American farmer shooting a pig owned by a Hudson’s Bay Co.-employed rancher on disputed San Juan Island. Compensation talks broke down, so American and British soldiers were called-in and a stand-off lasted a dozen years. The Treaty of Washington, led by Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, defined the border as we know it today, with San Juan Island in Washington State.

Hit the Road, Jack

B.C. Liquor Stores will no longer stock American liquor from red states. That includes Jack Daniel’s from Tennessee and Jim Beam from Kentucky. (Blue state California supplies most of LDB’s U.S. wine, while most U.S. beer is made in Canada by Molson Coors or Labatt.)

Eby: “I had a particular experience early on in my drinking career, that with Jack Daniels, that it’s not my drink of choice, but for those who do like it, you know, I want you to be able to get it. But the reality is that there are jurisdictions in the states that are supporting this trade war against us, that are supporting these tariffs against us.”

Eby also directed government and Crown corporations to “immediately stop buying American goods and services and buy Canadian.” He also said the government would expedite 10 major energy and infrastructure projects. He did not specify, but estimated they were worth $20 billion and would create 6,000 jobs in northern and rural B.C.

Something fishy

Eby seemed confused about ownership of frozen fish brands.

“I was at Costco, I was looking at the Captain High Liner fish. I was looking at the Jane’s fish. The Janes had the big Canadian maple leaf on it. You know, we make the Canadian choice. You choose the Canadian product. When you have a good substitution to make, that will do two things. One is it will help keep your costs down in a time of strain around affordability. But the other is, it will send a message.”

TSE-listed High Liner Foods is based in Lunenberg, N.S. Privately held Sofina Foods Inc. of Markham, Ont. owns the Janes brand.

Trudeau recently, errantly said that Heinz ketchup is a foreign brand, unlike French’s. Kraft Heinz launched a campaign to correct him: the tomatoes are farmed in Ontario and turned into ketchup at a Montreal factory near Trudeau’s Papineau riding.

Donald doubles down

Trump did not wait for dawn on Groundhog Day to react.

On his Truth Social account, at 3:26 a.m. Mar-a-Lago time: “Without this massive [U.S.] subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true! Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!”

Tariff effect

No doubt, the trade war will hit consumers hard on both sides of the border, leading to job losses.

Eby did not mention it, but on Jan. 16, Minister of Finance Brenda Bailey claimed a 25% tariff for the entirety of Trump’s four-year term would lead to $69 billion in B.C. GDP decline and loss of more than 120,000 jobs.

theBreaker.news has sought a copy of the report, including methodology. But Ministry of Finance communications staff refuse to release it. They will not even disclose the name(s) and title(s) of whoever came up with the numbers.

Diane Lianga, the executive director of the Financial Reporting and Advisory Services departement, did not respond.

Poilievre: reopen the House

Pierre Poilievre, in Vancouver to march in the Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade and speak to members of the Jewish community at Temple Sholom, held a Feb. 2 news conference at the Sheraton Wall Centre. He sharply criticized Trump and his tariffs.

”My message to the Liberal government: Put aside partisan interests and recall Parliament. It is insane that in this great crisis Parliament is shut down to deal with the crisis and the power struggle within the Liberal Party,” the Conservative leader said.

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Bob Mackin Consumers brace for economic upheaval on

For the week of Feb. 2, 2025:

The Hogue Commission’s final report confirmed but downplayed China’s interference in Canadian elections. It also found no traitors in Parliament.

One of the people who testified at the foreign interference commission’s public hearings was Kenny Chiu, the Conservative MP in Steveston-Richmond East from 2019 until 2021, when he was the victim of a Chinese social media disinformation campaign. He is Bob Mackin’s guest on this edition. 

Also on this edition,  an update on the Friends of Memorial South Park. Their grassroots campaign forced Vancouver civic officials to move the planned FIFA World Cup 26 training venue to the Vancouver Whitecaps’ facility at the University of B.C. Cindy Heinrichs and Beth Ringdahl spoke with Bob Mackin at a Jan. 25 party in the park, which turns 100 next year. 

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

NEW: Subscribe to theBreaker.news on Substack. Find out how: Click here.

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thePodcast: Of foreign interference and FIFA
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For the week of Feb. 2, 2025: The

Bob Mackin

The Conservative Party of B.C. submitted $5,155,675.09 in expense claims to Elections BC after winning 44 seats in the Oct. 19 provincial election.

The party began the year with just two seats. Leader John Rustad ended 2024 as the year’s most-disruptive political force in the province.

Under the NDP-amended Election Act, parties that receive at least 5% of province-wide votes can be reimbursed for up to 50% of eligible expenses after an election. Candidates are also eligible for the same 50% reimbursement, if they receive at least 10% of votes in their riding.

The Conservatives reported $2,577,837.55 in election expense reimbursements in their filings, releaed Jan. 28 by Elections BC.

David Eby’s NDP reported $2,219.361.32 in reimbursements, a fraction of the $13.5 million overall campaign. The party needed a 22-vote judicial recount in Surrey-Guildford to stay in power with a majority.

Conservative Party of B.C. leader John Rustad (left0 and campaign manager Angelo Isidorou (X)

Highlights of aggregate payments from the Conservative Party of B.C.’s 2024 election expense claim:

$1,064,498.63: to Government Technologies Solutions, aka GTS Canada, a firm that offers election campaign services to“mobilize supporters, engage constituents to take action, and encourage donations with GTS’ powerful SMS/MMS technology.”

$625,603.84: to Yorkville Strategies, whose president is former BC Liberal pollster, strategist and lobbyist Dimitri Pantazopoulos.

$382,763.25: to Corus, parent of Global BC and CKNW.

$307,106.98: to event producer ProShow Audiovisual.

$273,100: to Bell Media, parent of CTV Vancouver.

$194,250: to the Mobilize Media Group digital campaign strategy and data collection firm. A federal Conservative contractor founded by Jeff Ballingall, who also founded the Canada Proud social media campaign

$168,183.19: to RMG MKT Direct Solutions Corp., Toronto-headquartered voter contact, fundraising and data agency.

$150,889.29: to Victoria law firm Crease Harman LLP.

$89,480.33: to Public Opinion Canada for research and advertising.

$79,800: to Angelo Isidorou, Conservative Party of B.C. campaign manager.

$70,602.39: to campaign strategist Troy Lanigan, the CEO of the SecondStreet.org thinktank and former head of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation.

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Bob Mackin The Conservative Party of B.C. submitted

Bob Mackin

The B.C. NDP submitted $4,438,722.64 in expense claims to Elections BC after eking out a narrow victory in last October’s provincial election.

Under the NDP-amended Election Act, parties that receive at least 5% of province-wide votes can be reimbursed for up to 50% of eligible expenses after an election. Candidates are also eligible for the same 50% reimbursement, if they receive at least 10% of votes in their riding.

The NDP qualified for $2,219,361.32 in taxpayer funds. The Conservatives $2,537,137.37.

Premier David Eby’s party spent a total of almost $13.5 million, $4.15 million more than the Conservatives, who became the opposition party after spending $9.34 million.

Highlights of aggregate payments from the NDP’s 2024 election expense claim:

David Eby disembarking from a private jet during the 2024 election. Mondial Aviation was the supplier, according to documents filed with Elections BC. (NDP/Flickr)

$1,770,979.14: for Now Communications Group, the party’s longtime ad agency. NDP campaign director Marie Della Mattia is Now’s former CEO. Her sister Michele is a partner and Now’s vice-president of operations.

$498,750: for Captus Advertising, agency that specializes in targeting Chinese and South Asian communities.

$266,800: for Level Hotels, the hospitality division of developer Onni. Locations in Yaletown, Downtown South, Richmond and Port Moody.

$234,132.65: for Mail-o-Matic Services full-service direct mail marketing.

$227,266.20: for Project X Productions, Ottawa-based event production and labour.

$97,894.35: for Facebook ads.

$84,493.50: for Victoria-based Mondial Aviation private jet charter.

$71,479.60: to Wilson’s Transportation, the motorcoach charter company that supplied Eby’s campaign bus. CEO John Wilson was a Conservative candidate in Esquimalt-Colwood.

$69,736.31: to Public Outreach Consultancy Inc., a Calgary agency that specializes in door-to-door, phone and digital fundraising.

$49,742.47: to CiviTech Textout text messages.

$39,342.09: for Viewpoints Research, Winnipeg-based polling firm.

$28,607.66: to Strategic Communications Inc., the NDP’s longtime Vancouver polling firm.

$12,302.85: for Data Sciences Inc., the Montreal agency run by Justin Trudeau’s digital campaign czar Tom Pitfield.

$5,931.75: for Airbnb accommodation.

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Bob Mackin The B.C. NDP submitted $4,438,722.64 in

Bob Mackin

A compilation of reaction to Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue’s Jan. 28-released, final report of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.

Cover of the Hogue Commission final report, released Jan. 28, 2025.

Canadian Friends of Hong Kong

By bragging how our democratic institutions have remained “robust” and downplaying the foreign interference as “isolated cases” and “may have some impact,” Justice Hogue and her team stand in sharp contrast with the Canadian general public in that we think even one such case is too many for a democracy like ours. Their wilful blindness to this issue and to address the public concern is mind-blowing.

Justice Hogue further shows that she has not been listening to the concern of the Canadian public, or that she has been listening but not understanding, when she says she is “not aware of any federal legislation, regulations or policies that have been enacted or repealed on account of foreign interference.” The biggest Canadian concern expressed so far has always been about the interference into our democratic institutions and processes, not the legislative or electoral results. Again, their wilful blindness to the issue is eye-popping.

By describing transnational repression as “a genuine scourge” but not as a real threat, she adds another blow to the confidence of the diaspora communities, members of which are under constant fear and threats because they practice and exercise, in Justice Hogue’s words, “the fundamental values that our democracy embodies, namely, freedom of thought, freedom of opinion, freedom of expression and the right to privacy.”

Conservative Party

All this evidence amounts to proof that the Liberal government failed to protect our democracy from foreign meddling in the 2019 and 2021 general elections. It also leaves Canadians with concerns that the government failed to inform the public or take appropriate action to stop this interference because it was in the political interest of the Liberal Party.

Commissioner Hogue highlights that the government’s response has “been far from perfect,” that the government has “taken too long to act” and that the government has been “insufficiently transparent when it comes to foreign interference.”

Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue (CPAC)

Former MP Kenny Chiu (Conservative, Steveston-Richmond East)

One of the criticisms that I have with [Hogue] is that there is very little accountability that she addressed in the report in the whole commission, let alone political accountability…

It is my thinking that we need to look at the 51 recommendations that Judge Hogue had provided very seriously and start implementing many of them, and especially the ones that do not require legislative changes. Any government should look into tightening them up.

When we discuss about this topic, it’s almost like I assume there is no federal government in Ottawa anymore. Unfortunately, sadly, that’s exactly the problem that we’re facing. Ottawa, it’s in complete chaos right now. So even if we had a federal government that is fully in charge with undivided attention, with their track record, people should not be holding too much hope on their implementation.

Democracy Watch

Disturbingly, Commissioner Hogue concludes that foreign interference activities have had “minimal impact” on Canadian politics, which no one should claim because it is impossible to know that given it is legal to do many of the activities in secret.

Also disturbingly, Commissioner Hogue writes that she had “access to all the documents I deemed relevant, without redactions for national security reasons,” but the final report does not make it clear how many documents the Trudeau Cabinet withheld completely from the Inquiry. As of last June, the Trudeau Cabinet was withholding an unknown number of documents, and had redacted about 3,000 documents submitted to the inquiry. How can Commissioner Hogue conclude she had access to all relevant documents if she didn’t even see some of the Trudeau Cabinet documents?

Commissioner Hogue cannot claim that she did not know about all the dozen loopholes in laws and 10 systemic weaknesses in Canada’s anti-interference enforcement system that make foreign interference easy to get away with and cover up.

MP Jenny Kwan (NDP, Vancouver-East)

As indicated in the final report, misinformation and disinformation pose some of the greatest threats to democracy. Commissioner Hogue rightly recognized that building digital literacy is a key element of any strategy to combat disinformation and misinformation. More than ever, digital literacy is needed. Concerted action and publicly available tools are required to help verify the authenticity of digital content. Educating and empowering the public to identify fabricated or altered content will enhance the resilience of our democracy.

We are now on the eve of an election. Parliament worked across party lines to expedite the passage of Bill C-70, the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act. Yet despite the enactment of Bill C-70, the Liberal government has not issued the regulations needed to effectively implement the Act. Time is of the essence. Canada needs a comprehensive plan to combat foreign interference. It is urgent that the Liberals release the regulations and plan now.

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Bob Mackin A compilation of reaction to Commissioner