The federal government plans to convene a meeting of foreign ambassadors next month to warn them not to interfere in the next election.
Testifying before the inquiry into foreign interference in Canada, David Morrison, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, said his department is preparing for the next federal election and wants to make sure that diplomats from other countries know where Canada draws the line between attempts to influence and attempts to interfere.
“I think we should, and will be, crystal clear with foreign missions here in town and their consulates throughout the country as to what we consider to be acceptable diplomatic activity and exactly where we draw the line,” Morrison told the inquiry.
While it’s a diplomat’s job to influence people, Morrison said, it crosses the line into interference if the influence is coercive, clandestine or covert.
Morrison also told the inquiry that artificial intelligence-driven foreign interference is “a major threat vector” that he expects to see emerge in the next election.
Members of Parliament should get more information about how foreign diplomats operate and how they can tell when diplomatic behaviour crosses the line, Morrison said.
He said that when he was appointed acting national security adviser, he was asked to brief cabinet ministers after the 2021 election and warn them that there could be an increase in attempts by foreign countries to target them through diplomatic missions.
The foreign interference inquiry, headed by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, was set up following media reports which accused China of interfering in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
In her initial report, made public in May, Hogue found that while it was possible that foreign interference occurred in a small number of ridings, she concluded it did not affect the overall election results.
On Monday, the inquiry is expected to hear from officials in the Canadian Heritage department and security and intelligence officials from the Privy Council.
More later …