LILLEY: Canada is simply not serious about our democracy

Article content We are not a serious country when it comes to safeguarding our democracy. That’s what we can all take away from a number of intersecting news stories this week, from the foreign interference inquiry to the current Liberal leadership race and the NDP’s willingness to support the current government. Madame Justice Marie-Josee Hogue released her final report into foreign interference on Tuesday.

“While I saw evidence of some concerning behaviour, the evidence does not show any MPs plotting with foreign states against Canada’s interests,” she wrote . That goes against several other reports that say we should all be concerned. Just consider what the report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians said last year.



“Unfortunately, the Committee has also seen troubling intelligence that some Parliamentarians are, in the words of the intelligence services, “semi-witting or witting” participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics,” they said . Who are you going to believe in a showdown between a judge with zero political experience and a committee made up of MPs and Senators from all parties who know how the system works. NSICOP found there were concerns, and Hogue said we should whistle past the graveyard.

She did say that there have been attempts by foreign actors to try to influence our elections, but not enough to overturn a full election. That again is not the issue: If one riding is overturned, influenced or changed by a foreign government of any sort, then that is too much. Recommended video Even in saying that there were six different instances that she could ascertain where foreign actors tried to influence our elections, Hogue downplayed all aspects of what happened.

This report, which was mostly based on documents that were never made public, is nothing but a whitewash for the Trudeau government. We know foreign interference happened, and the so-called “public inquiry” into it refuses to name elected officials or political staffers who were involved. Trump is all in on tariffs.

Not just as a negotiating tactic, though we saw he will use it for that, he also just truly believes it is good for his country. pic.twitter.

com/O3zB2ytxGT Meanwhile, we are currently going through a Liberal leadership race, which due to the current makeup of Parliament means that those voting will also pick the next prime minister of our country. If China was allegedly willing to interfere in the nomination for Han Dong in 2019, they would clearly be willing to interfere in selecting our next PM in 2025. So, too, would Russia, India, Iran and countless other hostile countries, but Canada’s NDP is currently only worried about Elon Musk and his social media platform X.

The Liberal leadership race, which doesn’t require people voting to be citizens or over the age of 18 — just that they signed up on the Liberal website — is ripe for abuse. This is not how a serious country, a G7 nation, selects their next leader — with 14 year-old non-citizens voting — but these are the rules of the Liberal Party. Their rules, and the rules of all other federal parties need to be changed to conform with Elections Canada and what we use for a general election — over 18, Canadian citizen, you vote in the district you live in.

Can you imagine the laughter in the Trump White House when Mark Carney or Chrystia Freeland show up to negotiate for Canada after the Liberal leadership race? They will have been elected PM by a process that includes 14 year-old non-citizens. They won’t have a mandate from the Canadian public. They will come from a system whose own intelligence agencies have said is rife with foreign interference.

If we want to be taken seriously as a strong and independent country, then we have to start acting like one. Our current politics, from this report to the Liberal leadership race, shows us as anything but serious. We need to do better.

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