Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

I bring extensive comparative expertise on matters of national security and intelligence across allied and partner democracies, including my book, Intelligence as Democratic Statecraft: Accountability and Governance of Civil-Intelligence Relations Across the Five Eyes Security Community.

The Gathering Storm is the title of volume 1 of Winston Churchill’s five-volume history of World War II. That title is apt to recall once again. The fall and dissolution of the Soviet Union introduced a sense that liberal democracy was ascendent and spreading.

More than thirty years later, around the globe, democracy and democracies have been in retreat. They are coming under growing duress from confident authoritarian regimes and other enemies of democracy who use hybrid warfare activities that leverage grey-zone tactics to undermine democratic institutions, political processes, economic prosperity and social harmony.

Here in Canada, recent reports by NSIRA and the NSICOP expose vast and significant vulnerabilities across a broad scale, including the systematic infiltration of Canada's political, economic and social institutions by adversarial actors who are prepared to go as far as alleged treasonous behaviour. These reportedly include some of your own colleagues.

It could hardly be more ironic that two review entities created by this government to improve the accountability of agencies effectively end up holding the government to account for having been naive and negligent on intelligence and national security.

Make no mistake. The now well and widely documented activities by hostile actors pose an existential threat to Canada's security, prosperity and democratic way of life. For too long, this government and its predecessors have taken democracy for granted. Instead, democracy needs to be defended.

The fragility of Canadian democracy is on full display, yet the bill shows neither courage nor ambition. It amounts to a minimalist approach. It represents the absolute minimum the government would have to do anyway, but only once its hand was forced.

The bill does not update the national security threats to Canada in section 2 of the CSIS Act, which dates from 1984. It fails to remove section 16, which is proving a growing impediment to CSIS to fulfill its mandate. It introduces a minimalist five-year review of the CSIS Act only, instead of the entire security and intelligence framework and posture, as Australia does.

Although it amends the Security of Information Act, notably removing the threshold of harm to Canadian interests, it forgoes other important updates such as the harms provision in section 3.

Why the bill would not grant the minister the ability to designate a list of states and actors of concern as part of the foreign influence transparency registry, as the U.K. does, is beyond me, unless the aim is to avoid ensnaring any one political party's sycophants, lawyers and accountants that make a pretty good living off their hostile state patrons.

This bill does not give FINTRAC explicit enforcement powers to track and seize assets and transactions that are being used to enable foreign interference. There are no amendments to the CBSA Act to deem inadmissible persons suspected of engaging in foreign interference in Canada or another allied country. Also, the bill fails to reform the RCMP with the aim of making it more targeted and effective at meeting its federal mandates.

Just this week during question period the Prime Minister claimed that his government would do whatever it takes to keep Canadians safe.