Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner Anton Boegman told the Commons Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Oct. 6 that his office had received slightly more than 30 submissions over the weekend before the Oct. 3 deadline. That figure is a far cry from the estimate of 2,422. While it might be too early to say that the registry is failing, it is not too early to say that the Liberal government’s slow start and its minister’s absence from that meeting are. Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree should appear before the committee and take accountability for the registry.
What the registry is for
Bill C-70, the Countering Foreign Interference Act, created the registry and received royal assent on June 20, 2024. Under the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act, anyone who enters into an arrangement with a foreign principal to influence a Canadian political or governmental process must register within 14 days. A foreign principal means a foreign state, power or entity, and the Act reaches federal, provincial, territorial and municipal processes, including “the holding of an election or referendum.”
The registry opened on Aug. 4, 2026. Arrangements already in force that day had 60 days to be registered, which set the Oct. 3 deadline that Boegman’s weekend figure describes. Registering is itself compliance, so a filing tells the public who is acting for a foreign principal without accusing anyone of wrongdoing.
The weekend figure and the forecast
Boegman’s words to the committee, on the official video, were “Over the weekend we have received over 30 submissions to the registry.” He added that each submission must be validated before it is published, and two entries were public on Oct. 6. The office has given no running total, so the size of the registry on the deadline is not yet known.
The regulatory impact analysis estimated that “approximately 2 422 businesses and individuals” would be affected, a number built by applying Australia’s ratio of about 10 per cent of lobbying-registry numbers to Canada’s lobbying registries, used “as a proxy.” The same document projects 1,767 Canadian registrants over the period and 54 new registrants a year, so 2,422 is a modelled estimate of everyone the law could touch.
Conservative MP Michael Cooper set the weekend's total against that estimate in committee, stating, “[It] certainly doesn’t exactly instill confidence, I would submit.”
The Liberal record
Cooper also complained about how long the registry took to open. He said on Oct. 9 that the department had nearly two and a half years to set the registry up. The registry opened on Aug. 4, 2026, 775 days after C-70’s royal assent on June 20, 2024. The system that finally opened is incomplete, by the commissioner’s own description. Boegman told the committee that “the MVP stands not for the most valuable player, but for the minimum viable product.” He also acknowledged two privacy breaches and several technical problems, CBC reported. The analysis does not expect the full registry and IT system until the end of 2026.
The minister’s defence
Anandasangaree was invited to the Oct. 6 meeting, and his office told the committee he was unavailable, with no new date set, CBC reported on Oct. 9. In question period on Oct. 8, he told Cooper, “Mr. Boegman is seized with establishing the registry, which is already done. He is in the process of registering and onboarding those who are required to register.” A registry its own commissioner calls a minimum viable product, with the full system due by the end of 2026, is still under construction.
His spokesperson, Simon Lafortune, told CBC that “this is only the beginning of the registry’s implementation and getting it right means identifying challenges early and addressing them promptly.” Boegman made the same point when he told the committee, “So, this is a brand new registry. The requirements are brand new.” Identifying challenges early is the minister’s stated aim, so he should explain those challenges to the committee in person, because he sets the department’s priorities.
Some may argue that the commissioner, as an independent officer, is the right witness and the minister has nothing to add. Boegman can speak to submissions and validation, yet he cannot answer for the 775 days before the registry opened or for the apparent abundant resources that only produced a minimum viable product. Those decisions were the government’s, so its minister is the witness who can account for them.
What happens next?
Anandasangaree should set a date to appear before the Procedure and House Affairs Committee. He should bring the validated count of submissions received by the Oct. 3 deadline and table a timetable for the full registry and IT system, which the government’s own analysis promised by the end of 2026. Ministers are accountable to Parliament. It would be great to see some accountability for the millions spent by the government's front bench.
