> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.borealian.ca/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Foreign influence registry isn't off to a great start
- URL: https://www.borealian.ca/foreign-influence-registry-two-months/
- Published: 2026-10-15T17:43:03.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-21T05:24:39.000Z
- Description: 30 submissions against a forecast of 2,422 sounds like a collapse. It might very well be. Commissioner Boegman needs to instill confidence in Parliament's newest office.
- Author: Grant
- Tags: Politics

*With 2 registrants and 30 submissions pending by the October 3rd deadline, Canada's new Foreign Influence Registry is off to a shaky start.*

## The Registry

The [Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act](https://lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/F-29.2/FullText.html?ref=borealian.ca) came into force on Aug. 4\. The Act requires anyone who enters into an arrangement with a foreign principal to communicate with public office holders, spread information, or distribute money “in relation to a political or governmental process in Canada” to register within 14 days, and arrangements already in force on Aug. 4 had 60 days to register, until the Oct. 3 deadline.

The Act covers provincial and municipal processes, and its definition of a political process expressly includes “the holding of an election or referendum.”

By Oct. 6, Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner Anton Boegman told the Commons Procedure and House Affairs committee that his office had registered two foreign agents and was processing more than 30 submissions they had received over the deadline weekend, according to the [committee’s video](https://www.ourcommons.ca/embed/en/m/13612744?ml=en&vt=watch&ref=borealian.ca). He did not present the figure as a total since Aug. 4\. A third filing was published and then withdrawn on Sept. 15, and Boegman told MPs it contained information that should not have been published, [The Bureau](https://www.thebureau.news/p/foreign-influence-watchdog-claims?ref=borealian.ca) reported.

32 registrants is a far cry from the government’s [regulatory impact analysis](https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2026/2026-07-01/html/sor-dors152-eng.html?ref=borealian.ca) that estimated approximately 2,422 businesses and individuals would be affected.

## Conservatives call out the shortfall

Conservative MP Michael Cooper called out the Registry's shortcomings. In committee, he pressed Boegman on how many people should be registering and told him it “certainly doesn’t instill confidence, I would submit.” He then compared the 30 submissions against the government’s predicted 2,422 and called it a compliance rate of 1 per cent.

To reporters afterwards, Cooper called the registry “a complete and utter failure,” [Global News](https://globalnews.ca/news/12089719/foreign-agent-registry-numbers-canada/?ref=borealian.ca) reported, and said its point “is to provide sunlight and transparency.”

Boegman’s own testimony gave Cooper more to work with. He acknowledged privacy breaches and technical problems, and told the committee that the system now in use is known as the “minimum viable product.”

## Government projections

The 2,422 is a proxy modelled on Australia’s registry and counts no known agents. The government’s analysis took Australia’s registry, which has about a tenth as many registrants as Australia’s lobbying registries, and applied that ratio to Canada’s lobbyist registries, conceding that “no direct data exists on the number of stakeholders likely to be affected.” A low take-up may mean agents are evading the law, or it may mean the estimate was too high, and nothing on the record yet says which.

“This is a brand new registry,” Boegman told the committee. The transitional deadline passed three days before the hearing, and new arrangements have a rolling 14-day window.

One reason for the low uptake could be the law itself. The Act defines a “foreign principal” as a foreign state or government, a state-controlled entity, or someone acting for one, under definitions borrowed from the [Security of Information Act](https://lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/O-5/FullText.html?ref=borealian.ca), so a privately funded foreign think tank would not be covered unless it acts for a state. That narrow definition limits the Commissioner's scope of enforcement.

## Near-term implications

Alberta’s non-binding referendum on separation is on Oct. 19, and [several reports ](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-separatism-canada-united-states-republican/?ref=borealian.ca)say some pro-separatist actors have received support and advice from U.S. political operatives. After the meeting, Boegman told reporters he had contacted more than 60 people or groups involved in the referendum to make sure they knew the rules, [CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/foreign-influence-alberta-separatism-9.7371416?ref=borealian.ca) reported. He also said past meetings between Alberta separatists and U.S. officials fall outside the law. “The law just came into force on Aug. 4,” he told reporters, CBC News reported.

Boegman is not completely right here. The Act’s transitional sections catch arrangements made before Aug. 4 that were still in force on Oct. 6\. A one-off meeting in the past would not need registering, but an ongoing arrangement with a foreign principal would. Nothing public shows that any participant in the referendum has such an arrangement, and nothing here suggests one.

Boegman could not tell reporters whether any submissions relate to the referendum, CBC News reported, or whether any would be public before the vote. He said he was being briefed the week of Oct. 5.

That leaves Albertans voting on Oct. 19 in the dark on whether anyone has registered to influence the result. This would suggest that the registry is failing its first major test.

## What the commissioner should do now

A Foreign Influence Registry is greatly needed. The Commissioner has the legislation behind him to make his office one of the key defenders of our democratic integrity. Yes, the registry is new, but that excuse will only last for so long and given the present danger of foreign interference in a referendum that could see a province achieve independence, the Commissioner must rise to the moment. 

The Commissioner should publish weekly totals of submissions received, validated, and published since Aug. 4\. The Commissioner must prioritize Alberta's referendum. Before Oct. 19, the Commissioner should publish how many submissions his office has received that relate to the Alberta referendum, even if their contents are still being validated. The Foreign Influence Registry is a key new tool that will safeguard Canadian democracy, but it is only useful if it is timely and enforced.