Along with the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a U.S.-based think tank, they will run “activities on election interference and building international capacity.” The first such event is an online workshop with the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats on “multi-stakeholder information exchange and cooperation” later this week,” Corinne Havard, spokesperson for Privy Council President Dominic LeBlanc, told The Logic. The co-leads are still “in the process of finalizing our workplan for 2020-2021.” (The Logic)
Talking point: The Paris Call, launched in November 2018, includes a series of high-level principles, including protecting internet infrastructure, intellectual property, democracy and setting international norms of responsible online behaviour. Ottawa’s leadership of the election section will include backing “the creation and the improvement of standards, norms and policies,” although Havard did not provide a specific deadline for those activities. The federal government has committed to a range of other high-level ideals in the digital realm, including tackling violent and extremist content online, as laid out in the Christchurch Call to Action in May 2019 and in its own domestically focused 10-point digital charter, launched the same month.