The liberal government stated that measures aimed at monitoring and assessing threats of foreign interference will be part of all future federal by-elections, not just general elections.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said on Monday that the security and intelligence threats working group for elections will monitor signs of interference in by-elections in September, one in Quebec and the other in Manitoba.

The federal body, established in 2019 to protect the electoral process, includes representatives from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Global Affairs Canada, and the Communications Security Establishment, Canada's electronic spy agency.

The SITE working group already has some experience in monitoring federal by-elections this year and in 2023.

During the by-elections, the working group will provide intelligence assessments to the committee of deputy ministers. In return, the committee will provide briefings and advice to ministers responsible for combating foreign interference and protecting democratic institutions from harm, LeBlanc said in a statement.

The statement added that communications lines "continue to open" with representatives of political parties to ensure engagement as necessary throughout the by-election period.

The SITE working group will also prepare a classified and unclassified report on its comprehensive assessment of any attempts at foreign interference during the by-elections.

The statement noted that the classified report will be available to the Prime Minister and the relevant ministers and the Parliamentary National Security and Intelligence Committee - composed of Members of Parliament and Senators - and representatives of political parties with security clearance.

The next scheduled by-elections, in Elmwood-Transcona in Winnipeg and LaSalle-Émard-Verdun in Montreal, will take place on September 16.

The process somewhat differs during general elections, when the federal government assumes a limited "caretaker" role restricted to non-controversial routine functions.

Under a protocol introduced in 2019 for general elections, there will be a public announcement if a committee of bureaucrats decides that an incident - or accumulation of incidents - threatens Canada's ability to conduct a free and fair vote.

The committee receives information from sources including the SITE working group.

There was no such announcement regarding the general elections of 2019 or 2021. In both electoral rounds, the Liberals returned to government with minority mandates while the Conservatives formed the official opposition.

In a recent report, the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency found that the SITE working group and the committee "were not adequately designed to address human-based traditional foreign interference."

The report from the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency indicated that the working group focuses on threat activities during the election period, but "traditional foreign interference also occurs between elections."

Unlike patterns or large-scale campaigns - such as widespread online misinformation - intelligence regarding traditional foreign interference in elections is usually precise and specific, relating to activities of individuals in specific electoral areas, according to the report.

"Assessing the impact of these activities at the level of each electoral area requires receiving and analyzing all relevant intelligence information on an ongoing basis. This poses a compounded challenge given the short timeframe in which elections occur."

Similarly, the review agency stated that the defining characteristic of traditional foreign interference is that it occurs over the long term and is not simply limited to election periods. While the SITE working group operates continuously, its capacity and operational tempo diminish outside election periods.

The findings from the Intelligence Review Agency followed a preliminary report from a federal inquiry committee, which stated that foreign interference by China did not affect the overall outcomes of the general elections in 2019 and 2021.

In her report, Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue noted that while the results may suggest that a small number of electoral districts may have been affected by interference, this cannot be stated with certainty.