Why Alberta Separatist Meetings in the U.S. Stay Out of Canada's Influence Registry

Meetings between advocates of Alberta separation and American government officials don't have to be included in Canada's new foreign influence registry, because they took place before the registry went into effect, Canada's foreign influence watchdog says. That is a narrow answer to a pointed question, and it turns on timing rather than on what was discussed or who was in the room. A registry built to capture future contacts doesn't reach backwards into meetings that predate it — which means those earlier conversations won't surface as filings at all.