The federal government is creating a new mechanism to warn Canadians if malicious actors try to manipulate the outcome of this fall's election.
It is establishing a ``critical election incident public protocol,'' under which five senior public servants will decide when an incident is egregious enough to warrant going public in the midst of a campaign.
The protocol is intended to avoid the dilemma that faced James Comey, the FBI director during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, when he was confronted with evidence of Russian interference apparently aimed at boosting Donald Trump.
With no rules for dealing with such a situation, Comey decided not to reveal the interference during the campaign.
The five public servants who will be charged with determining what should be revealed during a Canadian federal campaign are: the clerk of the Privy Council, the government's national security adviser, and the deputy ministers of justice, public safety and global affairs.
Officials say the threshold will be high: only disruptive incidents that impact Canada's ability to hold a free and fair election will be publicly disclosed.