The federal government announced new measures this week meant to protect the this fall's election from outside interference, but the minister in charge of the file warned that there are no guarantees Canada's elections will remain free of meddling or disinformation.

"We may not be able to detect everything," Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould said in an interview airing Saturday on CBC Radio's The House.

"By the very nature of foreign interference, the idea of it is to be covert. There's a good chance we'll be able to detect something, but there's also the possibility that we won't because foreign actors are trying to be smarter."

Gould said her government's strategy — which includes a task force made up of five senior bureaucrats to monitor and inform Canadians of any evidence of interference — is modelled on France's system.

"We looked across our different allies and around the world to see what other countries have put in place," Gould said. 

Marcus Kolga drafted a report for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute that looked at Canada's level of preparedness in combating disinformation, most of which is coming from Russia. He called the government's plan "a good start" but questioned how Ottawa will get social media companies on-side.

"Just hoping social media will reform itself, I don't think it's good enough," Kolga said in a separate interview on The House, also airing Saturday. 

He said he's also hoping to see more involvement from civil society — activists and analysts studying disinformation — and from the privacy commissioner and chief electoral officer in the government's monitoring process.

Gould said the government hasn't been afraid to legislate social media companies. She said that Bill C-76 requires that social media platforms maintain a registry of political advertising during the pre-writ and writ period and prohibits them from knowingly accepting foreign funding for political ads.

"We have taken some initial steps here in Canada," she said. "It's not the government's role to police speech or say what's good or bad news."

Gould added she has initiated conversations with social media companies.

"We're going to continue having a dialogue with them. I think it's in their best interest to prove to Canadians they can have their trust."