Global Courant 2023-05-23 15:03:00
OTTAWA –
The man charged with recommendations on how best to deal with foreign interference in Canada’s federal election will finally say whether he believes a public inquiry is necessary.
Former Governor General David Johnston, the special rapporteur appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in March, will issue an interim report Monday on what he thinks is the best way forward.
Parliament Hill has been debating for months whether Johnston will recommend a public inquiry into whether governing Liberals have done enough to confront allegations that China interfered in the 2019 and 2021 elections.
But his mandate also allows for broader recommendations — and Johnston will announce his preferred directions at a highly anticipated press conference at noon ET.
In addition to the research question, Trudeau also directed Johnston to recommend other mechanisms or processes necessary to “strengthen Canadians’ confidence in the integrity of our democratic institutions.”
His mandate also called for an assessment of the “magnitude and impact” of foreign interference in Canadian elections and to “determine what the government did to defend Canada against electoral interference”.
Johnston, appointed governor-general in 2010 by former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is working with other national security agencies to find ways they can better work together to fight foreign interference.
Opposition conservatives are calling for an investigation. Leader Pierre Poilièvre refused to meet Johnston, describing the role of Special Rapporteur as a “fake job”.
Poilièvre is highly skeptical of Johnston, a former member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, who is under scrutiny for accepting a donation allegedly linked to the Chinese government.
The conservative leader last week described him as “Justin Trudeau’s skiing buddy, his neighbor, his family friend and a member of the Trudeau Foundation who received $140,000 from Beijing.”
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh describes Johnston as “impartial” and “reliable”, but nevertheless wants a public inquiry.
The Liberals have been weathering a political storm for months over whether they took the meddling allegations seriously enough.
An inquiry would not only give the government a chance to defend its actions, but would give the controversy more political oxygen – and would be the second such inquiry into the Liberal government in as many years.
It would come on the heels of last year’s Public Order Emergency Commission in the federal government’s response to the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” blockades in downtown Ottawa and on the Canada-US border.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 23, 2023
