'He needs to call it right away,' said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre
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OTTAWA — Following the surprise resignation of David Johnston, opposition leaders are calling on the government to stop wasting time and call a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s elections.
Johnston resigned Friday afternoon as special rapporteur investigating apparent Chinese government attempts to influence Canada’s elections in 2019 and 2021. He was heavily criticized after delivering an interim report in May that advised against calling a public inquiry. He planned instead to hold hearings on the issue this summer.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said over the weekend that all options were now on the table, and he was going to be canvassing opposition leaders for suggestions.
In question period on Monday, he said if there is a public inquiry they will have to handle the difficult issues of choosing someone to lead it, setting terms of reference and establishing a process for protecting classified information.
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“The opposition says they want a public inquiry; what would be the terms of reference of that inquiry? How would they protect necessary national security information and the interests of Canada? What would be the timelines? Those are the conversations we’re anxious to have,” he said.
LeBlanc said it was time to turn down the partisan temperature and focus on real improvements to make Canada’s democracy stronger.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Sunday he is willing to work with fellow opposition leaders to settle those issues.
Poilievre said the person who leads the inquiry should have no connections to the Trudeau family or Trudeau foundation, no compromising relationships with China and should be non-partisan. He said Justin Trudeau shouldn’t delay in getting an inquiry up and running.
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“He needs to call it right away. He needs to get someone who is job ready and we need to have terms of reference that have tight timelines to have the hearings occur as quickly as possible,” he said.
Johnston resigned after weeks of questions about his relationship with Trudeau and his work as a member of the Trudeau foundation. He encouraged the government to move ahead with the path he had laid out, but said it was clear he could no longer lead the effort.
“My objective was to help build trust in our democratic institutions. I have concluded that given the highly partisan atmosphere around my appointment and work, my leadership has had the opposite effect,” he said in a public letter to the prime minister released Friday.
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The Emergencies Act Inquiry was able to hold hearings and report its finding in under a year, which was a condition of the law, but most other public inquiries have taken longer.
The inquiry into Maher Arar’s extradition and subsequent torture took two years, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women inquiry took three years, and the inquiry into the bombing of Air India Flight 182 took almost four years from launch to final report.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the government should be following the direction of two motions his party advocated for in Parliament asking for a public inquiry.
“We’ve said that a public inquiry was the right way to go. We used parliamentary tools to push for it. We also forced votes on it in Parliament.”
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Singh said it is up to the government to put forward names, but recommended a current or former federal judge with no history of making political donations and no involvement with the Trudeau foundation.
“They’ve got the resources to vet people. They’ve got the resources to ensure that there’s no conflict of interest,” he said.
Singh said he is prepared to work with his fellow opposition leaders, but believes the motions the NDP pushed should be a guide, with a study in a parliamentary committee establishing the terms for a public inquiry.
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/opposition-warns-trudeau-against-delay-demand-public-inquiry
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