(OTTAWA) The House of Commons is preparing to formally ask special rapporteur David Johnston, appointed in March by Justin Trudeau to examine the extent of foreign interference in the country, to leave office.
The NDP has tabled a motion to this effect which will be debated in the House of Commons on Tuesday, said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. This motion could be adopted by a majority of elected officials if the three opposition parties unite their efforts. A vote on this motion could take place later this week.
Last month, the Conservative Party, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP already joined forces to pass a motion in the Commons calling for a public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference in the last two federal elections. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals voted against the motion sponsored by NDP MP Peter Julian.
“Given the apparent apprehension of bias, we will be asking Mr. Johnston to step down as special rapporteur,” the NDP leader said before question period.
Mr. Singh explained that the revelations that lawyer Sheila Block, Mr. Johnston’s legal adviser during the work he conducted over the past three months, contributed $7,593.38 to the Liberal Party coffers of Canada between 2003 and 2022 raises many questions.
Democracy Watch denounced this situation last week by publishing information about these donations and announced its intention to file a complaint with the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner of Canada.
During question period, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre also demanded that David Johnston “be fired” and that the Trudeau government immediately launch a public inquiry.
The Bloc Québécois maintains that Mr. Johnston does not have the independence and impartiality required to hold public hearings on foreign interference, as he proposes to do in the coming months.
“Let’s cut to the chase: David Johnston’s report on Chinese interference is a farce. No one accepts it except the Prime Minister and China, who died laughing. There is no question of letting the Prime Minister slip away without a public inquiry,” launched the parliamentary leader of the Bloc Québécois, Alain Therrien.
After sifting through intelligence reports and meeting with heads of security agencies, the Prime Minister and some of his ministers and senior officials, Mr. Johnston concluded that a public inquiry would be a useless exercise given the sensitive nature of information that could not be made public.
At the time these lines were written, the office of the special rapporteur had not reacted to the motion proposed by the NDP.
Also Monday, NDP MP Jenny Kwan became the third MP to receive confirmation from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that she is the target of foreign interference by China. The other two elected are Conservatives Michael Chong and Erin O’Toole. The latter was leader of the Conservative Party during the last federal election and advocated a hard line towards China.
“Last Friday, CSIS informed me of the foreign interference to which I had been subjected by the Chinese Communist Party. In order to protect Canada’s national security, I am unable to release the details as it is classified information. CSIS confirms that I am and will continue to be the target of foreign interference,” MP Jenny Kwan said in a press release.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS
MP Jenny Kwan and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
“For people like me who openly speak out against human rights abuses, the genocide of the Uyghurs, the erosion of rights in Hong Kong guaranteed in the Basic Law and the imposition of the controversial National Security Act, we must be vigilant against attempts by foreign influence to force our hand, control us, influence us, neutralize us, or even silence us,” she added.
According to Mme Kwan, the measures taken by the Trudeau government to counter foreign interference are insufficient. She made a point of stressing that David Johnston “does not enjoy the full confidence of the House of Commons” in his statement. “The only way to restore Canadians’ confidence in our democratic institutions is through an independent public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada. »