(Ottawa) Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has promised to hold a public inquiry into foreign interference if he wins the next federal election.
Mr. Poilievre and the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, continued Wednesday to fire red balls at the special rapporteur David Johnston, who concluded in a report published 24 hours earlier that a public inquiry is not necessary to shed light on China’s interference activities.
They also again questioned his impartiality, recalling the links between Mr. Johnston and the Trudeau family as well as the links between the former governor general and the Trudeau Foundation.
At the same time, the two leaders have also stepped up pressure on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to stop backing minority Liberals in the House of Commons during confidence votes if the Trudeau government continues to sideline an investigation. public.
After sifting through intelligence reports and meeting with heads of security agencies, the Prime Minister and some of his ministers and senior officials, Johnston said a public inquiry would be a useless exercise given the sensitive nature of information that could not be made public. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accepted Johnston’s findings.
But according to Pierre Poilievre, the work done by David Johnston had only one goal: to throw a lifeline to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government, battered in the House of Commons for months because of the revelations surrounding the Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
“Justin Trudeau has something to hide. It’s obvious, ”said the Conservative leader bluntly during a press conference in Toronto.
“We know that Beijing interfered in our elections not once, but twice to help Justin Trudeau get elected. He does whatever Beijing wants and the communist regime helps him stay in power. […] I will protect Canadians. I will create a registry of foreign influence agents and I will launch a public inquiry to get to the truth,” he added.
He later clarified that he would give the mandate to a judge with national security and intelligence expertise.
In Ottawa, Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet said that only the holding of a public inquiry will shed light on the many facets of Chinese interference.
“The rapporteur’s work is quite narrow in its approach. It does not mention police stations, which are structured tools of interference in Canadian territory. It does not speak of tolerated strategic investments. He’s not talking about industrial espionage. It does not speak of research funding for the benefit of a company that is prohibited in the territory. The Trudeau Foundation file is settled. Everything’s good ! There is no issue at the Trudeau Foundation,” quipped Mr. Blanchet.
The Bloc leader was also critical of certain conclusions of Mr. Johnston, who, according to him, distributed blame to the media, whistleblowers and senior officials for the management and communication of security information, but made no criticism of the Trudeau government. “It’s irresponsible and I don’t believe a word of it,” he said.
Mr. Blanchet does not believe that Mr. Johnston has the independence and impartiality to continue the work by holding public hearings on the serious shortcomings in national security governance and policies.
Mr. Johnston’s mandate was to protect Justin Trudeau, to protect the Liberal Party of Canada, to protect secrecy in general and in doing so he will have served to protect China’s abuses on Canadian territory.
the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet
According to him, the leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh, must wonder about the future of the agreement he concluded with the Liberals. “We should turn off the heating in the bedroom where the Liberals and the NDP hang out so that they can go out on their own for two minutes. Maybe the NDP would come to better terms. If they say they want a public inquiry, are they prepared to vote bindingly for it? “, he launched.
While in Winnipeg, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to the defense of David Johnston, recalling his long service under various governments.
“All Opposition Leaders were offered the necessary security clearance to be able to look at the information on which Mr. Johnston’s conclusions were based. Mr. Johnston is a former Governor General of recognized integrity. […] I think that on an issue as important as foreign interference, Canadians deserve to have leaders who take it seriously and who commit to substance and not just partisanship and personal attacks,” said Ms. Trudeau.