Former Governor General David Johnston came to defend his work and his reputation in a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. Within ten minutes, Mr Johnston was the target of criticism from the opposition and the meeting, scheduled to last three hours, was already acrimonious.
Mr. Johnston, appointed special rapporteur by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the issue of electoral interference, returned to the conclusions of his first report presented on May 23. China conducts interference operations; Mr. Johnston identified “gaps” in the government’s ability to combat this interference. “This needs to be fixed urgently,” he said, in his opening statement to the parliamentary committee.
Then, Mr. Johnston proceeded to respond to the criticisms that have been made of his report, his conclusions and the appearance of conflict of interest that he is accused of with the Liberals and Justin Trudeau. “These allegations are simply untrue. And the decision to repeat them does not make them any truer,” he insisted. “I continue to invite disagreement with my recommendations, but I will not be deterred from completing my work,” he said, responding to the motion passed unanimously by opposition parties last week. ordering him to leave his post.
Conservatives, Bloc Québécois and New Democrats are demanding the departure of Mr. Johnston as special rapporteur and the holding of an independent public inquiry.
The critical opposition
The Conservatives and the Bloc believe that David Johnston has been too close to the Trudeau family over the years. The former governor general was a friend of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and hung out with the Trudeaus when the current prime minister was a child. He insists today that he has not rubbed shoulders with Justin Trudeau since his adulthood and his arrival in politics.
Conservative MP Larry Brock refused to believe the special rapporteur, reporting old comments from Mr. Johnston or Justin Trudeau referring to a “long friendship”. “I was friends with his father and that was the extent of our exchanges”, hammered the special rapporteur, over a particularly tense exchange from the first minutes of the meeting.
The opposition further denounces that Mr. Johnston’s legal adviser, lawyer Sheila Block, made more than $7,500 in donations to the Liberal Party of Canada between 2006 and 2022. Globe and Mail revealed on Tuesday morning that Mr.e Block also participated in a virtual fundraiser with Justin Trudeau in March 2021.
Mr. Johnston ruled that he saw no conflict of interest there either. Mme Block is a “prominent lawyer”, who also stood by him when former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked him to rule on another public inquiry into the Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber affair. “The conclusions of the report are mine,” he said.
David Johnston ruled last month that despite the Chinese regime’s attempts to interfere on Canadian soil, holding a public inquiry would be too long, too costly and would not reveal more secret information publicly.
“What is the price of a democracy? Asked Bloc Québécois Alain Therrien, saying he was “flabbergasted”. The Special Rapporteur replied that he was talking about a cost in terms of the time that such an investigation would take before shedding light on the interference, recommending real reforms and increased monitoring by Canadian institutions.
The opposition don’t want to know
As soon as they arrived at the committee, the elected members of the opposition parties were already convinced that Mr. Johnston could say nothing to make them change their minds.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre made the detour, in the corridors of Parliament, to present himself at the entrance to the meeting room and chant that David Johnston “should resign today and announce that he supports a public inquiry”.
The parliamentary leader of the Bloc Québécois, Alain Therrien, made much the same speech. “All of the experts have gone to the [comité]. We analyzed the files as necessary. We did our homework. […] They [ces experts] almost all agree that we need an independent public inquiry commission,” he insisted. “Perhaps at the end of the exercise, [David Johnston] will understand that his time has expired, that he should go. »
The New Democrat leader, Jagmeet Singh, had meanwhile moved to participate himself in the committee, where MPs sit but not party leaders. His opinion on the role of the special rapporteur and the need for a public inquiry is “final”, he said. “It’s impossible for him to continue doing his job when there’s a strong enough appearance of bias,” Singh said.
Further details will follow.