Canadians ‘want the facts’ as Johnston’s call on interference inquiry looms: experts
Global News
David Johnston has until May 23 to decide whether a public inquiry or another independent process is needed to examine allegations of Chinese interference in Canada.
Canadians “want the facts” when it comes to suspected Chinese interference in the nation and what the government knows about it, experts say.
Whether that should play out in a forum such as a public inquiry will be decided by special rapporteur David Johnston, who will present his recommendation on the issue next week.
“Canadians and parliamentarians want the facts about why so many CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) assessments were sent to the government and were evidently not actioned,” said Charles Burton, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and a former counsellor at the Canadian embassy in Beijing.
“The idea that we would have some neutral figure, who would have full access to all the classified documents and who could make an assessment as to what would be in the public interest to make public and what wouldn’t, would be highly desirable.”
Johnston, 81, was named in March by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the special rapporteur on foreign interference and has until May 23 to decide whether a public inquiry or another independent process is needed to examine allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections and society.
The Liberal government has been under immense pressure to explain not only what it knew about foreign interference in recent elections, but also how it is protecting Canada’s democratic institutions.
The recommendation will come following months of reporting by Global News and the Globe and Mail into allegations of attempts by Beijing to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
For months now, opposition MPs have been demanding a public inquiry be called. Trudeau, in turn, tapped Johnston to make that call, and ordered a slew of investigations into the allegations.