Poilievre declined meeting with Johnston on foreign interference, citing scheduling
CBC
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has declined to meet with the government's special rapporteur on foreign interference, citing an inability to find a mutually convenient time, a spokesperson for Poilievre said Wednesday.
Poilievre has mocked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to appoint former governor general David Johnston to look into the matter of foreign interference, calling it nothing more than a delay tactic to avoid calling a public inquiry and describing Johnston as Trudeau's "neighbour, family friend and ski buddy."
The prime minister has decried criticisms of Johnston as "horrific, partisan attacks against a man of extraordinary integrity."
Poilievre has also cited Johnston's past work with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, named after the prime minister's father, as evidence Johnston is ill-suited for the role.
Still, Poilievre's director of media relations, Sebastian Skamski, said the Opposition leader's office has complied with an email request for information about any past experiences with potential foreign interference.
Those experiences are limited, given that Poilievre has only been Opposition leader for a matter of months and hasn't yet led the party in a general election, said the spokesperson.
When Johnston's team reached out earlier this month to ask for a meeting with Poilievre, the Conservative leader was only given 48 hours' notice and was unable to make the timeframe work, Skamski said.
CBC News has reached out to the Privy Council Office, which is handling media requests for Johnston, for comment.
The leaders of both the NDP and the Bloc Québécois have met with Johnston as he prepares his report into whether a public inquiry is needed into foreign interference in Canadian elections.
According to an NDP spokesperson, the party requested to meet with Johnston. Leader Jagmeet Singh and Vancouver-East MP Jenny Kwan met with the rapporteur on May 1.
"Essentially we continued to recommend a public inquiry," the NDP spokesperson wrote in a statement.
The party wanted Kwan to attend as "she has been very active hearing from the Chinese community about their concerns regarding foreign interference," and hoped to "ensure that the impact on everyday people was considered."
Last week, it emerged Kwan has also held a video call with CSIS to discuss potential interference by China targeting her.
In a statement, the Bloc Québécois said leader Yves-François Blanchet and his ethics critic, René Villemure, met with Johnston a week ago.
The town of Collingwood, Ont., is under a boil water advisory after a major water main break Friday.
Striking frontline staff at Central West Specialized Developmental Services (CWSDS) in Oakville want their residents returned to their original homes for the holidays.
Environment Canada is warning of more rain for the Fraser Valley this weekend and into early next week, even as floodwaters that inundated parts of Abbotsford earlier this week begin to recede.
Nearly a week after it was first opened, service on Line 6 has resumed after it was yet again partially shut down on Saturday.
Students in Inuvik, N.W.T., are learning to cut and fillet fish at the East Three Elementary School on-the-land camp running through December.
Prior to being arrested this week and accused of passing sensitive or classified information to a foreign entity, a Canadian military intelligence member was embroiled in a secret, long-running internal dispute with his superiors, CBC News has learned.
Claire Courty is one of more than 50 high school students contributing to a surge in activity at the regional airport in Medicine Hat, Alta.
Rising waters in British Columbia's Fraser Valley have "not meant good news" for farmers in a part of the province still recovering from devastating floods four years ago, the province's agriculture minister said on Friday.
High water temperatures and low water levels are having a serious impact on Newfoundland and Labrador's Atlantic salmon population, as Fisheries and Oceans Canada reports more than 60 per cent of Newfoundland's salmon rivers remain in the critical zone.
It was a field trip that students in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., will never forget.
It was sometime in 2008 that Henry Walter got a message from his lawyer.
When Fredericton High School student Matthew Jeon wanted to start saving money for university, he started applying for summer jobs.
After yet another major flood at the Sainte-Croix Hospital in Drummondville, Que., family doctor Catherine Tétreault says the situation at the facility has reached a point of no return.