With Johnston gone, we're running out of time to get answers on foreign interference

When David Johnston released his first report on foreign interference three weeks ago, the former governor general argued that Parliament was — or should be — capable of handling such an important matter itself.

Parliament — as represented by a majority of MPs in the House of Commons — vehemently disagreed.

As special rapporteur, Johnston proposed that opposition leaders be allowed to review the intelligence that he was given access to and that his report be sent to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA), two bodies established by Parliament in 2017 and 2019 respectively, for further review.

Conservative MP Michael Chong referred to this as a "mountain of process" in question period on Monday. But Johnston's critics seemed less concerned by what Johnston found or recommended than they were by questions about his credibility.

In the immediate aftermath of his resignation late last week, Liberals and Conservatives blamed each other for Johnston's defeat. For once, they were both right.

The Conservatives attacked Johnston with glee and certainly went beyond a strict reading of the facts when describing his associations with the prime minister. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his advisers apparently failed to imagine the sort of attacks Johnston might face. And this is not the first time the government has, at the very least, failed to fully appreciate how others might perceive its actions.

Johnston didn't help matters when he chose the crisis communications firm Navigator to advise him at public expense, or when he accepted the free counsel of former Liberal and NDP strategists. (Maybe it's not surprising that someone subjected to relentless political and media criticism might seek out communications advice.)

Ultimately, however, Johnston was undone not because he proposed a "mountain of process" but because the opposition wanted a different mountain of process.

From the outset, the opposition parties were united in demanding an independent public inquiry of the sort that is usually led by a former judge. But Johnston was not enlisted to lead a public inquiry — and then he specifically recommended against calling one.

Had he called for an inquiry last month, he could have headed back into retirement with support from all parties. But Johnston's criticisms of the inquiry idea were not unreasonable.

"By their nature, they are expensive and lengthy, often extending for years," Johnston wrote in his first report. "Counsel to the commission call witnesses, who are subject to cross-examination by other parties. The process is dominated by lawyers, and tends to become quasi-adversarial. When governments appoint public inquiries it is because they believe that the need for public transparency outweighs the inefficiencies caused by this process."

Johnston also argued that much of the evidence in this case — the classified intelligence — would have to be viewed and discussed in secret, undercutting somewhat the notion of a "public" inquiry.

In truth, the furor over foreign interference likely was too far gone by the time Johnston offered those thoughts last month. There was probably never any chance of Johnston's arguments being heard or considered, given the opprobrium that surrounded him.

Ironically, a poll released just days before Johnston resigned suggested the public still found him more credible than any of the major party leaders.