Multiple candidates to oversee foreign interference inquiry have rejected the job: sources – National Post

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OTTAWA — The Liberal government is having trouble finding a potential commissioner to oversee a possible public inquiry into foreign interference, with at least half a dozen current or retired judges having declined the offer, multiple sources have confirmed to the National Post.

The series of rejections over the last few weeks is further prolonging a process that has dragged out for six months since media reports alleged a significant and co-ordinated campaign of Chinese foreign interference in Canadian democratic institutions.

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The resignation in June of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “special rapporteur” for foreign interference, David Johnston, amid widespread controversy over Johnston’s perceived conflicts, resulted in the Liberal government agreeing to consider a public inquiry, which opposition parties have been demanding for months.

The Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Québécois are still discussing the potential for an inquiry, with one source saying meetings were happening as recently as Tuesday afternoon that could lead to the choice of a commissioner.

Sources for this story were granted anonymity as they were not authorized to publicly discuss progress of talks between the Liberals and opposition parties.

The sources confirmed that the Liberals have contacted “at least” a half-dozen current and former judges to oversee an eventual inquiry, but all of them declined. In some cases, those backing away are sitting judges and don’t want to step away from their court to preside over an inquiry. But others had indicated they were reluctant to be at the centre of a political maelstrom.

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“We’ll hear things like, ‘I’m in my seventies, I don’t have much time left. To end up in the news every week, I don’t know, I think I’m going to pass,’” one source said.

One opposition source explained that getting the Liberals, NDP, Conservatives and Bloc Québécois to agree on certain candidates already “isn’t that easy.” And each time a potential candidate declines, valuable time is lost.

“So you start over and have to ask the next person in line, who asks for time to think about it before refusing,” the source said.

“You can’t ask three people at the same time in case more than one says yes. It has to be one at a time,” he added.

The government launched talks with opposition parties on a possible foreign interference inquiry in June, shortly after Johnston stepped down.

In a report on the issue, Johnston recommended against a public inquiry, saying too much of what needed to be discussed would have to remain behind closed doors because it involved classified intelligence. He offered instead to chair public meetings that would examine the deeper issues around intelligence sharing and foreign interference.

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Johnston said he found no evidence that the prime minister or anyone else in the Liberal government had failed to act on allegations of foreign interference.

Opposition parties argued Johnston had no credibility on the issue because he had ties to the Trudeau family and had served as a member of the Trudeau Foundation, which was embroiled in some of the interference allegations. Shortly before Johnston stepped down, a vote in Parliament had a majority of MPs calling for the former governor general to resign.

Dominic LeBlanc, now minister of public safety and democratic institutions, was then asked by the prime minister to work with opposition parties to find a consensus on how to proceed. LeBlanc said recently that he was continuing to work with opposition House leaders to find a solution.

“I’m confident that my conversations with opposition counterparts will take an important step forward in strengthening Canada’s democracy and democratic institutions and we’ll have more to say about that at the right moment,” he told reporters after Trudeau shuffled his cabinet two weeks ago.

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Reached on Tuesday, LeBlanc’s office said it had no further comment about the potential inquiry.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said last week that another issue that is still being discussed is whether the inquiry will widen beyond Chinese interference.

“We have been saying that it should include any major country that is involved in or engaged in any allegations of foreign interference,” Singh said during a press conference in Halifax.

Singh said there are credible allegations of interference coming from Russia, Iran, and India, as well as China. He said that should all be investigated.

“We are deeply concerned about any allegations of interference in our democracy.”

The inquiry into the government’s use of the Emergencies Act last year was completed in months, which was required by Emergencies Act legislation, but previous public inquiries have taken up to five years to complete.

National Post

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