David Johnston, Canada’s special rapporteur on foreign interference, is pushing back against claims that his work is biased after confirming that he has enlisted the help of experts with links to the Liberals and NDP.
Since his appointment, Johnston has been accused of being unfit for the job because of his connections to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The leaders of the Conservative and Bloc Québécois parties have both said Trudeau and Johnston are self-declared friends and that their longstanding ties are too close to allow Johnston to judge the prime minister’s actions.
Johnston has said that while he was friends with Pierre Trudeau and skied with the Trudeau family back when Justin Trudeau and his brothers were children, he hasn’t had any meetings, dinners or personal contacts with Trudeau in the past 40 years.
Johnston downplays Trudeau connection, says ’35 years of absence doesn’t make a friendship’
In an exclusive interview with Power and Politics host David Cochrane, Johnston described his relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family. He said they crossed paths when Trudeau became prime minister and he was Governor General and while he was president at two Canadian universities.
But that hasn’t stopped opposition parties from questioning Johnston’s investigation into foreign interference. Even the NDP — which currently has a supply-and-confidence deal with the governing Liberals — put forward a motion in the House calling on Johnston to step aside because of an “appearance of bias.”
In an exclusive interview with CBC News Network’s Power & Politics, the former governor general says any perceptions of bias are based on “allegations that are false.”
“The fact that it’s repeated again and again — if it’s wrong — doesn’t make it true,” Johnston said of his relationship with the current prime minister.
On Tuesday, The Globe and Mail reported that Sheila Block, a lawyer Johnston hired to assist with his mandate, has donated to the Liberal Party in the past.
David Johnston says he doesn’t regret taking on foreign interference assignment
‘When you’re asked to serve your country, you do so,” Johnston says in an exclusive interview with Power and Politics host David Cochrane.
Johnston also told the procedure and House affairs committee on Tuesday that he has received unpaid informal advice from Don Guy, former chief of staff to former Ontario Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty, and Brian Topp, chief of staff to Rachel Notley when she was the NDP premier of Alberta.
Johnston argued their involvement doesn’t compromise his work.
Johnston said “many lawyers in practice” donate to political parties and that in Block’s case, she was supporting some of her former students who became political candidates. He also said Block has donated to former Toronto mayor John Tory, who has past connections to the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.
“She has the respect of every lawyer she works with,” Johnston said of Block.
As for Topp and Guy, Johnston said they were two of many who reached out to his office offering communications help following the release of his initial report. He also noted that the communications firm Navigator — which Johnston hired after being appointed to his current role — has a number of employees with connections to the Conservative Party.
In addition to questioning Johnston’s credibility, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet have refused to obtain security clearances to permit them to examine the top secret information that informed Johnston’s first report.
Johnston told Power & Politics host David Cochrane that he doesn’t “completely understand” the opposition leaders’ decision.
Poilievre and Blanchet have said the offer of security clearances is an attempt to silence the opposition. But Johnston said they could speak publicly about their own conclusions regarding the intelligence as long as they didn’t reveal classified information.
“I simply don’t understand that,” Johnston said. “I would like to think they would want to get to know … the classified information and come to their own conclusions and speak freely about it.”
In an exclusive interview with CBC’s David Cochrane, special rapporteur David Johnston says he would think federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet ‘would want to get to know the bottom of this … and then come to their own conclusions’ on foreign interference.
Johnston also said that he did not reach out to MP Han Dong as part of his initial investigation into foreign interference.
A story by Global News, citing an unnamed national security source, alleged Dong advised an official at the Chinese consulate in Toronto against releasing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadians the Chinese government was holding at the time.
While Johnston’s report disputed those claims, he said he did not speak to Dong before releasing the report.
“We had a high degree of intelligence, both open and more particularly the classified information, and that permitted us to come to the conclusion that the allegations made about him were not founded. In fact, he was in conversation with the consulate in Toronto of China but was not wittingly being a tool of theirs,” Johnston said.
Johnston says he ‘didn’t reach out’ to MP Han Dong while investigating foreign interference
Special rapporteur David Johnston says he felt that he got the intelligence that permitted him to conclude that Han Dong ‘was not a witting party’ in an alleged foreign interference campaign. Dong stepped down as a member of the Liberal caucus in the wake of allegations that he advised a Chinese diplomat that Beijing should wait to free Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in February 2021.
Since Johnston’s first report was released, Dong has been seeking to rejoin the Liberal caucus after leaving when the Global stories first broke. The MP launched a $15 million lawsuit against Global before Johnston’s report was released.
Johnston’s report criticized the way information is shared between Canada’s intelligence bodies and how it’s shared with decision makers in the federal government.
When asked if the current government is taking the issue of foreign affairs seriously enough, Johnston said he doesn’t believe any government has in recent years.
“Particularly in the last 12 to 15 years, we have not been doing what we should be doing with foreign intelligence,” he said. “We needed a wake-up call.
“We have to be much more effectively armed than we have. We found some very big challenges in our system.”
The former governor general will be holding public hearings over the summer. He said Tuesday those hearings are expected to begin next month.
While he said much of his work will be forward-looking, Johnston added he’ll still review some lingering questions about the cases he addressed in his first report.
“There are stories that simply don’t add up and that requires further review,” he said.
Some foreign interference stories ‘don’t add up,’ Johnston says
Special rapporteur David Johnston concedes that Erin O’Toole’s claim that his campaign was targeted by China in the 2021 election, and the lack of supporting evidence reported by Johnston, calls for closer investigation.
Johnston was referring specifically to the case of former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole. Johnston’s report found evidence that articles circulating on the Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat during the 2021 campaign questioned O’Toole’s positions on China, but the articles couldn’t be traced back to a state actor.
Following Johnston’s report, O’Toole said he was briefed by CSIS who told him he indeed was a target of a Chinese government campaign of misinformation and “voter suppression” that covered the last federal election campaign.
Johnston said he would continue to review O’Toole’s case and others as he begins to hold public hearings.
NDP House leader Peter Julian and Liberal MP Greg Fergus, the prime minister’s parliamentary secretary, speak to Power & Politics about their participation in the committee that heard from David Johnston on his investigation into foreign interference.
DETROIT (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris appeared with Lizzo on Saturday in the singer’s hometown of Detroit, marking the beginning of in-person voting and lavishing the city with praise after Republican nominee Donald Trump recently disparaged it.
“All the best things were made in Detroit. Coney Dogs, Faygo and Lizzo,” the singer joked to a rally crowd, pointing to herself after listing off the meat-on-a-stick and soda that the city is famous for.
She said it was time to “put some respect on Detroit’s name” noting that the city had revolutionized the auto and music industries and adding that she’d already cast her ballot for Harris since voting early was “a power move.”
Heaps of praise for the Motor City came after Trump, the former president, insulted it during a recent campaign stop. And Harris continued the theme, saying of her campaign, “Like the people of Detroit, we have grit, we have excellence, we have history.”
Arms wide open as she took the stage, Harris let the crowd see she was wearing under her blazer a “Detroit vs. Everybody” T-shirt that the owner of the business that produces them gave her during a previous stop in the city earlier in the week. She also moved around the stage during her speech with a hand-held mic, not using a teleprompter.
More than 1 million Michigan residents have already voted by mail in the Nov. 5 election, and Harris predicted that Detroit turnout for early voting would be strong.
“Who is the capital of producing records?” Harris asked when imploring the crowd to set new highs for early voting tallies. “We are going to break some records here in Detroit today.”
She slammed Trump as unstable: “Somebody just needs to watch his rallies, if you’re not really sure how to vote.”
“We’re not going to get these 17 days back. On Election Day, we don’t want to have any regrets,” the vice president said.
Lizzo also told the crowd, “Mrs. Commander-in-Chief has a nice ring to it.”
“This is the swing state of all swing states, so every last vote here counts,” the singer said. Then, referencing her song of the same title, Lizzo added, “If you ask me if America is ready for its first woman president, I only have one thing to say: “It’s about damn time!”
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement that Harris needed Lizzo “to hide the fact that Michiganders were feeling good under President Trump – real wages were higher, prices were lower, and everyone was better off.”
Talona Johnson, a product manager from Rochester, Michigan, attended Harris rally and said that Harris “and her team are doing the things that are required to make sure that people are informed.”
“I believe she’s telling the truth. She’s trying to help the people,” said Johnson, who said she planned to vote for Harris and saw women’s rights as her top concern.
“I don’t necessarily agree with everything that she’s put out, but she’s better than the alternative,”
In comments to reporters prior to the rally, Harris said she was in Detroit “to thank all the folks for the work they are doing to help organize and register people to vote, and get them out to vote today. She also called Detroit “a great American city” with “a lot of hard-working folks that have grit and ambition and deserve to be respected.”
The vice president was asked about whether the Biden administration’s full-throated support for Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza might hurt her support in Michigan. Dearborn, near Detroit, is the largest city with an Arab majority in the nation.
“It has never been easy,” Harris said of Middle East policy. “But that doesn’t mean we give up.”
She will get more star power later Saturday when she holds a rally in Atlanta featuring another wildly popular singer, Usher.
Early voting is also underway in Georgia. More than 1.2 million ballots have been cast, either in person or by mail.
Democrats hope an expansive organizing effort will boost Harris against Trump in the campaign’s final weeks.
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Associated Press writers Matt Brown in Detroit and Will Weissert and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed.
Moe is set to speak in the city of Yorkton about affordability measures this morning before travelling to the nearby village of Theodore for an event with the local Saskatchewan Party candidate.
NDP Leader Carla Beck doesn’t have any events scheduled, though several party candidates are to hold press conferences.
On Thursday, Moe promised a directive banning “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls” if re-elected.
The NDP said the Saskatchewan Party was punching down on vulnerable children.
Election day is Oct. 28.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe is promising a directive banning “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls” if re-elected, a move the NDP’s Carla Beck says weaponizes vulnerable kids.
Moe made the pledge Thursday at a campaign stop in Regina. He said it was in response to a complaint that two biological males had changed for gym class with girls at a school in southeast Saskatchewan.
He said the ban would be his first order of business if he’s voted again as premier on Oct. 28.
It was not previously included in his party’s campaign platform document.
“I’ll be very clear, there will be a directive that would come from the minister of education that would say that biological boys will not be in the change room with biological girls,” Moe said.
He added school divisions should already have change room policies, but a provincial directive would ensure all have the rule in place.
Asked about the rights of gender-diverse youth, Moe said other children also have rights.
“What about the rights of all the other girls that are changing in that very change room? They have rights as well,” he said, followed by cheers and claps.
The complaint was made at a school with the Prairie Valley School Division. The division said in a statement it doesn’t comment on specific situations that could jeopardize student privacy and safety.
“We believe all students should have the opportunity to learn and grow in a safe and welcoming learning environment,” it said.
“Our policies and procedures align with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.”
Asked about Moe’s proposal, Beck said it would make vulnerable kids more vulnerable.
Moe is desperate to stoke fear and division after having a bad night during Wednesday’s televised leaders’ debate, she said.
“Saskatchewan people, when we’re at our best, are people that come together and deliver results, not divisive, ugly politics like we’ve seen time and again from Scott Moe and the Sask. Party,” Beck said.
“If you see leaders holding so much power choosing to punch down on vulnerable kids, that tells you everything you need to know about them.”
Beck said voters have more pressing education issues on their minds, including the need for smaller classrooms, more teaching staff and increased supports for students.
People also want better health care and to be able to afford gas and groceries, she added.
“We don’t have to agree to understand Saskatchewan people deserve better,” Beck said.
The Saskatchewan Party government passed legislation last year that requires parents consent to children under 16 using different names or pronouns at school.
The law has faced backlash from some LGBTQ+ advocates, who argue it violates Charter rights and could cause teachers to out or misgender children.
Beck has said if elected her party would repeal that legislation.
Heather Kuttai, a former commissioner with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission who resigned last year in protest of the law, said Moe is trying to sway right-wing voters.
She said a change room directive would put more pressure on teachers who already don’t have enough educational support.
“It sounds like desperation to me,” she said.
“It sounds like Scott Moe is nervous about the election and is turning to homophobic and transphobic rhetoric to appeal to far-right voters.
“It’s divisive politics, which is a shame.”
She said she worries about the future of gender-affirming care in a province that once led in human rights.
“We’re the kind of people who dig each other out of snowbanks and not spew hatred about each other,” she said. “At least that’s what I want to still believe.”
Also Thursday, two former Saskatchewan Party government members announced they’re endorsing Beck — Mark Docherty, who retired last year and was a Speaker, and Glen Hart, who retired in 2020.
Ian Hanna, a speech writer and senior political adviser to former Saskatchewan Party premier Brad Wall, also endorsed Beck.
Earlier in the campaign, Beck received support from former Speaker Randy Weekes, who quit the Saskatchewan Party earlier this year after accusing caucus members of bullying.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
