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.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
