David Johnston cannot seriously consider his task to be making a recommendation on whether there should or should not be a full inquiry. That has to be a given now.Sean Kilpatrick
Now we know CSIS reported that Chinese diplomats discussed ways to interfere in Vancouver’s mayoral election last year, and hopedto groom friendly local politicians who might one day run for higher office. But that’s just the latest.
An Ontario Conservative MPP has stepped aside from Premier Doug Ford’s caucus because of unproven allegations he aided Beijing’s election-tampering schemes. The intelligence agency reported Chinese diplomats organized illegal donations and paid volunteers for some federal candidates in the 2021 election as they hoped to help the Liberals win another minority government.
So yes, there is going to have to be an inquiry. There’s no way around that.
And it will have to be big and broad.
The question of whether the opposition parties agree that a former Gov.-General of Canada, David Johnston, can be trusted to handle the hastily fabricated role of special rapporteur should not, in the end, be more than a sidebar. His work can be easily judged. He doesn’t have a lot of credible options.
Mr. Johnston cannot seriously consider his task to be making a recommendation on whether there should or should not be a full inquiry. That has to be a given now. He can only be making recommendations on how broad that inquiry should be – and it has to be broad – or how to fit the requirement of protecting the secrecy of intelligence gathering with the necessity of telling the public what the heck is going on.
And at this point, the inquiry must deal with two sets of issues on two tracks. One is the narrow question of whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ignored credible warnings about Beijing’s meddling. The other is the broader issue of foreign interference throughout Canada’s politics.
That second set of broader issues can’t be avoided now. There are too many concerns that Canada has slumbered while Beijing interfered. And not just that: The lack of clear answers feeds hyperventilating theories that all our elections are or were rigged and no one can be trusted.
The spy agency reported that China’s consul-general in Vancouver, Tong Xiaoling, was keen to influence the race. She had been critical of then-mayor Kennedy Stewart, a former New Democrat MP, who suspended meetings with Chinese diplomats after Beijing sanctioned Canadian MP Michael Chong. The consulate warned the City of Vancouver not to declare a special relationship with the Taiwanese city, Kaohsiung. Last August, it criticized Mr. Stewart for supporting then-U. S. congressional speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.
Notice: China’s government has no reason to care about Vancouver’s municipal policies. They just don’t like a local pooh-bah who speaks out against Beijing’s line. Ms. Tong, according to CSIS, was also seeking to groom local politicians who might one day run for provincial or federal office.
It’s not clear how far those efforts went, but this is different than trying to influence a national election. It’s Beijing seeking to quash unfriendly voices and install friendly ones throughout Canada’s politics. That’s something that has to be part of an inquiry now.
Yet broad issues such as that can’t be allowed to drown out the narrower questions and have to be answered about Beijing’s interference in recent federal elections and whether Mr. Trudeau ignored credible warnings about it. An inquiry needs a two-track mandate that answers those questions first.
Mr. Johnston’s appointment as a special rapporteur was never going to be enough. That Mr. Trudeau scrambled to conjure up a new office when he was up to his eyes in political pressure to hold an inquiry meant that Mr. Johnston could never be the arbiter of these questions.
That the opposition can point to Mr. Johnston’s family being friendly with Mr. Trudeau and has had links with the non-profit Trudeau Foundation just confirm that. At best, he can provide an interim review and lead Mr. Trudeau to an inquiry.
At this point, that’s also the only outcome that is politically viable for Mr. Trudeau: not a rapporteur, but an inquiry with a capital I. One tasked to answer questions that reach into the Prime Minister’s Office, but with a mandate to look at interference across Canada’s politics.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
