'Will the prime minister finally fire his Trudeau Foundation buddy and launch a real public inquiry?' Poilievre asked
The government is expressing little interest in heeding growing calls from across the floor to dismiss its special rapporteur on foreign interference.
During question period on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ducked direct questions from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on if he’ll acquiesce on opposition demands to drop former governor general David Johnston from his role investigating allegations of foreign interference.
“Will the prime minister finally fire his Trudeau Foundation buddy and launch a real public inquiry? Yes or no?” Poilievre asked in French.
In response, Trudeau accused the Conservative party leader of intentionally refusing top secret briefings from intelligence officials just to score political points.
“The leader of the Opposition claims to want to know the facts, he claims a public inquiry is the only way to learn the truth,” Trudeau said in French.
“But he is refusing to actually learn the truth when intelligence services are offering him a briefing to update him on all the facts … he prefers ignorance so he can continue attacking our former governor general.”
In English, Poilievre said accepting such briefings are pointless, as he wouldn’t be able to share that information with Canadians.
“We don’t need more people to keep secrets, we need more people telling the truth,” Poilievre said.
On Monday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called on Johnston to step aside from his role, saying that allegations of bias stand in the way of his conclusions being taken seriously by Canadians.
“We believe a public inquiry, the rigour and the scrutiny of a public inquiry, is the only path to re-instill confidence in our electoral system,” Singh said on Monday.
His party introduced that non-binding motion into the house on Tuesday, with a vote expected on Wednesday.
Back in the House, Singh described the government’s attempts to address foreign interference as a “failure,” reiterating his calls for Johnston to be removed.
The appearance of bias is so strong, that the special rapporteur can no longer continue to do his work.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh calling for David Johnston to step aside
“The prime minister decided to bring in a special rapporteur, which was a mistake — he should have launched a public inquiry,” he said, speaking over catcalls and jeers from other members.
“The appearance of bias is so strong, that the special rapporteur can no longer continue to do his work.”
Trudeau responded by describing Johnston as an “eminent Canadian” with decades of public service.
“He has undertaken this responsibly and this task of looking at foreign interference and reporting back to Canadians with the seriousness of which one would expect of him,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that Opposition parties are choosing to play politics around this issue, instead of actually standing up for Canadians.”
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Singh calls for Johnston to be replaced as special rapporteur
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Michael Higgins: David Johnston needs to go; he's lost our trust
Poilievre and Trudeau spent question period trading barbs over the issue, with the prime minister accusing Poilievre of being wilfully ignorant.
“He is choosing to hide behind a veil of ignorance, so he doesn’t have to allow the facts of get in the way of a good political argument or personal attack,” he said.
In response, Poilievre asked what Trudeau was so determined to hide from Canadians.
“We know Beijing helped him in two elections, we know Beijing gave donations to his Trudeau Foundation — is that why he’s so determined to silence his critics and keep these secrets?”
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet reminded the House that the Trudeau Liberals are the only ones not in favour of holding a public inquiry.
“The prime minister is starting to look pretty alone, he doesn’t have a lot of friends aside from Mr. Johnston, of course,” he said in French.
Blanchet said the prime minister’s decision to appoint a family friend as special rapporteur invalidates any conclusions drawn by Johnston.
“Mr. Johnston’s stubborness in designating himself to continue in this role is not legitimate,” he said.
“If Mr. Johnston refuses to recuse himself as Parliament will probably ask him to, will this prime minister have the statesmanship and dignity to ensure that that happens, and to ensure that a public inquiry is held?”
In response, Trudeau applied the argument he used on Poilievre on Blanchet, accusing him of also declining to be briefed on the classified intelligence that Johnston supposedly based his conclusions on.
“He is also refusing to accept the facts, to accept reality, in order to continue in his partisan attacks,” Trudeau said.
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