OTTAWA — Former governor general David Johnston defended his decision to stay on as special rapporteur despite a House of Commons motion calling on him to resign
Johnston is testifying in front of the House of Commons committee on Procedure and House Affairs. Last week, all opposition MPs voted for a motion calling on him to step down because of perceived bias and for the government to hold a public inquiry.
“I have deep respect for the House of Commons, and for its right to express an opinion on my work,” he said. ”I have heard clearly the disagreement with my recommendations not to call a public inquiry, as well as allegations about my integrity and my independence, these allegations are, put simply, false.”
Johnston said there are major issues of foreign interference in Canada and he intends to continue to look into them through hearings starting next month.
“Foreign governments, including the People’s Republic of China, are working in hostile and clandestine ways to undermine our democracy,” he said. “I have identified significant shortcomings and the government’s ability to detect, deter and combat this threat.”
Conservative MPs focused their questions on Johnston’s interactions with the Trudeau family and the Trudeau foundation and accused Johnston of being in a conflict of interest.
Conservative MP Larry Brock pointed to previous statements Johnston and the prime minister had made and said Johnston was changing the relationship.
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described you as a lifelong family friend, a friendship cemented over many summers as neighbouring cottagers in the Laurentians. You never corrected the prime minister in his characterization of your relationship with him.”
Johnston downplayed the relationship. He said his ski trips with Trudeau were few and ended when the now prime minister was 11. He said he served as a member of the Trudeau foundation, but was not on the board and had no involvement in the decision to take a controversial donation from a Chinese billionaire.
“I don’t believe I have a conflict of interest and I would not have undertaken this responsibility if I had a conflict of interest,”” Johnston said.
He encouraged members of the committee to focus on the ongoing problem and find ways to address it.
“Quite apart from changes of positions by people on whether my integrity evaporated three or four years ago, for some reason with the change of government. I’m anxious that we get to the real issue here, which is foreign interference.”
Liberal MP Jennifer Connell accused the Conservatives of missing the larger point, focusing on the prime minister’s childhood ski trips at the expense of the important issue.
“it was nothing more than a character assassination or conspiracy theories around children playing together.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told Johnston that he still believes he should resign. Johnston concluded in his first report that ministers and political staff were not made aware of some of the foreign interference allegations.
Singh asked if he probed whether those cabinet ministers showed significant curiosity.
“Did they never have that curiosity to say, well, if we know that this foreign interference is going on, maybe it’s impacting our Members of Parliament?”
Singh came to the committee personally, replacing the member of his party who usually asks questions. Singh said he wanted to appear to make it clear that Johnston should step down.
“I’m disappointed that he remains the special rapporteur, despite the will of the House that he should be removed. I’m going to make it clear that I disagree with his finding around not calling a public inquiry and I want to ask them questions about how he came to these conclusions.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre did not attend the committee meeting but said beforehand that there is only one thing he would be interested in hearing from Johnston.
“He cannot do this job today. He should show up, resign and announce that he’s supporting a full public inquiry.”
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