EDITORIAL: A public inquiry the Prime Minister never wanted

Article content

Canadians will finally get the public scrutiny of foreign interference. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has done everything humanly possible to prevent this from happening.

Article content

For months, Trudeau defied the leaders of all Canadian opposition parties who called for a public inquiry following alarming revelations about Chinese foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, reported Global News and that Globe and mail.

Article content

He defied the will of the House of Commons, which voted for a public inquiry.

He defied the public, most of whom said in opinion polls wanted a public inquiry.

Instead, Trudeau downplayed the seriousness of the foreign interference.

To buy time, he created the grandiose-sounding position of “independent special rapporteur” — an adviser he appointed — to tell him whether to conduct a public inquiry he didn’t want.

When his chosen person, David Johnston, Canada’s former governor-general, former member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, named after his father and a family friend, advised Trudeau against a public inquiry, he happily agreed.

Article content

But by then, concerns about foreign interference were so high that Trudeau could no longer go on and eventually reluctantly agreed to negotiations with the opposition parties to open a public inquiry.

That process led to Public Safety Secretary Dominic LeBlanc’s announcement on Thursday that the government and opposition leaders had unanimously approved the terms of a public inquiry into foreign interference.

It will be led by Marie-Josée Hogue, Judge of the Quebec Court of Appeal, who will begin her work on September 18 and present an interim report by the end of February and a final report by the end of December 2024 with her recommendations.

The investigation will examine foreign interference by China, Russia and other state and non-state actors in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, as well as the grossly flawed flow of information between security agencies and elected officials on numerous national security issues.

LeBlanc said the government will give Hogue access to any information it needs — including confidential cabinet documents — and that she alone will decide who will be called to testify and what parts of the investigation will be conducted publicly and privately for security reasons.