{"id":15489,"date":"2023-05-28T13:49:34","date_gmt":"2023-05-28T17:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=15489"},"modified":"2023-07-24T20:23:45","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T00:23:45","slug":"david-johnston-kicks-the-can-a-little-further-down-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=15489","title":{"rendered":"David Johnston kicks the can a little further down the road"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The Niagara Independent, May 26, 2023 \u2013<\/em> Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s special rapporteur David Johnston issued his preliminary report this week and concluded that there is no need for a formal public inquiry into foreign interference. With his report, the PM\u2019s longtime family friend has punted aside the substantive issues relating to the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s (CCP) subversive influence in Canada. Between now and October Johnston appointed himself as the head of a series of public hearings to review government communications procedures surrounding the dissemination of the country\u2019s security intelligence to government officials.<\/p>\n<p>It is clearly evident from the wording of Johnston\u2019s report that Justin Trudeau (and his friends) have no intention to expose the CCP\u2019s involvement with the Liberal Party and its implications for Canadians.<\/p>\n<p>David Johnston summarizes in his report, \u201cForeign governments are undoubtedly attempting to influence candidates and voters in Canada\u201d and he observes, \u201cMuch has been done already, but considerably more remains to be done to strengthen our capacity to resist foreign interference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnston admonished media for misconstruing facts, criticized the country\u2019s security agencies for failing to properly inform government, and chastised Opposition MPs for politicizing national security issues. He underlined that \u201cthere\u2019s no evidence the prime minister or his minister knowingly failed to act on intelligence, advice and recommendations\u201d \u2013 so Canadians are to be reassured that the Trudeau government is not at fault and is acting in the nation\u2019s best interest.<\/p>\n<p>The report concludes with recommending a review of communications procedures within government: \u201cThe public process should focus on strengthening Canada\u2019s capacity to detect, deter and counter foreign interference in our elections and the threat such interference represents to our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnston appointed himself \u201cKing Solomon\u201d for a five-month public process and the PM hurriedly agreed to his plan of action.<\/p>\n<p>From the news reporters and political commentators in the Ottawa media who have been closely following the government\u2019s handling of the CCP-Liberal revelations over the last six months, there has been an immediate condemnation of David Johnston\u2019s work and his conclusions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">John Ibbitson of the <i>Globe and Mail <\/i>flatly stated, \u201cThis is a mistake\u201d in his Tuesday column \u201cSorry, Mr. Johnston: Public hearings into foreign interference are inadequate to the task.\u201d<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">In another <i>Globe and Mail<\/i> piece, Andrew Coyne wrote of Johnston\u2019s recommendations, \u201cIn essence, they boil down to: \u201ctrust me\u201d but reasons, \u201cA report that asks to be taken on faith, from an evidently conflicted rapporteur, is not likely to engender a great deal of trust.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Both John Robson and Colby Cosh called Johnston\u2019s report a \u201cwhitewash\u201d with Robson suggesting Trudeau\u2019s old friend has destroyed his own credibility, and Cosh sarcastically stating, \u201cI don\u2019t know about you, but I feel so much trust right now.\u201d<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">John Ivison in the <i>National Post<\/i> suggests Johnston himself is the stumbling block to this report being accepted: \u201cThe problem is that Johnston\u2019s perceived conflict of interest because of his personal relationship with the prime minister has been compounded by a report that finds the government was blameless at all times. Even the \u201csignificant governance shortcomings\u201d were the fault of the security agencies and the bureaucracy.\u201d<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Sabrina Maddeaux in another<i> Postmedia<\/i> column stated \u201cDavid Johnston sneers at the public\u201d: \u201cCanadians are left with more questions than they are answers. Rather than restore trust in the system, a conflicted special rapporteur, who never should have been put in this position to begin with, took another hammer to an already shaky foundation\u2026 The solution for building back trust can\u2019t be \u201cjust trust us.\u201d<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Matt Gurney in <i>The Line<\/i> wrote \u201cThe Johnston report is one of the most depressing things I\u2019ve read\u201d and he frankly observes: \u201cwe are just totally, epically boned.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This initial blowback was punctuated by a <i>Globe and Mail<\/i> lead editorial that underlines the fact that parliamentarians have voted for an independent public inquiry and the Johnston report is defying the will of elected representatives. The editorial states: \u201cHowever honorable his intentions, Mr. Johnston has not only failed in that mission but has also further damaged public confidence in our institutions. In essence, he would like Canadians to return to a state of collective ignorance, before leaks exposed Ottawa\u2019s inaction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As sure as Canadians were expecting Johnston to exonerate the PM, they also could be assured that opposition MPs would be negative towards David Johnston\u2019s review of the matter. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has consistently criticized Johnston and his special rapporteur mission, repeatedly stating, \u201cHe (Johnston) has a fake job and he\u2019s unable to do it impartially. He needs to simply hand it over and allow an independent public inquiry into Beijing\u2019s interference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Poilievre dismissed Johnston\u2019s \u201cwhitewash attempt\u201d: \u201cThe ski buddy, cottage neighbour, family friend\u00a0and member of the Beijing-financed Trudeau Foundation came out and did exactly what I predicted \u2014 helped Trudeau cover up the influence by Beijing in our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Poilievre concludes: \u201cThe report was rigged from the start and has zero credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yves-Francois Blanchet, leader of Bloc Quebecois echoed Poilievre\u2019s rebuke: \u201cI am not taking the word of Mr. Johnston at all. Even if before we might have said we do not know if he is neutral or not, today we do know he is not\u2026. China won\u2019t stop. Mr. Johnston just said, \u2018Go on, enjoy, have fun. Canada is open for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vowing not to be silenced on the serious issues of national security, both opposition leaders rejected a participatory role in Johnston\u2019s public hearings and\/or any behind-closed-doors parliamentary review as suggested in the Johnston report. Blanchet sees any involvement with Johnston as a tactic to muzzle him, \u201cIt\u2019s a trap. The trap is to say: \u201cIf you want to see it all, you cannot say anything, or do anything with that, and then they [the Liberals] will tell everybody that \u2018everything is fixed\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One certainty from this week\u2019s political dustup over David Johnston and his report is that there are still many questions to be answered about foreign interference and Canada\u2019s independence and those inquiries go far beyond CCP interfering in two election cycles. More to the point, the questions go far beyond anything the PM\u2019s special rapporteur will study in the next five months in his public hearings into government communications procedures.<\/p>\n<p>Just think for a moment about the larger national security issues involving the country\u2019s trade, telecommunications, foreign ownership of Canadian land and resources, and Canada\u2019s international alliances. There are also the issues involving the CCP that this government does not want to discuss: the Uyghur Muslim genocide and the concentration camp labour, or what about the joint Canada-China virus research that was being conducted in the Winnipeg Lab prior to the COVID pandemic?<\/p>\n<p>In response this week David Johnston in so many words tells Canadians <i>trust me and trust my friend Justin<\/i>. And, assuredly, he kicks the can a little further down the road.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Chris George<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cgacommunications.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CG&amp;A COMMUNICATIONS<\/a>. Contact:\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:ChrisG.George@gmail.com\">ChrisG.George@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>LINK:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/niagaraindependent.ca\/david-johnston-kicks-the-can-a-little-further-down-the-road\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/niagaraindependent.ca\/david-johnston-kicks-the-can-a-little-further-down-the-road\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Niagara Independent, May 26, 2023 \u2013 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s special rapporteur David Johnston issued his preliminary report this week and concluded that there is no need for a formal public inquiry into foreign interference. With his report, the PM\u2019s longtime family friend has punted aside the substantive issues relating to the Chinese Communist&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[76],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15489"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15491,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15489\/revisions\/15491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}