Carson Jerema: Trudeau ‘family friend’ David Johnston not the man to restore election confidence
Trudeau Foundation #TrudeauFoundation
No one in this country, certainly no one deemed an “eminent Canadian,” can escape the corrupting influence that radiates outward from the Liberal party. Not even former governor general David Johnston, who is generally considered to have been the platonic ideal of the Queen’s (now King’s) representative.
A man with personal connections to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Johnson should have never accepted the position of independent special rapporteur investigating foreign election interference, which was announced Wednesday. This being Canada, you can’t throw a rock without hitting someone attached, in some way to the Liberal party, even if only remotely or tangentially.
Trudeau has described Johnston as a “family friend” and as a friend of Trudeau’s father. Johnston is involved with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, as a “member” who advises and helps select the board of directors. The foundation is, of course, implicated in allegations the Chinese government tried to use it to influence Justin Trudeau ahead of the 2015 election. That doesn’t mean Johnston himself is implicated, but someone with more distance from the matters being investigated would have clearly been preferable.
As head of the federal leaders debate commission, Johnston appointed WE Charity cofounder Craig Kielburger to the advisory board. A Trudeau friend appointing someone whose charity regularly paid Trudeau family members to speak at events and was granted a plum government contract in 2020, is the sort of thing that is just expected in Liberal circles, it seems.
Despite appearances, there is no indication that Johnston is anything but a man of integrity, which is why he should have stayed far away from the government’s so-called investigations into interference, lest he open himself up to attacks and allegations he is a partisan appointment.
Trudeau announced over a week ago that he would be appointing an “eminent Canadian” to investigate foreign electoral interference, in the wake of allegations that the Chinese Communist Party funnelled illegal donations to multiple Liberal candidates in the 2019 and 2021 elections. The prime minister has refused to answer questions about what he knew and when, despite mounting evidence that his government was warned by intelligence officials about Chinese interference repeatedly since at least 2017.
Instead, Trudeau is tasking committees and panels to investigate China’s influence. He has dismissed calls for a public inquiry, but decided to appoint the rapporteur to recommend whether an inquiry is needed. The position is a pointless distraction, created for the nakedly self-serving and partisan reason of delaying Trudeau having to answer questions, perhaps until Canadians have stopped paying attention.
Johnston’s connections to Trudeau should have disqualified him from being appointed, not because Johnston is incapable of performing his duties objectively, but because reasonable Canadians will find it difficult to accept Johnston’s conclusions were not influenced in some way.
It would be hardly surprising if it was learned that it never occured to Trudeau, to senior Liberals, or even to Johnston, that the appointment might be questionable. Apparently, this is simply how things are done, and it is just assumed that it is acceptable.
But even without the personal connections to the prime minister and his family, Johnston would still be part of the Central Canadian establishment, and holding the worldview that that implies. He is unlikely to upset the status quo.
During the period in which Johnston’s governor generalship overlapped with Trudeau’s government, he was entirely in tune with the Liberal approach to Beijing relations. Johnston led a mission to China in 2017 to discuss an agreement over culture and winter sports, ahead of Trudeau’s doomed trade-negotiations with the authoritarian regime. Johnston met with President Xi Jinping, who told him “You are an old friend of the Chinese people.” Johnston replied with “Mr. President, it’s wonderful to be back in China. I feel I’ve returned home,” adding “We are especially grateful to you for making time for us.”
The meeting between the two was notable at the time, as five minutes after it started, Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo died of cancer, while in custody after being convicted by the regime of “inciting subversion of state power.”
As head of the debate commission, Johnston tried to deny accreditation to Rebel News so that it could cover the 2021 election debate in person. A judge overturned the decision after Rebel News argued in court “The imposition of these standards amounts to an attempt to regulate the media industry and profession.” Regardless of what anyone thinks of Rebel News, it isn’t the role of a government body to determine which media can cover which events.
What likely matters most to Liberals is that Johnston holds all the “correct” opinions that they do.
It is possible that Johnston will be able to competently perform his duties as mandated, which are “to look into foreign interference in the last two federal general elections and make expert recommendations on how to further protect our democracy and uphold Canadians’ confidence in it.”
But, if the government really does take any “attempts at undermining our democracy very seriously,” as the statement announcing Johnston’s appointment stated, it could start just by answering questions. That is the calculation the Liberals are making: delay, deflect and deny, and attack anyway with legitimate concerns over election interference.
Johnston’s appointment certainly won’t change that, but neither would someone else appointed to a job deliberately designed to confuse.
National Post
cjerema@postemdia.com
Twitter.com/CarsonJerema