In a press conference yesterday former Governor General, Daniel Johnston surprised almost no one by announcing that there should be no public inquiry into Chinese election interference or the Liberal government’s lack of action in it’s regard.
In March, the NDP passed a motion calling for an independent public inquiry into election interference by China by a vote of 172 to 49. It should be noted however, that this motion is not binding on the government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remains the only government official able to actually call for the inuiry.
In response, the Prime Minister decided to call for a “special rapporteur” to look into the matter and decide for him if an inquiry should be called. Trudeau appointed former Governor General David Johnston to do the job. Many opposition parties immediately cried foul, citing a very personal relationship between the Prime Minister and Johnston, as well as Johnstone’s ties to The Trudeau Foundation, which has been implicated in the election interference scandal.
Yesterday, to almost no one’s surprise, Johnston announced that a public inquiry should not be called. Johnston’s report reads:
“A further public process
is required to address issues relating
to foreign interference,
but there should not and need not be
a separate Public Inquiry.”
First Report – The Right Honourable David Johnston, Independent Special Rapporteur on Foreign Interference
This would appear to give Trudeau the freedom to ignore the will of our elected parliamentarians, yet Jagmeet Singh does possess the power to hold the Liberals to account. The supply and confidence agreement between the Liberals and NDP is the key for Jagmeet Singh. Essentially, the NDP could threaten to remove confidence support if the Liberals continue to block a public inquiry. Trudeau would then be faced with the choice to go ahead with the will of Parliament, or be brought down in a non confidence vote, forcing an election.
This is a move that Singh should seriously consider. Recent polls show the Liberals losing support to the NDP. A poll by Nanos Research, published on Twitter by Polling Canada revealed that the Liberals and NDP are separated by a mere 3% in voting intentions with the Liberals at 27% and the NDP at 24%. It is not a stretch of the imagination that the NDP could overtake the Liberals as second choice by simply showing Canadians that they will hold the Liberals to account.
So, if Jagmeet Singh has the power to either force an inquiry or an election, will he capitalize on it? Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it. In a press conference yesterday, Jagmeet Singh was asked directly by reporters if he would consider ending the supply and confidence agreement in order to force the inquiry he responded with “We’re not making that decision today”.
Further, when pressed why the question should not be brought to the polls, he responded with:
“…we want a public inquiry to protect elections,
not an election that is under the
cloud of suspicion of foreign interference.”
This response is just what I predicted on Twitter back on March 6th.
What this means is that anything we hear from the NDP on this issue, will likely turn out to be empty threats. Unfortunately, Singh will not likely use ALL the tools available, like he often says he will.