Citizen Group to File Complaint With Ethics Commissioner Over Johnston’s Role as Special Rapporteur

David Johnston, Independent Special Rapporteur on Foreign Interference, presents his first report in Ottawa on May 23, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

A national democracy advocacy organization is filing a complaint with the federal ethics commissioner’s office, alleging that former governor general David Johnston is violating the Conflict of Interest Act in carrying out his appointed role as special rapporteur on foreign election interference because of his previous connections to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s family.

The NGO Democracy Watch announced it would be filing the complaint on May 23—the same day Johnston released his first report on his ongoing investigation into reports of interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections. Trudeau appointed Johnston as special rapporteur on the matter in March.

Democracy Watch said the complaint sent to the ethics commissioner’s office claims Johnston is “violating the federal Conflict of Interest Act by ruling on his old friend Justin Trudeau’s actions on foreign interference.”

The complaint comes less than a month after the organization filed another complaint with the ethics commissioner asking the parliamentary officer to rule on whether Trudeau’s appointment of Johnston as special rapporteur was in itself a conflict of interest.

“It is a violation of the [Conflict of Interest] Act to participate in any decision or action when there is an opportunity to further your own interests, your relative’s interests, or the interests of a friend, and both Trudeau and Johnston are covered by the Act,” Democracy Watch wrote in a press release on May 23.

The complaints stem from the fact that Johnston was previously a member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, named after the former prime minister. The foundation, which provides scholarship programs, recently came under fire after media reports said it received a $140,000 Beijing-linked donation in 2016.

Prime Minister Trudeau called Johnston a “family friend” in 2017.

Ethics

The position of the federal ethics commissioner is currently vacant after interim commissioner Martine Richard stepped down on April 19, holding the position for less than a month.

Cabinet received heavy criticism for its appointment of Richard to the position in late March as she is the sister-in-law of Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who said he did not partake in the cabinet vote to appoint her.

Richard worked in the ethics commissioner’s office for about a decade prior to her appointment as interim commissioner.

With the position now vacant for over a month, the office has been unable to initiate any new investigations until cabinet appoints a new commissioner.

Special rapporteur Johnston spoke with reporters on May 23 after issuing his first report on foreign election interference. The former governor general denied that his appointment to the role was a conflict of interest.

Johnston said that, prior to accepting the appointment, he asked former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci whether it would be a conflict of interest.

“He [the judge] was very clear that there’s no conflict of interest with respect to the Trudeau obligation,” Johnston told reporters.

“I have no doubt whatsoever that I had any conflict of interest and no doubt at all—speaking myself—about my impartiality.”