John Robson: Johnston’s Whitewash Will Destroy His Own Credibility Without Doing a Thing to Improve Trudeau’s

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

Commentary

You can definitely add Justin Trudeau to the list of people who should be careful what they wish for. His old friend David Johnston just whitewashed the Liberal response to communist Chinese meddling in Canadian elections, exactly what Trudeau wanted and the last thing he needed.

When Johnston was appointed I tried to be open-minded. Given the widely decried polarization in our public life, political and increasingly social, I occasionally try not to leap to my predictable negative conclusions. Chump.

The press release alone spelled disaster. After conceding the obvious, that “Foreign governments are undoubtedly attempting to influence candidates and voters in Canada,” it immediately dove into John Wither-style doublespeak: “While much has been done already, more remains to be done promptly to strengthen our capacity to detect, deter and counter foreign interference in our elections.”

Then it attacked the media: “When viewed in full context with all of the relevant intelligence, several leaked materials that raised legitimate questions turn out to have been misconstrued in some media reports, presumably because of the lack of this context.” What context? You can’t know. Trust us. But not the wretched journalists criticizing us. Boo! Unacceptable fringe minority.

Then it exonerated the prime minister, throwing CSIS under the bus: “There are serious shortcomings in the way intelligence is communicated and processed from security agencies through to government, but no examples have been identified of Ministers, the Prime Minister or their offices knowingly or negligently failing to act on intelligence, advice or recommendations.”

Oh yes they have. Just not by him.

Then he scotched a public inquiry, as Canadians aren’t fit to know what’s going on in their government: “there should not and need not be a separate Public Inquiry. A Public Inquiry examining the leaked materials could not be undertaken in public given the sensitivity of the intelligence.” But he promised to continue the whitewash: “public hearings on the serious governance and policy issues identified to date should and will be held … as part of the second phase of my mandate.”

Finally, business as usual. His conclusions should be referred to “the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) and the National Security and Intelligence Review Committee (NSIRA)” who already failed to cope due to his good friend Justin Trudeau’s stonewalling.

The actual report is just as bad, merely longer. For instance: “I asked the Prime Minister and Ministers if they were aware of any orchestrated effort to elect a LPC minority. They were not. The Prime Minister pointed out that he is not briefed on matters that are not supported by reliable information.”

Imagine Richard Nixon appointing a buddy to check out Watergate, who came back with: “I asked the President if he was aware of any orchestrated effort to conceal a break-in. He was not. The President pointed out that he is not briefed on matters that are not supported by reliable information.”

Again, “I asked the Prime Minister and other Ministers if they or their staff knew anything about money being transferred to federal candidates in the 2019 Election. They indicated that they had not heard anything about this until the media reporting. The Prime Minister pointed out that he is not briefed on matters that are not supported by reliable intelligence.”

So what measures did you take to verify that claim? Why, none. Would Tricky Dick lie?

On the hot issue of Michael Chan, “The recommendations made to the Prime Minister and other ministers about Mr. Chan are confidential. I have seen no evidence that any recommendation has been ignored.” So Canadians can’t know anything except that Trudeau’s buddy didn’t find any evidence, even after going “Did ya do it?” and Trudeau went “Heck no”. Trusssst us.

What did upset Johnston was that the public discovered anything at all. After saying “My mandate does not expressly include addressing the leaks,” he called them “unlawful and a breach of duty,” “destructive and dangerous,” and said it’s “a matter of urgency that all efforts be made to identify and hold the leaker(s) responsible. Malice cannot be ruled out.”

Finally something I agree with. Back in March I urged Johnston to call for an immediate vigorous public inquiry, for his sake and ours. Instead he delivered exactly the whitewash the prime minister apparently hoped for and the rest of us feared when handing the job to his old neighbour, skiing buddy, and Trudeau Foundation crony. And Trudeau will now try to brazen it out based on this shameful performance. But it will destroy Johnston’s credibility without doing a thing to improve Trudeau’s.

As for me, I got just the reward I should have expected for generosity toward the Laurentian elite, which once again proved smugly disloyal to anything but their august selves. And they wonder why public affairs are so rancorous.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.