Johnston did not interview Han Dong for foreign interference report – National | 24CA News
The federal authorities’s particular rapporteur on overseas interference didn’t interview a former Liberal MP who allegedly was supported by the Chinese authorities within the 2019 election.
David Johnston, a former governor common appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to evaluate allegations of overseas meddling, instructed a House of Commons’ committee Tuesday that he didn’t interview Don Valley North MP Han Dong throughout his two-month probe.
That’s regardless of discovering that “there clearly were strange practices, unusual practices going on” throughout Dong’s 2019 nomination contest within the secure Liberal driving. Johnston mentioned his group didn’t conclude that these “strange practices” could possibly be attributed to the People’s Republic of China, although his report famous suspicions that they could possibly be.
“Irregularities were observed with Mr. Dong’s nomination in 2019, and there is well-grounded suspicion that the irregularities were tied to the PRC Consulate in Toronto, with whom Mr. Dong maintains relationships,” Johnston wrote in his report final month.
Johnston, who had entry to categorized intelligence and senior nationwide safety officers for his probe, mentioned he couldn’t reveal the top-secret data that led him to his conclusions.
“In reviewing the intelligence, I did not find evidence that Mr. Dong was aware of the irregularities or the PRC Consulate’s potential involvement in his nomination.”
Pressed by Conservative MP Michael Cooper on whether or not Dong was conscious of irregularities throughout his nomination marketing campaign, Johnston mentioned in committee “there clearly was discussion between Mr. Dong and the consulate in Toronto” typically, “but that’s the extent to my understanding.”
“Why did you not bother to interview Mr. Dong?,” Cooper requested.
“We, I think, interviewed the people who had information about these particular matters,” Johnston responded.
“Mr. Dong, at that time, I think, was proceeding with his own lawsuit. And we felt this was something he should get on with.”
Citing unnamed sources, Global News reported in February that Dong was certainly one of at the very least 11 Toronto-area MPs who have been supported by Beijing within the 2019 common election, which noticed the Liberals returned to Ottawa with a minority authorities.
In March, Global reported that Dong mentioned China’s detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor with a senior Chinese diplomat in February 2021, and, “privately advised … that Beijing should hold off freeing Kovrig and Spavor.”
Dong strongly denied the allegations, stepped down from Liberal caucus, and is now suing Global News. The Toronto Star reported final week that Dominic LeBlanc, a senior cupboard minister and longtime pal of Trudeau, is reviewing whether or not Dong can rejoin the Liberal caucus.
Johnston’s preliminary report into overseas interference, launched final month, confirmed a lot of features of latest studies, each from Global and from the Globe and Mail newspaper, about China’s rising encroachment in Canada’s home affairs.
But it additionally disputed key features of that reporting, and mentioned it was “false” that Dong advocated for the Two Michaels’ continued detention – however didn’t provide any data which led him to that conclusion. Johnston did affirm that Dong, a backbench MP, had a dialog with a senior member of China’s Toronto-based diplomatic employees concerning the Two Michaels.
On Tuesday, Johnston steered that the allegations Dong advocated for the Two Michaels’ continued detention have been based mostly on a draft memo that was considerably revised and got here to “quite a different conclusion of what transpired.”
After the report was launched, Dong steered it was “vindication” that he did nothing improper. Trudeau steered that Dong could rejoin Liberal caucus, however that now seems to rely on LeBlanc’s evaluate.
But Johnston used his committee look Tuesday to reiterate severe issues with how successive federal governments have approached the problem of overseas interference, together with how intelligence is shared inside probably the most senior ranks of the federal government.
“I have identified significant shortcomings in the government’s ability to detect, deter and combat this threat. This must be remedied urgently,” Johnston instructed MPs.
Johnston’s position as particular rapporteur has come beneath intense scrutiny, notably after the previous governor common really helpful towards a public inquiry into the problem – one thing that the opposition events have been proposing for months.
Last week, these opposition events mixed forces in a House of Commons vote that requested Johnston to “step aside” and discontinue the second section of his work, which can embody public consultations. Johnston, who was appointed governor common on the recommendation of Stephen Harper, has to date resisted these calls.
“I have heard clearly the disagreement with my recommendations not to call a public inquiry, as well as allegations about my integrity and my independence,” Johnston instructed MPs.
“These allegations are, put simply, false, and the decision to repeat them does not make them true. The issue of foreign interference deserves serious and robust debate. I will continue to invite disagreement on my recommendations, but will not be deterred from completing my work.”
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