The unanswered question at the heart of David Johnston’s foreign interference report
David Johnston says his decision to recommend against a public inquiry into foreign interference was based on “unprecedented” access to raw intelligence, Canadian national security officials and their political masters.
But virtually everyone asked to accept Johnston’s findings will not – and cannot – ever know exactly what evidence Johnston based that recommendation on.
This is just one lingering but vital unanswered question at the heart of Johnston’s 53-page report, released Tuesday, which took aim at the media reporting – chiefly by Global News and the Globe and Mail – that led Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to appoint Johnston as a special rapporteur on foreign interference. “I recognize this report, its conclusions, would be met with skepticism by some, especially by those who in good faith have worked to raise legitimate questions around these issues,” Johnston told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday. “The challenge is this: what has allowed me to determine whether there has in fact been interference cannot be disclosed publicly.
A public review of classified intelligence simply cannot be done.” It’s an opinion likely to be challenged when Johnston appears before a House of Commons committee next month to discuss his report.
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