Canada calls public inquiry into foreign interference

OTTAWA, Ont. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is launching a sweeping public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada, setting the stage for the next arm of a yearslong political fight over how the government has handled the charged issue.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced the formal independent inquiry Thursday after months of backroom negotiations between Canada’s main political parties over who will lead it and how it will work, and public jabs over whether the government was dragging its heels.

The federal government has tapped a Quebec appeals court judge, Marie-Josée Hogue, to lead the independent probe starting later this month, granting her access to an extensive range of classified documents with an eye to wrap up by end of next year.

It comes amid high tensions with China, following its targeting of a high-profile Canadian member of Parliament that led to a Chinese diplomat getting kicked out of Canada in May.

But Trudeau described Canada’s current relationship with China as “stable” and “not deteriorating right now” during a talk with Bloomberg in Singapore on Thursday.

Relations have not markedly improved since Beijing released two detained Canadians, Trudeau said, a reference to the plight of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.

He attributed slow progress at mending relations to “real concerns around foreign interference” in Canada.

Now is not the time for rapprochement with China, Trudeau said.

The inquiry will stretch far beyond China’s activities — something the left-wing New Democratic Party pushed for in backroom interparty talks.

Hogue is tasked with also examining interference by Russia and other foreign states, and even non-state actors — and any potential influence on the integrity of the past two federal elections.

“China is not the only foreign actor that seeks to undermine democratic institutions in Canada or other Western democracies,” LeBlanc told reporters at a press conference Thursday on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

“This challenge is not unique to Canada,” he said, adding that he spoke in June with a British Cabinet minister about some of the “very challenges” that country faces. “This is a global challenge for democracies.”

The move to finally call an inquiry assures the swirl of controversy around the Trudeau government’s handling of the file — and what it did or did not do in response to allegations of interference in Canada’s elections — will dominate the political agenda this fall as Parliament returns Sept. 18.

The leader of the opposition Conservatives, Pierre Poilievre, claimed a win Thursday, saying pressure from his party forced the government’s hand.

“None of this would have happened had Conservatives not pushed the government and fought the attempted Liberal coverup every step of the way,” he said in a statement.

Canada’s lower chamber in Parliament called for a public inquiry earlier this year after politically explosive intelligence leaks to a Canadian newspaper stated the country is a high-priority target for Beijing.

And it marks a capitulation of sorts for the Liberal government, which had argued in the months leading up to summer break against one, insisting the opposition parties were blowing things out of proportion.

In a bid to turn down the thermostat, Trudeau appointed a special investigator, David Johnston — a well-respected Canadian public figure long seen to be above the partisan fray — to examine classified documents and report on the extent that foreign interference is a problem for Canada.

Johnston pointed the finger at the media, arguing much of the news coverage had distorted the extent to which Canadian democracy has been under siege by foreign powers. None of the classified information he based those arguments on was made public.

However, he also found systemic flaws in how top politicians are briefed on national security matters and warned that foreign governments are “undoubtedly attempting to influence candidates and voters in Canada.”

He also made a case against holding a public inquiry, warning it would be a long and costly journey that could reveal little if anything new, since there is no way classified documents can be reviewed in public.

But in the face of mounting backlash from the opposition and accusations that he was too close to the prime minister, his position weakened and soon announced his resignation.

That forced the government’s hand.

LeBlanc declared that the door to an inquiry remained open and the ball was put in the opposition’s court to work out details among themselves — something that took up the summer months and bought the government a good stretch of road to kick the can down.

Part of that problem was finding a qualified independent party actually willing to head up such a politically charged file.

LeBlanc said the government had to abide by strict protocols to ensure independence in the process, involving consultations with some of the country’s top judges.

“The government doesn't pick up the phone and call sitting justices to ask what their plans are over the next 18 months.”

Zi-Ann Lum contributed to this report.