Rapporteur David Johnson, Eminent Canadian

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
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May 23rd, 2023 (some sources, say the 24th) is the day that David Johnston is suppose to submit a report to the PMO… who will then review, and edit, and partially release it to Parliament, this report on Chinese Interference, with his opinions & recommendations…

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had already announced that the former governor general would have to present an initial report by May 23 advising on whether a public inquiry or other "mechanisms or transparent processes" are necessary.

Then, up until Oct. 31, he is to release reports "on a rolling basis" on issues related to shoring up Canada's democracy, as they arise. The entirety of this work is to be completed by Oct. 31, 2023.

Johnston has been informed that he has to submit regular reports to the prime minister, and then Trudeau will share these reports with the leaders of the opposition and the Canadian public, etc…

"To fulfill this mandate, he will be given complete access to any “relevant” records and documents, classified or unclassified," said the PMO. Who decides what is “relevant” that Mr Johnston will have access to? The PMO?

When something this important (like the CSIS documents on political interference) is distributed in government, the people receiving the document have to sign for it and those records are tracked.

The news (the threatening of MP Michael Chong’s family members in Hong Kong) came to light last week and caused a furor, in part due to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s initial refusal to say when he had learned of the threats. Trudeau subsequently tossed CSIS under the bus, claiming that they had not elevated the information up to his office and that he had only learned of it “through media reports.” Then Canadians learned that CSIS had in fact informed Trudeau’s national security officer, who works in the Privy Council Office, which reports to the Prime Minister’s Office, back in 2021.

Forty-eight hours and a lot of outrage later, the government sent Zhao packing. It didn’t take China that long to retaliate: the next day, it announced the expulsion of Canadian diplomat Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, a consul of the Consulate General of Canada in Shanghai. In the hours leading up to her expulsion, the Chinese government had threatened to “resolutely and forcefully respond” if Ottawa “keeps acting recklessly,” and accused Canadian media and politicians of “fabricating false information.”

Big question is, “Will Johnston get to see the CSIS Receipts (Tracking Documents) for handing Secret Documents to Canadian Cabinet Ministers from July 2021 to the present day, to see who actually had access to this information and when???” Will these be deemed “relevant” for David Johnston to see?

The 2021 election saw several Conservative MPs say they were targeted after they spoke out against China. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole suffered pushback for his stance as well. Morris Rosenberg (the former Trudeau Foundation CEO, appointed by Justin Trudeau to present a report on Chinese interference on the Canadian Federal Elections) presented a report that stated it made no difference in the outcome though.

During his time as the head of the Trudeau Foundation, Rosenberg was involved in facilitating a controversial $200k donation from influential CCP official Bin Zhang, who was also intimately involved in Trudeau’s 2016 billionaire cash-for-access scandal, but that’s probably just a coincidence.

If Trudeau wants us to believe him, he needs to release all of those tracking documents for these files. Doing so, releasing a document that simply shows who received another document, would NOT violate any national security concerns.
 
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petros

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Johnston has been informed that he has to submit regular reports to the prime minister, and then Trudeau will share these reports with the leaders of the opposition and the Canadian public, etc...
What good is it giving Trudeau reports? Trudeau says he doesnt get reports or doesnt read them when he says he gets them. Thats what started this heap of shit in the first place.
 
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Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
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What good is it giving Trudeau reports? Trudeau says he doesnt get reports or doesnt read them when he says he gets them. Thats what started this heap of shit in the first place.
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But then there’s this. You can watch the whole thing but it’s painfully evasive, or you could start at the five minute mark. Your call.
 
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Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
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This is from five days ago now. Opposition parties teamed on Monday up to pass a motion calling on the federal government to expel any Chinese diplomats implicated in "affronts to Canadian democracy" and take other actions to counter foreign interference in Canada.

The Liberals voted AGAINST this call, at the same time as Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly moved to expel one official allegedly involved in efforts to intimidate Conservative MP Michael Chong, a sequence of events he called “inexplicable.”

JUST as MPs began to rise to say “yea” or “nay” to the Conservative motion, Joly issued a statement announcing that Canada had decided to declare Chinese official Zhao Wei "persona non grata," insisting the government would "not tolerate any form of foreign interference in our internal affairs."

The non-binding “opposition day” motion was debated last week, at the height of revelations surrounding alleged attempts by the Chinese government to intimidate Chong and his family in Hong Kong.

The motion, citing "intimidation tactics" allegedly being deployed by the People's Republic of China against Canadians of Chinese descent, and the families of members of Parliament, stated that the government should "stop delaying and immediately” move to expel “all of the People's Republic of China diplomats responsible for and involved in these affronts to Canadian democracy."

The vote result was 170 to 150, with just the Liberals voting AGAINST the proposal.

Throughout Monday's question period leading up to the vote, the federal government's position was that it was carefully contemplating the consequences they said would come with expelling this, or any Chinese official.

"This government is now saying that they cannot kick out this operative even though he threatened the family of a Canadian MP, because they're afraid of the consequences that Beijing will impose. Will the prime minister finally put this country first … and kick this operative out, yes or no?" asked Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre during question period just ahead of the vote.

In response, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino made no indication that Joly was about to make a move, instead questioning: "Why the leader of the Conservative party continues to politicize an issue that is a Canadian issue." (???)

MOTION CALLED FOR ADDITIONAL ACTION

The Conservative motion also included calls for the government to take a trio of additional steps:

1) creating a foreign agent registry similar to Australia and the United States of America;

2) establishing a national public inquiry on the matter of foreign election interference; and

3) closing down the People's Republic of China-run police stations operating in Canada.

On these points: the Liberals have repeatedly said they're leaving the question of a public inquiry to federal special RapaNui David Johnston to determine in a few weeks’ time.

Mendicino has previously vowed broadly to move forward on creating a foreign influence registry, though he has yet to offer a timeline to complete this work.

And, the minister has also said the RCMP has taken action to shut down the so-called police stations, but that assertion has since been questioned.

Both the Conservatives and NDP were quick to say Monday following the vote and Joly's expulsion announcement that it's unfortunate that it took concerted political pressure for the federal Liberals to act, and said more needs to be done.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
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23,322
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"To fulfill this mandate, he will be given complete access to any “relevant” records and documents, classified or unclassified," said the PMO. Who decides what is “relevant” that Mr Johnston will have access to? The PMO?
Wait for it….watch the dates….

{Big question is, “Will Johnston get to see the CSIS Receipts (Tracking Documents) for handing Secret Documents to Canadian Cabinet Ministers from July 2021 to the present day, to see who actually had access to this information and when???” Will these be deemed “relevant” for David Johnston to see?}

Then the CBC, a day late and a dollar short, interviews the guy who was served as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser and retired June 30th, 2021…seriously.

Vincent Rigby, who served as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser from 2020-2021, says he never saw a CSIS report that suggested China was targeting the family of a Canadian MP.

In an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday, Rigby said he had not seen the report by the time of his departure in June 2021.

"I retired June 30, and I would not have seen documents that were produced or distributed after that date, so no, I did not see that document and I was not aware of it," Rigby told CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.

So Vincent Rigby, who retired June 30th, 2021….is interviewed about whether or not he saw documents from July of 2021 after he retired?

Good job staying relevant there CBC!!

I think we should give them $2,000,000,000.00 next year just so they’re not having their funding decrease due to inflation that surely must be due to Stephen Harper.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
23,322
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The irony is, the Rapporteur has access to information that is approved for him to have access to…by the PMO, and he reports back to the PMO… who then can edit or sensor the Rapporteur’s report before it is distributed to the leaders of the other parties in parliament.

I’m not kidding. I’m hoping I misunderstand the situation but I don’t think I am. This is not exactly design to get to the bottom of anything.

David Johnston resigned his appointment at the Trudeau Foundation to accept the position of special Rapporteur, and since then the rest of the members of the board of the Trudeau Foundation have also resigned over Chinese interference (except for three who are doing janitorial service till a new board of directors is selected).

David Johnston can go back to the Trudeau Foundation as it has some openings, and the seats are still warm there, including his old one.
 

pgs

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The irony is, the Rapporteur has access to information that is approved for him to have access to…by the PMO, and he reports back to the PMO… who then can edit or sensor the Rapporteur’s report before it is distributed to the leaders of the other parties in parliament.

I’m not kidding. I’m hoping I misunderstand the situation but I don’t think I am. This is not exactly design to get to the bottom of anything.

David Johnston resigned his appointment at the Trudeau Foundation to accept the position of special Rapporteur, and since then the rest of the members of the board of the Trudeau Foundation have also resigned over Chinese interference (except for three who are doing janitorial service till a new board of directors is selected).

David Johnston can you go back to the Trudeau Foundation as it has some openings, and the seats are still warm there, including his old one.
Special rapper pays better .
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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Regina, Saskatchewan
Next week we’ll learn what advice former governor general David Johnston has given to Justin Trudeau to deal with the tentacular issues of Chinese government interference in Canada.

Make no mistake: Johnston has absolutely no decision-making powers, despite the high-sounding title of "Special Rapporteur" with which Trudeau saddled him.

Trudeau often says that he’s waiting for Johnston’s decision. That’s just more poppycock in a dossier filled with coverups, stonewalling and outright deception.
Under Canadian law, the only entity that can decide to hold a commission of inquiry is the federal cabinet chaired by… Trudeau.

It’s Trudeau’s decision. Period.
 
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Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
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We've had weeks on end of Trudeau sycophants and grandees parading before parliamentary committee. A panel of very senior civil servants gave what Trudeau called an objective analysis of the possible effects of Chinese government interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections.

They could’ve entitled their report: "Nothing to See Here, Move Along."

One key "talking point" has been that the results of the elections weren’t affected.

THE EFFECT WILL NEVER BE KNOWN

That may be true. If the Conservatives had won, in 2021, the 10 seats they may have lost because of Chinese government interference, they still wouldn’t have won the election. To that extent the result wouldn’t have changed. But Trudeau would've had a weaker minority and the effect on parliamentary and democratic life will never be known. That’s the whole point.

There was also the obvious problem that senior civil servants are by definition subservient to the prime minister. But, worry not, their homework was going to be reviewed by an equally "independent" and very experienced former senior civil servant, Morris Rosenberg.

Problem was, of course, that despite his excellent resumé, Rosenberg was the president and CEO of the Trudeau Foundation when it received money from sources associated with the Chinese Communist Party. That foundation has been at the centre of controversy since that information became public.

Similarly, Johnston, a truly exceptional Canadian, had a key role at the Trudeau Foundation just prior to being named Special Rapporteur. He should have stepped aside the minute it became clear that he’d have to be giving advice on whether or not to investigate the foundation where he’d just recently been active.

He’s chosen not to and that is predictably going to lead to further questions when he does provide his advice next week.

The brilliant Katie Telford, Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff, showed up to testify in committee but wouldn’t answer any questions .

Telford wanted us all to know that she loved members of Parliament and has helped so many of them over the years but she couldn’t say anything at all, though she would’ve loved to!

My personal favourite, Alexandre “Sasha” Trudeau – a member of the Trudeau Foundation and younger brother of the prime minister -- also made an appearance and promptly threw the former president and CEO of the Trudeau Foundation, Pascale Fournier, under the bus. Despite having worked with her for years, her thinking was apparently now all foggy.

Fournier had asked that those board members who’d been involved during the Chinese transactions, recuse themselves from deliberations concerning the matter. When they refused she and several other board members resigned. In Sasha’s telling, she had it all wrong. After all, the Foundation Board chair, Edward Johnson, believed it wasn’t necessary and he’d been at Power Corporation for years. Between an experienced older guy and, well, a woman…which one knows more, eh?

Then the stuff really hit the fan with the revelations that MP Michael Chong’s family had been threatened for his role in condemning the Chinese government’s human rights abuses. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Trudeau and his hapless public safety minister, Marco Mendicino, couldn’t keep their story straight for a nanosecond. They stonewalled for two days in the House. Then they tried their old trick of blaming the messenger. It was the fault of CSIS: they had failed to send the information on Chong up the chain of command.

Chong quickly revealed that Trudeau’s own top security adviser said the PM’s crew were indeed briefed. Telford had affirmed Trudeau reads everything. Funny he wouldn’t read the report about a foreign government threatening a sitting MP.

We’re now learning that other MPs may have been similarly targeted. What did Trudeau know and when did he know it? That’s the key “Watergate” question he’ll be getting if and when the Commission of Inquiry finally gets going.

When Trudeau exchanged words with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in Bali last fall, his staff proudly put out that Trudeau had been giving him a piece of his mind over interference in Canadian elections.

When our prime minister got back to the House, inquiring minds wanted to know more. It was then and there that it became clear that Trudeau knew a lot but had reason to avoid letting anything else out. It was too late. He’d said too much and…not enough.

Trudeau is playing the clock right now. His only goal is to remove debris from the runway so he can launch his next campaign. The issue of Chinese government interference in Canadian elections and politics is, of course, the biggest piece that has to be dealt with. If he can’t remove it, he’s got to pull a David Copperfield, and convince enough people it’s disappeared. The best way to do that is to hand it off to a commission knowing it’ll be many months before it can get into gear and start hearing witnesses. Johnston even has an obscure second part to his mandate that could see him rag the puck until Halloween!