Rapporteur David Johnson, Eminent Canadian

Ron in Regina

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Conservative MP Michael Chong, who has been subject to China’s pressure campaigns, including the attempted targeting of his family in Hong Kong, will testify at a U.S. congressional hearing on the issue.

Chong, who’s the MP for the Ontario riding Wellington-Halton, is also the Conservative party’s foreign affairs critic. He has been an outspoken critic of China, and pushed Parliament to adopt a resolution describing the treatment of Uyghurs as a genocide.

Chong told National Post that members of Congress are interested in “understanding and learning what’s happening in other democracies like Canada.”

The hearing at which Chong will appear, which is scheduled for Sept. 12, will “highlight the (People’s Republic of China’s) use of transational repression.”

“Witnesses will discuss the diverse tactics used by the PRC, discuss specific cases of transnational repression and its effects on diaspora and dissident communities in the United States, Canada and worldwide, and offer recommendations for further congressional and administrative action and transatlantic cooperation,” it says.
 

Ron in Regina

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Quebec Court of Appeal Justice Marie-Josée Hogue has agreed to head a public inquiry into foreign interference by China and other hostile states, two sources say.

After months of negotiations, the minority Liberal government has reached an agreement with opposition parties on the terms and timing of the long-awaited inquiry.
An announcement on the inquiry is expected to be made Thursday by Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who is also Democratic Institutions Minister?

The Globe is not identifying the sources because they are not authorized to discuss plans for the public inquiry, etc…
 

Ron in Regina

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It goes away the instant an election is called. Elections Canada isn't hiring for no reason.
Yep, and to think Justin & the Libs (with full backing of Jagmeet & the Dippers) could’a called an inquiry in February and it would be well into turning up….whatever it would turn up…BUT….here we are 1/2 a year later. Go figure. Smells kinda liberal-ish…with a side of vintage tuna sandwich.

Canadians are finally (probably) going to get the public inquiry into foreign interference Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did everything humanly possible to avoid.

For months (to the tune of 1/2 a year), Trudeau defied the leaders of all of Canada’s opposition parties, who called for a public inquiry in the wake of alarming revelations of foreign interference by China in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, reported by Global News and the Globe and Mail.

He defied the will of the House of Commons, which voted for a public inquiry.

He defied the public, most of whom said in opinion polls that they wanted a public inquiry.
 
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Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
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We’ve seen this before….
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday he will "willingly" testify before the public inquiry into foreign election interference if he's asked

"Willingly and with very much enthusiasm," Trudeau told reporters at a news conference in Singapore. That’s why Justin Trudeau did everything possible to avoid a Public Inquiry for the last Six Months.

Details of the inquiry — such as when the hearings will start, how much of Hogue's work will be made public and who will be on the witness list — haven't been settled.

The independent inquiry is tasked with investigating reports of interference by China, Russia, other foreign states and non-state actors in the 2019 and 2021 elections.

Hogue (Quebec Court of Appeal Justice Marie-Josée Hogue) officially becomes commissioner on Sept. 18. Her interim report is due by the end of February and her final report is expected by the end of 2024.

That timeline has been questioned, given the short time remaining before the next federal election….that elections Canada is already hiring and training people for….

The Liberals' minority government could fall on a vote of confidence in the House of Commons…but it won’t as Jagmeet’s Pension doesn’t come Fruition until the Spring of 2025, so not sending Canadians to the polls early. The NDP has agreed to support Trudeau's government on key Commons votes until June 2025 in exchange for progress on New Democrat priorities — but the fourth-place party could always pull its support, but it won’t. Trudeau could also ask the governor general to dissolve Parliament if he chooses to trigger an election himself….which is much more likely if something finally goes his way like another pandemic, etc…speaking moistly.
 

spaminator

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China threatens 'consequences' over Canadian inquiry into alleged meddling
Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Laura Dhillon Kane
Published Sep 08, 2023 • 1 minute read

China is warning of “consequences” for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government unless it stops spreading “lies and false information” about alleged interference in Canadian affairs.


The Chinese embassy in Ottawa issued a stern statement on Friday, a day after Canada announced a public inquiry into meddling by China, Russia and other state and non-state actors in Canadian national elections in 2019 and 2021.


“China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this,” an embassy spokesman said in the statement. “China urges the Canadian side to abandon its ideological bias, stop hyping up China-related lies and false information, stop misleading the public and stop undermining China-Canada relations. Otherwise, Canada will have to bear the consequences.”

The inquiry comes after months of allegations from anonymous national security sources in media articles that China sought to boost Canadian candidates who were pro-Beijing while suppressing those who took a harder stance against President Xi Jinping’s administration.


Trudeau said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday that there was no room for political “rapprochement” with China as Xi’s muscular foreign policy has made it impossible for the two countries to have a normal relationship.

The embassy spokesman, however, said China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs. To the contrary, he said some in Canada have sought to undermine China’s security and stability by supporting “anti-China separatist activities” on issues including Taiwan, the Xinjiang region and Hong Kong.

“We have no interest in and have never interfered in Canada’s internal affairs and elections,” he said. “With ulterior political motives, some Canadian politicians and media have been spreading lies and disinformation against China for a long time.”

The statement didn’t elaborate on the potential “consequences” Canada could face. Earlier this year, the two countries each expelled a diplomat over the dispute.
 

petros

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Ill tell you this, Canada is sitting on an insane amount for food this harvest and its worth a fuck tonne. Who wants to eat?

We have Immense power.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
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Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong, a repeated target of Chinese government intimidation, told U.S. congressional hearings Tuesday (today, 09/12/23) that Ottawa and Washington need a co-ordinated response to Beijing’s concerted efforts to interfere in Western democracies and bullying of diaspora communities.

Mr. Chong received a rare invitation to speak to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, an 18-member panel of Senators and House of Representatives that monitors human abuses in China and is examining Beijing’s global repression campaign.
But can the current Canadian Gov’t be trusted, like the 5eyes becoming 3ryes?
 
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Tecumsehsbones

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And can the U.S. government be trusted? Biden's a wishy-washy flip-flopper with suspect ties to China, not a steely-eyed, rock-solid, damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead American Hero like Trump!

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Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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And can the U.S. government be trusted? Biden's a wishy-washy flip-flopper with suspect ties to China, not a steely-eyed, rock-solid, damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead American Hero like Trump!

View attachment 19291
Still a Super-Power, regardless of the figurehead. Weirdly, I think who is in the White House is less important for the governance of America than who’s in the Priministerial (?) Cottage for Canada, as far as individual power goes. Counterintuitive but I think that’s the way it goes.

Canada’s Prime Minister has more power to make a bigger mess for Canada, than the US president does for America, as far as checks and balances go.
 
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IdRatherBeSkiing

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Still a Super-Power, regardless of the figurehead. Weirdly, I think who is in the White House is less important for the governance of America than who’s in the Priministerial (?) Cottage for Canada, as far as individual power goes. Counterintuitive but I think that’s the way it goes.
The USA has checks and balances to ensure the maximum number of lunatics are involved in the process. We only have the 1.
 

spaminator

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Johnston awarded millions in contracts when cabinet 'rapporteur'
Johnston resigned June 9

Author of the article:postmedia News
Published Sep 20, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
Former rapporteur David Johnston spent millions, awarding sole-sourced contracts to favoured consultants, says Blacklock’s Reporter.

Government records show while he was cabinet “rapporteur” on Chinese interference, David Johnston awarded millions in sole-sourced contracts to favoured consultants, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.


“The Privy Council Office committed to ensuring the Independent Special Rapporteur had the resources he needed to complete his work,” cabinet wrote in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons.


“Funding was provided to support the requirements he identified, such as contracted legal services and salary costs.”

Among the contracts facilitated by Johnston, who was paid $1,600 daily, was that to a publicist to “identify columnists and key opinion leaders” to promote him.

“The actual expenditures for the Independent special rapporteur have not yet been finalized,” said the Inquiry.

Figures showed Johnston awarded a six-month contract worth nearly $4.5 million to Torys LLP of Toronto “to assist me,” and that the assigned lawyer was Liberal Party donor Sheila Block.


“I retained Sheila Block of Torys LLP to assist me in obtaining, reviewing and analyzing materials,” Johnston said at the time.

Johnston also awarded a $28,000 sole-sourced contract to RKESTRA Communications Corp., an Ottawa PR firm run by his former Rideau Hall press secretary, Valerie Gervais.

The Inquiry stated the contract was for four days’ work to contact “members of the media” and “identify columnists and key opinion leaders” to praise Johnston.

Gervais said Tuesday night the Inquiry was wrong and that she worked as Johnston’s publicist from late May to July.

“I was initially hired for five days,” said Gervais. “Due to the events that followed, I was asked to support for longer.”

The Inquiry disclosures were prompted by questions from Conservative MPs Scot Davidson, Corey Tochor and Michelle Rempel Garner.

All three voted with the Commons majority to fire Johnston and conduct a judicial inquiry into allegations Chinese agents breached the Canada Elections Act.

He resigned on June 9.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
26,140
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Regina, Saskatchewan
After months of resisting the idea, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a major public inquiry tasked with investigating how China has meddled in Canadian politics.

The reversal, amid miserable domestic polling numbers and intense pressure from the opposition parties and media, comes after more than a year of revelations about Beijing’s efforts to interfere in Canada—largely to the advantage of Trudeau’s Liberal Party.
The forthcoming report promises to be deeply uncomfortable for the Canadian government in Ottawa. Since he first came into office, Trudeau—like his predecessors—has attempted a tricky balancing act with the Chinese regime, promoting trade and diplomacy with Beijing whilst trying to find some recourse for human rights abuses, illiberal trade practices, and foreign meddling.
Trudeau has styled himself as a global crusader against foreign meddling—at least when it carried Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fingerprints. Now, like Australia and the United States before it, Canada is grappling with tough questions. How was such a brazen interference campaign allowed to continue uninterrupted for so long? Why was the public kept in the dark about it? And did Trudeau’s own policies encourage these covert operations?

Just as it was beginning to tackle these questions in earnest, Ottawa made the stunning accusation that New Delhi was also meddling in its affairs in a far more severe manner — by, allegedly, murdering a prominent activist.

Now it must figure out how to assert its sovereignty again. And the best place is to start is by understanding how it got here.

Amid the India-Canada diplomatic row, a senior journalist from Canada has said that there is a big spectre of foreign interference from China in the country.

Daniel Bordman's comments come as tensions continue to flare between India and Canada after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's explosive allegations of a "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on his country's soil on June 18 in British Columbia. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.

India angrily rejected the allegations as "absurd" and "motivated" and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa's expulsion of an Indian official over the case.

The journalist, in an interview with ANI, said there is an enormous threat of Chinese meddling in Canada as Justin Trudeau's Liberal party has, during several election cycles sought support from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), regarding which there is a story in Canada to move the spectrum away from Chinese foreign involvement.

"If you want to have some Canadian context about what's going on and why he may have done this, here's what I think is maybe the leading theory we can say as to why Trudeau has started to fight with India.

In Canada, we have this big, big spectre of foreign interference from China. That's a major scandal right now. It's Justin Trudeau's Liberal party, was getting help from the CCP at different points in elections... It's a whole big thing that we need an investigation into," he told the news agency.

So in order to shift the spectrum from Chinese foreign interference, we have a story in Canada, which is essentially a story about Pakistani foreign interference, being framed as a story of Indian foreign interference to cover up the real story, which is Chinese interference," he said.
 
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