We in Canada like to say that we have a national sport—hockey (it’s ice hockey, but no one says that here because we all know what we are talking about). Some may say lacrosse is our national sport, but I want to suggest that we have it all wrong.
Our national pastime, the one thing that takes up most of our time, attention, and money, is, wait for it, national inquiries (also known as royal commissions, commissions of inquiry, or, let’s face it, “how best to spend taxpayers’ money on an issue”).
Since Confederation we have had 450 royal commissions alone!
And what did we learn? Well, we learned that the Johnston report was not the only attempt to convince us that our country is safe and secure from interference by China and others, that intelligence is not evidence, and that we can all go back to watching hockey (until the next inquiry, that is).
The inquiry result was so flawed that one wonders why we bothered in the first place. On the plus side, lots of Canadians, including those who have been targeted by foreign states for their activities in Canada, were allowed to testify, giving us all a disturbing view into how the lives of our fellow citizens can be put at risk in our own land by hostile nations.
Yes, there are lots of suggestions on how to counter foreign interference better—51 in fact—but we all know that these can be ignored by governments. It is what the report both said and did not say that should cause us concern.
Justice Hogue declared: “I (have not) seen any evidence of ’traitors’ in Parliament plotting with foreign states to act against Canada.” That is a very low bar. Treason is a very serious crime, perhaps the most serious one that anyone can commit against one’s homeland, and it would take extremely high levels of evidence to find that this offence had been perpetrated. Still, lots of activities not in Canada’s interest that should be called out but do not reach the status of “treason” are happening regularly.
The Commissioner essentially said that NSICOP got the intelligence wrong. Just as former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau threw CSIS under the bus when he said that its reports were “just suspicion,” Hogue has similarly undermined the NSICOP parliamentarians. Whom would you trust: people with access to intelligence and intelligence professionals, or a judge with less of that?
Getting back to the 51 recommendations, we have a provincial election (Ontario), a leadership convention (Liberal), and a federal election all coming up in the next few months. Does anyone think the suggestions will be put in place in time to better safeguard these against unwanted meddling? I did not think so.
In the end, Canadians got another “feel-good” report. Yes, there are problems, but they are not too serious. Yes, there was interference, but the election results were not affected. Yes, intelligence was ignored, but we will fix that.
In sum, 16 months for a report that did not provide citizens with an honest assessment of just how bad the situation is. Recall as well that the issue of transnational repression (TNR) was marginally addressed as it was not part of the original mandate of the inquiry. You thought foreign interference was bad? Wait until you find out more about TNR and the countries—well over a dozen—engaged in deeds up to and including assassination.
So, another “inquiry” is filed somewhere to gather dust. We will undoubtedly have another one down the road to deal with who knows what. Thank God for hockey!
