Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh say they will soon begin talks concerning the terms of reference for a public inquiry into foreign interference.
“We need a full public inquiry, and we want it to be a nonpartisan public inquiry,” Poilievre told reporters on June 14.
According to a spokesperson for the Conservative Party, Poilievre’s office reached out to Singh on June 13, and the two will speak on the evening of June 14 by phone. On June 13, Poilievre also discussed the issue with Bloc Québécois Leader Yves−François Blanchet.
Poilievre said he would soon speak with Green Party leader Elizabeth May, as well as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic Leblanc.
The development comes a week after former governor general David Johnston—who Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tasked to be the special rapporteur on foreign interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections—announced that he would resign from the role.
Johnston recommended against a public inquiry while presenting his report on the subject, citing the difficulty of holding one when national security information cannot be revealed to the public. Opposition parties have repeatedly called for a nonpartisan public inquiry to be held.
Singh told reporters he was concerned that if every party leader gave their separate thoughts on the best way to implement a public inquiry, the Liberal government would say, “there’s no consensus, this can’t go forward.”
“I want to avoid the Liberals having that excuse,” he said.
Singh said the Bloc Quebecois “already made a mistake” by proposing Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour lead the inquiry, as she briefly served as a mentor for the Trudeau Foundation. “This was the major critique of the Bloc for Mr. Johnston, so clearly, that’s not the way to move forward,” he said.
The NDP leader suggested that opposition parties implement a similar system to how Ontario chooses a legislative officer: Every recognized party would have one member on a committee—which is chaired by a non-voting member—which would then analyze and evaluate all the potential candidates.
“And then we ask questions of those candidates, and then make a decision unanimously around the candidate and around the elements of the inquiry,” he said.
During a press conference that day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “happy to see” that opposition parties were behaving in a “more cooperative and less toxic manner” to decide on details surrounding a public inquiry.
