Canada - May 2023

On 31 May, by 174 to 150 votes, Parliament voted to call on David Johnston, the rapporteur on foreign interference appointed by Prime Minister Trudeau’s government, to resign, given the opposition’s claims that he was not impartial after he recommended a series of hearings instead of a public inquiry on the allegations of foreign meddling in elections. According to Johnston, a public inquiry is not possible due to the classified nature of the information that led him to conclude that foreign officials attempted to interfere with candidates. Instead, he suggested hearings on the way in which the intelligence agencies communicated this information to other government institutions. The lawmakers’ motion, which is non-binding, was presented after criticism of the rapporteur’s alleged partiality, given reports of his personal ties to Prime Minister Trudeau. While Johnston initially rejected the call to resign and insisted he has not had a personal relationship with the PM in decades, in early June he presented a letter of resignation, in which he stated he would leave the role of rapporteur by the end of the month. 

Sources: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, British Broadcasting Corporation (1), British Broadcasting Corporation (2), National Post, Toronto Star