Call public inquiry first, then Conservatives will suggest who can lead it: Poilievre

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must make the first move and call an independent public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should make the first move and call a public inquiry before the Conservatives suggest people who could lead it, Pierre Poilievre says.

The Conservative leader penned a letter to Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc to, as Poilievre put it, "repeat my demands" after a phone call last week.

"As discussed," Poilievre wrote in the letter, "the prime minister must first agree to call an independent and public inquiry."

LeBlanc has been tasked with helping to devise a plan for what the next steps of the process to probe allegations of foreign meddling should look like.

That follows the high-profile and sudden departure of David Johnston, whom Trudeau had tasked with the job. The former governor general announced earlier this month he was resigning after finding the position untenable because of a highly partisan environment around the issue.

LeBlanc has said since that the government wants to hear from opposition leaders about what a public inquiry could look like, including who could lead such an endeavour and what its terms of reference might be.

The Bloc Quebecois recently submitted a list of names of who it could support doing the job, including retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour, who recently investigated the Canadian Armed Forces' handling of sexual assault allegations.