Poilievre dismisses Trudeau's vow that special rapporteur on election meddling will be independent

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre used a morning news conference to cast doubt on the independence of a soon-to-be-announced special rapporteur to investigate claims that China meddled in Canada's last two elections.

On Monday night, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he will name an "eminent" and independent person as a special rapporteur on election interference "who will have a wide mandate and make expert recommendations on combating interference and strengthening our democracy."

Trudeau said he is open to consulting with the opposition parties and would hear their suggestions.

"He could pick someone independent, but he won't," Poilievre told reporters Tuesday morning.

"He'll pick another Liberal establishment insider, a real Ottawa insider with some grey hair who looks like a reasonable fellow, but we all know that it will be someone tied to him, tied to the Liberals."

The Conservatives have largely dismissed a recent report highlighting foreign interference observations during the 2021 election. The report was written by Morris Rosenberg, who was appointed to the role by the public service. 

The veteran former public servant also worked as the head of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. Poilievre's party has said that fact makes him not credible.

"[Trudeau is] going to appoint a special rapporteur that will be appointed by him who will come out and say, 'Oh, everything is fine, let's move on,'" said Poilievre.

"He wants closed and controlled and we want an open and independent inquiry to make sure it never happens again."

During a separate news conference, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said the special rapporteur should be appointed by Parliament, not the prime minister.

NDP House Leader Peter Julian told CBC's Power & Politics that Monday's announcement was a baby step and the special rapporteur needs to be "impeccable."

"It cannot be somebody who is considered partisan and cannot be somebody who is not considered independent from the Liberal government," he said.

Poilievre said his party will continue to push for a public inquiry into recent media reports that claimed China took steps to ensure a minority Liberal government was returned in 2021 and that certain Conservative candidates were defeated.

"What we actually need is an independent and open public investigation to get to the bottom of interference by Beijing or any other foreign dictatorship in our democracy," he said.