Politicians allegedly targeted by foreign interference 'disappointed' in Johnston's report

Politicians who allegedly have been the targets of foreign interference say they're "disappointed" that former governor general David Johnston recommended against calling a public inquiry into the matter.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Johnston as a special rapporteur on foreign interference in March in response to the furor over Chinese government interference.

Trudeau said he would call a public inquiry if Johnston recommended one. But in his report released Tuesday, Johnston said he doesn't think an inquiry would be able to address foreign interference and problems with intelligence.

"A person leading a Public Inquiry would be unlikely to learn more about who knew what, when, and what was done with [intelligence] than has been made available to me," Johnston wrote. 

"Duplicating this effort would not be productive and would lead to delay in addressing the issues."

Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu said he was "disappointed" in Johnston's decision not to call for an inquiry.

"Nothing short of [a public inquiry] is good enough to get to the bottom [of this]," he told CBC.

The former MP has blamed Beijing's alleged election meddling for losing his seat in the 2021 election. He claims he was the target of propaganda and disinformation on WeChat — a Chinese-owned messaging app — that falsely claimed his private members' bill would unfairly target the Chinese community.

Chiu's bill actually proposed to establish a foreign agent registry that would require non-elected individuals to declare when they receive money from foreign governments.

Johnston's report does acknowledge the online misinformation about Chiu but says it "could not be traced to a state-sponsored source."

"It is clear that [Beijing] diplomats did not like Mr. Chiu," the report reads. "It is much less clear that they did anything in particular about it."

But Chiu — who said he was not offered a meeting with Johnston — said he doesn't think that section of the report is a fair representation of what happened in 2021.

"For [Johnston] to conclude that, I think to me, is a bit premature," he said.

Chiu said that even though Johnston may have access to top secret information, he may not understand how election interference plays out "on the ground."