Special rapporteur Johnston expected to testify before MPs on foreign interference report

MPs are moving towards re-issuing an invitation for special rapporteur David Johnston to testify before a parliamentary committee studying foreign interference, by June 6.

MPs are moving towards re-issuing an invitation for special rapporteur David Johnston to testify before a parliamentary committee studying foreign interference, by June 6.

Opposition MPs teamed up to force a meeting of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) on Thursday—despite it being a break week for the House of Commons—where MPs debated a Conservative-sponsored proposal to haul Johnston before the panel of MPs to explain his recommendation against a public inquiry into foreign election interference.

"It's essential that we do hear from him," said Conservative MP Michael Barrett, in trying to make his case issuing a formal summons compelling Johnston to appear within the next seven days. "We want to take a closer look at the conclusions that he has, take a look under the hood."  

Though, the Liberals were quick to accuse the opposition parties of further politicizing the issue of foreign interference, as the committee had already decided two months ago when Johnston was appointed to the role that he should appear. Johnston had accepted that invitation with the intention of speaking to MPs, after his interim report was released, according to committee chair and Liberal MP Bardish Chagger.

"I think it's irresponsible to drag this out, to make it seem that Mr. Johnston does not want to appear, when he's already clearly expressed his will to appear before the committee... And I don't think that we need to play political games, partisan games, by saying that he's resisting any appearance," said Liberal MP Greg Fergus.

After three hours of back-and-forth over what Chagger described as an ever-evolving ranking of which upcoming witnesses should be prioritized, and around an effort to see the committee reaffirm its call for a public inquiry, the committee is still deliberating over the final wording of the request, but is poised to ask Johnston to testify for a few hours, unaccompanied, once MPs are back in Ottawa.

On Tuesday, Johnston issued his first report as the special rapporteur looking into foreign interference, in which he highlighted serious shortcomings within Canada's intelligence apparatus, but said he found no evidence to suggest the federal government knowingly or negligently failed to act.