"Johnston's Parliamentary committee hearing nothing more than lousy political theatre..." Canadian News Update, May 24, 2023

Why did Johnston really nix a public inquiry into foreign meddling?

It’s not surprising, really, that the so-called “investigation” into Foreign Interference moves from the disappointing initial report from Rapporteur David Johnston to the three-ring circus of a Parliamentary Procedure Committee hearing, to grill Johnston on why he decided against recommending a public inquiry into foreign meddling.

These Parliamentary Committees have devolved over the past few years into a partisan sideshow that takes us no closer to the truth.

Give a politician a microphone and a TV camera, and a plethora of political bombast is sure to follow.

For the record, Johnston has already stated that his rationale for nixing the Inquiry was because the data he saw over the last few weeks was, in his opinion, not sufficient to warrant a full Inquiry.

I think it’s a pretty flimsy reason, but since we’ll likely never see the documents that Johnston saw, how can we challenge his assertion?

And Johnston has already said that he can not and will not reveal any of that information.

In fact, you could play a Foreign Interference Drinking game during Johnston’s testimony.

If you poured yourself a wee dram every time Johnston declines to answer for “national security reasons”, you’d be plastered before lunchtime!

Parliamentary committee hearings are nothing more than lousy political theatre, and haven’t we seen enough of that already?

Further Reading: Targets of Chinese regime reject Johnston findings, call for public inquiry (Globe and Mail)