As Special Rapporteur David Johnston persists in holding public hearings on allegations of foreign interference in Canadian politics, a new survey shows a majority of Canadians are more supportive of a formal inquiry.
Nine in 10 respondents also showed support for establishing a foreign agent registry for individuals working on behalf of foreign entities.
The Nanos Research survey, published on June 8, gauged the opinions of 1,096 adult Canadians on their views of Beijing’s interference in Canadian elections and Johnson’s May 23 report in which he did not recommend a public inquiry.
The survey found that 59 percent of Canadians said they would prefer having a formal public inquiry headed by a judge with full subpoena powers to probe into foreign interference. A quarter of respondents said they would like the public hearings to “shine more light on the problem of foreign interference and the threat it poses.”…