Commentary
Well, there we have it. Former Governor General David Johnston has delivered his much-awaited report on China’s interference in our federal elections. It is fairly thorough, looking at the intelligence process in Canada, the importance of democracy, how governments make decisions, etc., etc., etc. And in the end, Johnston recommended against creating a public inquiry into this matter.
Hip, hip, hooray… to some extent. I have argued in these pages and elsewhere that there is no need for a public inquiry into what Beijing did to undermine our electoral process. My reasons are varied: a public inquiry would not allow the highly classified and very crucial intelligence to be aired; inquiries in Canada have a habit of making many recommendations that are seldom acted upon; inquiries cost money and money is tight these days; we already know a great deal about what happened thanks to intelligence leaks….