Poilievre declined meeting with Johnston on foreign interference, citing scheduling | CBC News

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has declined to meet with the government’s special rapporteur on foreign interference, citing an inability to find a mutually convenient time, a spokesperson for Poilievre said Wednesday.

Poilievre has mocked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to appoint former governor general David Johnston to look into the matter of foreign interference, calling it nothing more than a delay tactic to avoid calling a public inquiry and describing Johnston as Trudeau’s “neighbour, family friend and ski buddy.”

The prime minister has decried criticisms of Johnston as “horrific, partisan attacks against a man of extraordinary integrity.”

Poilievre has also cited Johnston’s past work with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, named after the prime minister’s father, as evidence Johnston is ill-suited for the role.

Still, Poilievre’s director of media relations, Sebastian Skamski, said the Opposition leader’s office has complied with an email request for information about any past experiences with potential foreign interference.

Those experiences are limited, given that Poilievre has only been Opposition leader for a matter of months and hasn’t yet led the party in a general election, said the spokesperson.

When Johnston’s team reached out earlier this month to ask for a meeting with Poilievre, the Conservative leader was only given 48 hours’ notice and was unable to make the timeframe work, Skamski said.

CBC News has reached out to the Privy Council Office, which is handling media requests for Johnston, for comment. 

NDP, Bloc leaders have met with Johnston

The leaders of both the NDP and the Bloc Québécois have met with Johnston as he prepares his report into whether a public inquiry is needed into foreign interference in Canadian elections.

According to an NDP spokesperson, the party requested to meet with Johnston. Leader Jagmeet Singh and Vancouver-East MP Jenny Kwan met with the rapporteur on May 1.

“Essentially we continued to recommend a public inquiry,” the NDP spokesperson wrote in a statement.

The party wanted Kwan to attend as “she has been very active hearing from the Chinese community about their concerns regarding foreign interference,” and hoped to “ensure that the impact on everyday people was considered.”

Last week, it emerged Kwan has also held a video call with CSIS to discuss potential interference by China targeting her.

In a statement, the Bloc Québécois said leader Yves-François Blanchet and his ethics critic, René Villemure, met with Johnston a week ago. 

“The most important point we discussed is the nomination of an [independent] commissioner [to preside over a public inquiry],” Blanchet said in the written statement, “which must be entrusted to Parliament. This person should realistically be a career judge and have no particular relationship with the Liberal Party of Canada.” 

Johnston is set to make a call on a public inquiry into foreign election interference by next Tuesday, along with other recommendations. The government has said it will abide by all of his decisions.