Well, that’s the end of one big useless distracting storm.
The only accomplishment of Mr. Trudeau’s sly attempt to shed his responsibility as Prime Minister and load it onto the back of someone else is to have dug more than a few extra feet to the already deep sour well of Canadians’ cynicism about crony politics.
All options are on the table for determining “next steps” following the news that former governor general David Johnston is resigning as special rapporteur, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a press conference Saturday.
The government will be consulting judicial experts and opposition leaders to decide what to do next, including who could be best to lead the rest of Johnston’s work or even who might lead a public inquiry, what the terms of reference would be and how one would respect classified information.
OTTAWA—In a major shift, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will now weigh whether to call a public inquiry into foreign elections interference after former governor general David Johnston stunned the government Friday, resigning as outside adviser after weeks of controversy over his appointment and the conclusions of his interim report.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, in a statement issued within an hour of Johnston’s resignation, said the prime minister has “tasked me with consulting experts and opposition parties on next steps and to assess who is best to lead that work.”
I bet John McCallum gets the nod.
The poor performance of Disney’s The Little Mermaid at the Chinese box office has reopened questions on Hollywood’s increasing difficulties in the world’s second-largest economy and the role racism has played in the film’s reception.
The live action remake has grossed just $3.6m (£2.9m) since its release in Chinese cinemas on 26 May, according to Box Office Mojo.
David Johnston resigning as special rapporteur on foreign interference
David Johnston — tasked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau back in March with looking into allegations that China tried to meddle in the past two federal elections — says he has decided to step down from that role.
In a resignation letter sent to Trudeau, Johnston said his role has become too muddled in political controversy for him to continue.
“When I undertook the task of independent special rapporteur on foreign interference, my objective was to help build trust in our democratic institutions,” the former governor general wrote.
David Johnston has just quit his job as special rapporteur. pic.twitter.com/apRqIkGRHP
— Rosemary Barton (@RosieBarton) June 9, 2023
h/t Mauser
It’s difficult to read his resignation without smirking. Try as he might to come off as a noble man wrongly smeared as a Trudeau hack and ChiCom useful idiot it just doesn’t pass the smell test. Well it does if you like the aroma of rancid Egg Rolls I guess.
Johnston was hired for one reason only; To run cover for the China Class of which both he and Trudeau are members.
These puppets willingly danced to Beijing’s tune.
Even a cursory glance into their backgrounds turns up the stench of their grift.
A day after embattled special rapporteur David Johnston defended his approach to investigating foreign interference before a parliamentary committee, multiple Chinese Canadian diaspora groups say he should have consulted them and are calling for a public inquiry.
“Mr. Johnston’s report is a huge disappointment,” said Gloria Fung, president of the Canada-Hong Kong Link, during a joint news conference with other diaspora groups organized by the Bloc Québécois.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Johnston has failed to reach out to the diaspora organizations.
So long as it’s not the Xi Jinping Admiration Society.
Taxpayers financed the creation of deadly pathogens
Dwight Eisenhower’s final public address as president is best-remembered for his warning about the rise of the military-industrial complex. But contained within his speech was another stark prophecy, one which has largely been forgotten yet remains just as significant. The “domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, allocations, and the power of money” is a grave threat, he cautioned. “Public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.”
Germany has officially conducted military training programs with China in the past. Indeed, it is common for militaries to exchange technical and tactical experience. It is also not unusual for service members to take their unique skill set to the private sector after they retire.
But when it comes to China these days, these norms are getting a closer look. That was made clear recently by the strong reaction in Germany to a report shining a light on an otherwise mundane practice: A “handful” of retired German air force pilots, according to the magazine, Spiegel, and public broadcaster, ZDF, have gone to China on lucrative private training contracts.
Beijing is set to build an electronic eavesdropping facility on Cuba, just 100 miles from the coast of Florida, that will be able to gather US military secrets.
Citing officials ‘with highly classified intelligence’, The Wall Street Journal said China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement to establish the base.
The newspaper reported its sources as saying Beijing had agreed to pay cash-strapped Havana several billions of dollars to allow it to build the facility, and that at this stage an agreement had been reached ‘in principle’.
For me, the three hours of testimony by David Johnston — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “independent special rapporteur” on foreign interference — before a House of Commons committee, jumped the shark an hour into the proceedings.
What was all that bullshit about a “Man of Integrity?”
It’s tradition, some might say politeness, that when a witness appears before a parliamentary committee, MPs welcome the witness. They shake hands and thank them for coming.
So perhaps it was a sign of things to come — or perhaps a sign of declining times — when all but one Conservative (Wellington—Halton Hills MP Michael Chong) bypassed the custom Tuesday when David Johnston, the former governor general and the government’s current independent special rapporteur on foreign interference, appeared before the procedure and house affairs committee.
For a man touted as a sort of “Mr. Canada” he sure holds us all in contempt.
All he did was run cover for Trudeau in a most unseemly fashion.
He is deeply corrupted by his ChiCom association.
David Johnston believes he is the man to get to grips with foreign interference in Canada. The will of Parliament and the wishes of the public be damned.
In a calm and measured three-hour appearance before MPs Tuesday, the prime minister’s special rapporteur proved not only that he can be awfully stubborn, but also, perhaps, a little naïve and self-important.
Canadians are twice as likely to support a formal inquiry into foreign interference, as opposed to public hearings, according to new polling from Nanos Research for CTV News.
Nearly six in 10 Canadians say they prefer the idea of a formal public inquiry headed by a judge with full subpoena powers, according to the survey.
Meanwhile, a quarter of respondents say they would prefer the public hearings option “to shine more light on the problem of foreign interference and the threat it poses.”
It’s quite the bombshell. It’s a 77-page investigative report on Beijing’s influence operations in Canada’s democratic institutions. It examines the Chinese Communist Party’s sinister engagements with this country’s political processes, universities, civil society, corporate sector, Chinese-language news media and social media.
Rich in documentary evidence and fact-based analysis, the report also relies on expert advice and named informants, except in cases where the security of individuals and entities would be put at risk. It’s titled Murky Waters: Beijing’s Influence in Canadian Democratic and Electoral Processes.
Oh my! Have a look at who is on the board of David Johnston’s so called “non partisan” charity The Rideau Hall Foundation. It’s only the literal who’s who of CCP creme of the captured crop bootlicker$. It’s so in our bloody faces, ABSOLUTELY CIRCLE JERK AAAAMAZINE I tell ya.… pic.twitter.com/Jfd3NQq5t9
— Laura Love (@Panopticonomy) June 7, 2023
India feels a giant demon breathing on her shoulder.
The more China strengthens its military and economic power, the more threatened India feels. The main reason is China’s aggressive actions along the China-India border, known as the Line of Actual Control. India and China share a de facto border of 3,440 km in total — containing rivers, lakes and snowcaps at high altitudes.
