The Chief of Staff to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will testify before the house of commons (Canada’s equivalent to congress), despite his party’s best efforts to block it.
Initially facing pressure from Conservative opponents, Justin Trudeau appointed an independent investigator to see if China interfered in Canada’s elections. This comes after a whistleblower, a former governmental employee, leaked a myriad of documents from the Canada Security Intelligence Service, their version of the NSA, to the Daily Globe and Mail, Canada’s top newspaper.
The problem is, Trudeau got to appoint a special investigator, former Governor-General David Johnston, and he has deep ties to the Prime Minister and his family. They are family friends, where Trudeau would see Johnston in his youth when Johnston and the Trudeau family had neighboring cottages at a vacation spot. Future Trudeau opponent and Conservative Party nominee Pierre Poilievre also noted that Johnston was on the board of the Trudeau Family Foundation. They have openly received donations from Beijing.
Canada consists of three major parties. The Liberals, Trudeau’s Party, the right leaning Conservatives, and the hard left New Democratic Party (NDP). The NDP and Conservatives are united in opposing Trudeau’s actions, and have now successfully forced Trudeau Chief of Staff Katie Telford to testify.
Trudeau and his Liberals tried to block her testifying in the House Ethics Committee, similar to the ethics committee in the US congress. But with NDP and Conservatives united, Trudeau is facing this likely scandal alone. The testimony should reveal how much Trudeau knew about Chinese interference, if he withheld held any information or documents, and if he tried to prevent the undue influence.
This comes after The Canadian Security Intelligence Service admitted that they were aware the Chinese interfered in the Vancouver mayoral election last year. In fact, it was the Chinese Consul General that directly interfered, and was playing a long game, “grooming” and electing candidates of Chinese descent to support their government while in office. The CSIS confirmed in a massive report that the Consul General “assessed if the individual was a ‘good sapling to cultivate’,” when referring to a Chinese candidate in Vancouver politics.
The situation for Trudeau has gotten from bad to worse. Conservative members of Parliament are talking about triggering a vote of no confidence. That means the Liberal Party would throw Trudeau out and a new one would be elected head of the party, and thus Prime Minister. It seems far-fetched, but remember that in a parliamentary system, it’s much easier to throw out your leader. Think Boris Johnston and then Liz Truss in the UK.
At this point, expect Trudeau to have a 50% chance of not being the Canadian Prime Minister in a month from now. Those in the NDP are talking about supporting a no confidence vote as well, and together with the Conservatives, they would form the majority vote needed to axe the current PM. We’ll keep you posted like no other US outlet is on this bombshell news north of the border.
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