As Trudeau travels the globe spreading inclusion and blackface: Erin O’Toole met with David Johnston for his Report

To set the scene, Mr. Johnston did not reach out to the Conservative Party, my office, or Pierre Poilievre’s office until the final week of his initial assignment. He waited until the very end to meet with the current and former leaders of the Party that had been the central target of the foreign interference he was charged with investigating. If I am to believe media reports, Johnston interviewed the Bloc Quebecois leader about events alleged to have taken place in British Columbia and Ontario – where Mr. Blanchet ran no candidates – before he finally got around to me or the present Conservative Leader. This makes no sense.

I was still waiting to receive a CSIS briefing on foreign interference that had been promised the week before when my office was called by the Johnston team and told we only had two days to make the meeting work. I asked to meet with him following my meeting with CSIS (which I am still waiting to receive) but was told that this was not possible. I confirmed with Pierre that his office received a request to meet on the same day that I was. He declined the meeting and somehow that information was leaked to the media within hours. […]

Given the pressed timeline, we were literally putting the binders together as Mr. Johnston arrived at my office with his counsel. With this in mind, you might understand how disappointed I was to learn halfway through my meeting that Johnston’s report was already undergoing French translation. I was flabbergasted and realized that nothing I was going to provide to the Special Rapporteur was going to impact his work.

What a country.

Update: Johnston’s report is in.