OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Records show Canada’s former Governor General David Johnston, who was appointed as “special rapporteur” to lead the investigation into Chinese election interference by family “friend” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier in the year but resigned in disgrace, gave out millions in sweetheart contracts to preferred consultants.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, during Johnston’s three months served as “special rapporteur,” he approved sole-sourced contracts to his favored consultants that included fees paid to publicists to boost his image.
According to an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons as requested by Conservative MPs, Johnston was paid $1,600 a day and gave out a six-month contract worth $4,496,887 to Torys LLP of Toronto to “assist” him.
According to figures, the lawyer hired to assist Johnston, Sheila Block, was also a Liberal Party donor.
Trudeau’s cabinet tried to claim, as per the Inquiry, that “the Privy Council Office committed to ensuring the Independent Special Rapporteur had the resources he needed to complete his work.”
“Funding was provided to support the requirements he identified such as contracted legal services and salary costs,” the cabinet stated.
The Inquiry of Ministry records also show that Johnston awarded a $28,239 sole-sourced contract to RKESTRA Communications Corporation for four days of work. This Ottawa-based public relations firm was hired to work to contact “members of the media” and “identify columnists and key opinion leaders” who would praise Johnston.
Details show that RKESTRA’s contract was signed June 26, after Johnston resigned on June 9, 10 days after the House of Commons voted 174-150 to fire him.
The records also show that RKESTRA was hired to also provide “media training and coaching,” along with “interview preparation.”
Additionally, RKESTRA was to “confirm target audiences and communication methodologies,” and “act as a liaison between the Independent Special Rapporteur and members of the media.”
Earlier this year, Trudeau appointed Johnston to investigate alleged Communist Chinese interference in Canada’s recent elections. Opposition Conservative MPs demanded Johnston be replaced over his ties to China and the Trudeau family.
After Johnston concluded that there should not be a public inquiry into the matter, calls grew louder for him to resign. In June, Johnston quit as “special rapporteur.”
The total cost for the independent special rapporteur’s expenditures have not yet been fully disclosed.
The potential meddling in Canada’s elections by agents of the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) has many Canadians worried, especially considering Trudeau’s past praise for China’s “basic dictatorship” and his labeling of the authoritarian nation as his favorite country other than his own.
On September 7, the federal government announced it would launch a public inquiry into potential foreign election interference, to be led by Quebec judge Marie-Josée Hogue.
LifeSiteNews reported earlier this week that despite a continuous stream of evidence suggesting that CCP agents did interfere in Canada’s last two federal elections, the nation’s elections commissioner omitted any mention of China from her annual foreign interference report to Parliament last week.