After a months-long search, the federal government has found a judge to lead a public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference in Canadian elections and society.
Marie-Josée Hogue, a puisne judge of the Court of Appeal of Quebec, has been tapped to lead the inquiry, a government source told Global News Thursday. Two government sources also confirmed the news to The Canadian Press.
Hogue was appointed as puisne judge in the Quebec appeals court on June 19, 2015, according to the court’s website. Hogue had been a partner with the firm McCarthy Tétrault since January 2014.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who is also the minister for democratic institutions, is scheduled to speak about the inquiry at 11:30 a.m. eastern.
Hogue was previously a partner with Heenan Blaikie LLP, and a law clerk to Antonio Lamer of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1988 to 1989. Hogue’s main areas of practice were corporate commercial litigation, civil litigation and professional liability.
She also practised administrative law and constitutional law, according to the court.
Hogue’s appointment comes after a months-long search for a judge to head an inquiry after former governor general David Johnston, the special rapporteur looking into allegations of foreign interference, resigned from the role in June amid accusations of bias.
LeBlanc, who has been meeting with opposition parties since Johnston’s resignation, said last month the government was in the “final stages” of setting up an inquiry.
LeBlanc said the complex questions about the structure and management of such a probe are for practical purposes already agreed on. He added it was taking time because there are specific protocols that must be followed when dealing with judges currently on the bench.
He would not confirm or deny reports that the government hasn’t been able to find anyone willing to take on the role following the debacle that faced Johnston, who had said his role became mired in partisan fighting.
Opposition parties have been demanding a public inquiry for months and the Liberals initially balked at the idea, instead tapping Johnston to lead a probe into the matter.
They asked him to advise before the end of May whether an inquiry was warranted. He concluded that because so many of the matters were cloaked in secrecy due to national security implications, a public inquiry would be less useful.
The Conservatives were outraged and accused Johnston of bias because of past ties to the family of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, created in honour of his father.
Johnston denied any partisan bias and the Liberals pointed out repeatedly that he was appointed governor general on the advice of then-Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, but he decided to step down from the role.
Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, who has said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) informed him that he and his party had been the target of an “active voter suppression campaign” by China in the 2021 election, said Thursday that Hogue is a “solid choice” to lead the inquiry.
“The terms of reference must ensure she is also not provided with a curated view of intelligence as the special rapporteur was,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Canadians deserve a serious, fulsome and non-partisan inquiry.”
Foreign interference has been a persistent issue in Ottawa this year amid reporting on allegations of Chinese meddling in Canada from The Globe and Mail and Global News.
As stories broke, so did revelations that Beijing attempted to target sitting politicians, including Tory MP Michael Chong.
In May, the federal government confirmed a Globe and Mail report that CSIS had information in 2021 that Beijing was looking at ways to intimidate Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong.
China has denied the allegations that it targeted Chong after the MP voted in February 2021 in favour of a motion in the House of Commons condemning China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority as a genocide.
The spat led to both nations expelling diplomats in a tit-for-tat move and prompted a policy change for CSIS to inform MPs of threats no matter how serious.
Since then, NDP MP Jenny Kwan has said CSIS has told her that she’s been a target of Chinese government interference. She said the interference attempts date back to the 2019 federal election but are believed to be ongoing.
As a result, Trudeau said Thursday that rapprochement with China isn’t in the cards right now.
“Rapprochement? No,” he said.
— with files from Global News’ Touria Izri and The Canadian Press
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