Inside Justin Trudeau’s foreign interference inquiry appearance

Article content

Justin Trudeau was the last new witness, Wednesday, in the first phase of the public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s federal elections, getting top billing just as he had for 2022’s public inquiry into the government’s use of the Emergencies Act to end the convoy protest occupations.

After hearing from three senior cabinet ministers — Karina Gould, Bill Blair, and Dominic LeBlanc — that started in the morning it was past 3 p.m. when inquiry commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue, a Quebec Court of Appeal judge, warned there would be a longer break than usual before the next witness as “certain security measures will have to be put into place.”

Article content

Article content

Nobody in the room needed further explanation.

Not only was Trudeau’s scheduled appearance a top headline in the day’s news, the roomful of lawyers had been planning questions for the prime minister long in advance. Journalists had to temporarily leave the hearing room for a security sweep, which also included a search of the media room, where a detector dog licked up a chip found on the floor and seemed pleased.

Everyone at the inquiry would also have noticed the increased security. A Toyota Sienna filled with armed officers had stopped outside the Library and Archives Canada building in downtown Ottawa where the inquiry is being held as observers were dashing out for lunch hours before Trudeau’s scheduled start.

After a 20-minute break by the commission, Trudeau was escorted into the inquiry room. He was the only witness to appear through a discreet door behind the witness chair. That’s exactly what happened at the Emergencies Act inquiry two years ago.

Wednesday’s appearance seemed like a second take of a movie, as both the marquee witness and the inquiry’s counsel, Shantona Chaudhury, played the same role at both. Trudeau would have likely wanted a second take of his 2022 entrance — that time there was an awkward delay after he was called to the stand, and everyone sat anxiously waiting.

Article content

Article content

“A bit anti-climactic,” quipped Paul Rouleau, the emergencies inquiry commissioner, bringing roars of laughter before he announced an adjournment just as Trudeau entered from behind a curtain and looked stunned to be greeted by laughter.

This time the public broadcast of the inquiry’s feed didn’t start until Trudeau was already in the hearing room, seated stage left at the witness table.

Dressed neatly in a grey suit with a blue tie over a white shirt with a crisp collars, Trudeau stood up as Hogue entered and nodded to her as she sat at her table, centre stage.

Chaudhury, stage right, stood at a podium to begin her inquiry.

“Our witness this afternoon is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Can I ask that the witness be sworn or affirmed,” she began. An official asked Trudeau if he wished to be sworn or affirmed. In courts and on such occasions, swearing to give truthful testimony is usually done holding a religious book, like Trudeau did at the emergencies inquiry, when he asked to be sworn in on the Bible. Affirming means to declare you will tell the truth without any connection to religious belief.

Article content

Earlier in the day Blair and LeBlanc swore to tell the truth while holding a Bible up in their right hand. Gould affirmed to do the same without swearing on a holy book.

Trudeau ran down the middle — Trudeau said he would be sworn in but did not move his arms towards the Bible on the table. His hands remained clasped in front of him while he promised “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Afterwards, he leaned back in his seat, unbuttoned his suit button and listened as Chaudhury began. As she spoke to him, Trudeau opened a folio on the table in front of him.

He paused briefly, looking down with furrowed brow as he began his opening remarks. As he continued to speak, his brow began to unfurl and his pace and energy increased.

At the 2022 inquiry he chose French for his first substantive answers, and it was several minutes into his testimony before he switched to English.

This time he began in English, and it was some 20 minutes in before he switched suddenly but briefly to French. Chaudhury responded in kind, asking her next question in French.

Trudeau went through his evidence with Chaudhury before a break and questions began by a parade of lawyers representing various groups with interest in the issue.

Article content

His appearance was expected to last three hours.

It made for a long day of evidence, capping more than two weeks of testimony from political actors, senior public servants, and members of the intelligence community about alleged foreign interference during the 2019 and 2021 elections.

The commission is expected to submit an interim report by May 3 and a final report before the end of the year.

With additional reporting by Christopher Nardi

• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | X: AD_Humphreys

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.

Article content