EDITORIAL: Is it an inquiry or witch hunt?

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The shameful performance by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before the Foreign Interference Commission indicates just how low he’s prepared to stoop to cling to power.

Until now, the inquiry headed by Madam Justice Marie-Josee Hogue has been a thoughtful probe into how the tentacles of foreign governments have reached into this country’s electoral processes.

That changed when Trudeau, in his best imitation of a drama teacher, declared he had information that implicated Conservative politicians as potential pawns of foreign agents.

“I have the names of a number of parliamentarians, former parliamentarians and/or candidates in the Conservative Party of Canada, who are engaged or at high risk of —or for whom there is clear intelligence around — foreign interference,” Trudeau said.

Let’s parse that word salad a little closer. What exactly does he mean by “parliamentarians”? And when he says they’re “engaged, or at high risk” of being used by foreign governments, is he saying he has clairvoyant powers and can tell us who may in future fall under the sphere of foreign actors?

He railed against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for not getting the security clearance needed to be briefed on the issue. Poilievre refuses to do so, saying it will limit what he can discuss. Poilievre rebutted Trudeau’s outlandish claims, saying the prime minister is lying.

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“My chief of staff has received classified briefing from the government. At no time has the government told me or my chief of staff of any current or former Conservative parliamentarian or candidate knowingly participating in foreign interference,” he said in a statement.

Compare Trudeau’s disgraceful performance with that of Conservative MP Michael Chong. Last year, Chong spoke with such dignity at Congressional hearings into foreign interference on Capitol Hill in Washington that U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle praised him. This week he called Trudeau’s testimony a “smear.”

Chong is the model of what an honest parliamentarian should be.

Trudeau’s actions threaten to turn the commission into a witch hunt. It’s reminiscent of post-war Washington and Senator Joseph McCarthy waving papers and threatening to name names. It’s disgraceful and un-Canadian. If Trudeau suspects anyone of treason, he should call in the RCMP. Put up or shut up; let them lay charges. Give us names. Or give us an election.