The Trudeau Liberals have appointed Quebec Court of Appeal Judge Marie-Josée Hogue to lead a public inquiry into foreign interference within Canada’s electoral system. 

This appointment comes after numerous bombshell leaks alleged that the Chinese Communist Party meddled in the 2019 and 2021 elections to help the Liberals win.  

Trudeau refused to allow a public inquiry earlier this year, even ignoring a majority vote by members of parliament to hold one. 

Instead he designated two committees to do the job privately, one of which has since stated that Trudeau didn’t provide enough documents for them to fairly investigate the matter.

Subsequently, Trudeau opted to appoint his own handpicked “special rapporteur” to investigate the interference, appointing his family friend David Johnston. After declaring a public inquiry wasn’t necessary, Johnston resigned amid partisanship concerns.

Trudeau has finally submitted and appointed Justice Marie-Josée Hogue to lead a public inquiry. Justice Hogue’s appointment received cross-party support. 

Hours after the appointment was revealed, a social media thread on X (formerly Twitter) by user Andrew Haynes indicated that Justice Hogue worked for Heenan Blaikie law firm from 1987 to 2014 when it dissolved — and the firm had plenty of Trudeau family and Liberal Party overlap.

Below are five connections that Justice Hogue, a longtime partner at the Heenan Blaikie law firm, has with the Liberal Party and the Trudeau family. 

1. Justice Hogue provided legal representation for the Liberal government (against a Conservative plaintiff) 

In 1996, the Liberal government under PM Jean Chretien hired Heenan Blaikie to defend them after getting sued for $50 million by former Conservative PM Brian Mulroney for libel. 

Not only did Justice Hogue’s firm get hired to represent the Liberal government, but she worked on the case herself. Ultimately, the Liberal government settled with the former Conservative PM Mulroney, and offered an apology to him. 

2. Justice Hogue’s former law firm hired not one, but two Liberal Prime Ministers, including Pierre Elliot Trudeau, immediately after they left office

In 1984, Heenan Blaikie hired Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. This came four months after he left office as Prime Minister. 

“People who think that Mr. Trudeau is going to come here from a 9 to 5 basis to practice law have I think a wrong idea of what a law firm really is” said the firm’s senior partner, Roy Heenan at the time.

“He will be here, he will be advising, but he will be talking to his friends, his clients, and to his international associations and contacts and I’m sure he’ll be doing a lot of that work,” Heenan added.

Pierre Trudeau worked at the firm until 1999, just before his death in 2000.

Moreover, former PM Jean Chretien joined the Heenan Blaikie law firm immediately after leaving office as Prime Minister of Canada. Chretien left office in December 2003, and joined Heenan Blaikie within weeks, in January 2004.

3. Justice Hogue’s firm made a statement on behalf of Justin Trudeau after his mysterious teaching departure in 2003

After Justin Trudeau left his teaching position at West Point Grey Academy in the middle of the school year — and for some reason needed a team of lawyers to issue a statement for him — the Heenan Blaikie law firm was hired to speak for him. This came after Pierre Trudeau had passed away, but clearly, the firm was still connected to the Trudeau family.

Justice Hogue was working at the law firm at the time, but it’s unclear which lawyer made the statement for Trudeau. 

The law firm’s statement indicated Trudeau abruptly left his teaching position to take on a different teaching job, which never happened. 

Still to this day, many Canadians wonder what the truth is behind Trudeau’s teaching departure,  including Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

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4. The Heenan Blaikie law firm was a driving force behind, and donated to the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation 

A 2013-2014 report from the Pierre Elliot Trudeau foundation shows that Heenan Blaikie was a donor and a “friend.” 

In fact, after Pierre Trudeau’s death in 2000, the firm’s senior partner Roy Heenan was a “driving force” behind setting up Foundation, according to the Canadian Press. Heenan was also quoted saying he wanted the Foundation to be used to “promote (Mr. Trudeau’s) ideas.” 

5. One of the firm’s founders left the firm and became a Liberal MP in 1978

Heenan Blaikie was originally called Johnston Heenan Blaikie, until founding member Donald Johnston left the firm and became a Liberal MP.