After eight days or is that 657 days? the Liberals have finally acted against Chinas meddling in Canadas politics.

It took Ottawa a long time to come to the necessary conclusion to expel diplomat Zhao Wei for his role in targeting Conservative MP Michael Chongs family members in Hong Kong, in order to punish the Canadian politician for opposing Beijings oppression of its Uyghur minority.

Starting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and moving on from there, the Liberals have tried to sidle past the controversy over Chinas interference in two successive federal elections by trying to create uncertainty and doubt about what, if anything, happened. Sure, theres foreign interference all the time, they have said, from many different directions. Whos to say what happened? And what about Russia?

That line of patter has been demolished by the revelations, reported by The Globe earlier this month, that Mr. Chongs family in China was targeted.

The governments own actions, eight days after that story broke, are proof that Chinas illegal actions are a real danger to Canadian democracy. Eight days in May have made all the difference between the government being able to deny and to delay, and finally having to acknowledge the threat posed by Beijing.

But the expulsion of a single Chinese diplomat can be only properly seen as the start of Ottawas response, and the bare beginning of an answer to what transpired (or more precisely, did not transpire) within the Liberal government since the summer of 2021, when the revelations about Mr. Chong were being communicated.

For a start: With whom was the brief on Mr. Chong shared? Mr. Trudeau initially blamed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service for not sharing that information outside of the agency. That statement was quickly proven false, with the current national security adviser, Jody Thomas, telling Mr. Chong that one of her predecessors was indeed in the loop.

The Prime Minister said he was relying on the best information he had at the time while still insisting that the report on the threat posed to Mr. Chongs family never made it to me, to my office or to the minister at the time.

Yet the national security adviser provides advice to the Prime Minister on security and intelligence issues and is an associate secretary in the Privy Council Office, the bureaucratic arm of the Prime Ministers Office. Quite literally, the national security adviser (who received the report concerning Mr. Chong) is part of a department that reports to the Prime Ministers office, which Mr. Trudeau somehow contends did not receive the report.

Who knew what in July, 2021, is an important question, but so is who knew what later. Nearly two years (657 days to be precise) passed between date on the CSIS report of July 21, 2021, and the expulsion of Mr. Zhao. Mr. Trudeau says he only became aware of the report after The Globe broke the news this month. Did the report simply gather dust in the intervening two years?

Clarity on Mr. Chongs situation is, of course, only one part of the answers needed on Chinas meddling. There remain the broader questions about Chinas actions during the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. No party is contending that Beijings malfeasance changed who formed government, but the clear possibility exists that the Conservatives could have lost seats. The party itself has said that up to nine seats may have been affected.

What has been done to counter Beijings moves, beyond this weeks expulsion? The Liberals have been tight-lipped, perhaps because there is very little to say. On the question of a foreign-agent registry, for instance, the government is proceeding at a creeping pace.

Most of all, Canadians deserve to be told what Mr. Trudeau knew about Chinas interference efforts, when he knew it, and what he did about it.

Luckily, the revelations about Chinas attempted intimidation of Mr. Chong, and the Liberals long overdue actions, come as special rapporteur David Johnston enters the final stretch of his one-man deliberations on whether to recommend that the government call a public inquiry. His deadline is just 12 days away, on May 23.

Mr. Johnston need not take the full fortnight. It should be crystal clear to him (and to all Canadians) that only a public inquiry can unravel the many unanswered questions about Chinas illegal meddling in this countrys politics.

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Globe editorial: The Liberals' eight days in May - The Globe and Mail