Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a 2010 radio interview described David Johnston as a frequent dinner companion with whom he had “great conversations.” Johnston on Tuesday dismissed his “so-called friendship” with Trudeau as insignificant.

“We had great conversations around dinner tables around all sorts of things,” Trudeau told CBC Radio in an interview marking Johnston’s 2010 appointment as governor general. “I always respected him as a man who was very personable, very real and very, very smart,” Trudeau said at the time.

James Fitz-Morris, the CBC reporter who interviewed both Johnston and Justin Trudeau, said in his original broadcast: “Pierre Trudeau and Johnston were friends. The families often vacationed together, the three Trudeau boys and five Johnston girls.”

Fitz-Morris, now a political aide, yesterday said he could not recall the source of his report that the families vacationed together. “I remember the interview and the story,” said Fitz-Morris. “I don’t remember where that piece came from.”