Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff will appear before a parliamentary committee on Friday to testify on foreign election interference, his office has confirmed.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Monday that Katie Telford will testify at the procedure and House affairs committee, which has been investigating alleged efforts by China to interfere in Canada’s recent elections and how much Trudeau’s government knew about the issue at the time.
The committee’s meeting is set for 12 p.m. ET, with Telford scheduled to appear for two hours, according to an updated schedule published Tuesday. The hearing will be streamed live on the House of Commons website.
Telford agreed to meet with the committee last month, after Liberals on the committee launched a filibuster that spanned several meetings in an attempt to keep her from appearing.
At the time, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh had said his party would back a Conservative motion to call Telford to testify at the ethics committee, which is also investigating foreign interference, if the government didn’t voluntarily agree.
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The PMO finally agreed to allow Telford to testify shortly before the motion was brought to a vote, which ultimately failed.
The procedure and House affairs committee has been studying foreign election interference after several reports from Global News and the Globe and Mail that alleged China tried to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 elections.
Those reports cited national security documents allegedly seen by Trudeau’s office, raising questions about how much the prime minister knew about the threat posed by foreign interference and whether his government, as well as Canada’s intelligence and public safety agencies, have done enough to prevent it.
A panel of independent experts has determined the alleged attempts at interference did not influence the results of those elections, though acknowledged interference attempts took place.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed former governor general David Johnston as a special rapporteur to oversee a series of newly-launched probes into the matter. Johnson will make recommendations on further steps the government can take to protect Canadian interests, including whether a public inquiry is warranted.
The probes are being led by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency and the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), both of which operate behind closed doors. NSICOP submits reports on their findings to Parliament, but the prime minister can order redactions to any of those reports before they are made public.
Canada’s opposition parties have called for a public inquiry into the matter, saying an open process would create transparency and restore Canadians’ faith in their democratic institutions.
Johnson has until May to advise the government on his recommendation to either call an inquiry or hold a different type of investigation.
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