Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford underwent a two-and-a-half-hour questioning over concerns about foreign interference in Canada’s recent federal elections.
Since November 2022, parliamentarians and Canadians have been looking for transparency about what the prime minister knew and when he knew about alleged foreign interference by Beijing in Canadian democracy.
And on Friday, Canadian Chief of Staff Katie Telford finally testified before the standing committee on procedure and house affairs regarding the matter.
“Ms. Telford, did the prime minister receive a series of briefings from Canada’s national spy agency beginning in January 2022 on Beijing’s election interference specifically in the 2019 election? said Larry Brock, Member of Parliament, Canada.
This was the main concern discussed in the two-and-a-half-hour parliamentary committee meeting where chief of staff Katie Telford faced a series of several questions.
Hours before the committee meeting, the government’s National Security and Intelligence Adviser (NSIA) released to the committee documents listing formal briefings that Trudeau received.
To recall, the prime minister’s office agreed on March 21st, 2023 to allow Telford to testify.
However, in those 2 hours, Telford failed to provide clear answers to satisfy members of the said committee for the reason that…
“I am a consumer of intelligence, not the one who briefs on intelligence. The NSIA is the person who directly reports to the prime minister on these matters. On top of that, for all the reasons outlined today, these matters are extremely sensitive, and the law limits what I can talk about in this public setting.”
“Everything the prime minister receives, he spends a lot of time with and he most definitely reads. So I can confirm that if they are documents that he received, he absolutely read them. Second, that he’s briefed on matters of foreign interference and matters of election foreign interference as per the documents you have received on a regular and ongoing basis. And third, on the specifics of what you were referencing there, I can’t get into unfortunately in this public setting what was or wasn’t briefed on in the level of specificity you’d like,” said Telford.
“Could our witness tell us whether there is information that she is keeping within cabinet and that is not shared either to ministers or the prime minister on foreign interference? No there is not.. If I’m understanding you correctly, there is nothing ever kept from the prime minister. Certainly not by me,” said Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Member of Parliament, Canada.
To recall, the issue began when global news published an exclusive report on November 7, 2022, on how China allegedly interfered in the 2019 election.
According to the article, Canadian intelligence officials have warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that China has allegedly been targeting Canada with a vast campaign of foreign interference, which includes funding a clandestine network of at least 11 federal candidates running in the 2019 election, according to global news sources.
These were delivered to the prime minister and several cabinet members in a series of briefings and memos. However, the briefings did not identify the 2019 candidates. But the alleged election interference network included members from both the liberal and conservative parties, “according to sources with knowledge of the briefs,” the article stated.
But with many questions remaining to be unanswered, members of the Canadian parliament will continue to demand answers…
“She confirmed today that there’s nothing that she receives that the prime minister doesn’t see and vice versa. But when asked about basic details including about documents that have been tabled with this committee about you know foreign interference briefs given to the prime minister in his daily reading package, unable, she was unable or unwilling to even acknowledge that the prime minister had read what was in his daily reading package.”
“So we’re gonna continue to demand answers from this government,” said Michael Brett, Member of Parliament, Canada.
Meanwhile, on the side of Beijing, they have consistently denied allegations that it interfered with Canada’s elections.