Prime Minister Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, has agreed to testify before one of the committees investigating the scope of the Chinese government’s interference in Canada’s elections — and the extent of his Liberal government involvement.
“While there are serious constraints on what can be said in public about sensitive intelligence matters, in an effort to make Parliament work, Telford has agreed to appear at the procedure and House affairs committee as part of their study,” says a Tuesday statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The decision clears a logjam at the procedure and House affairs committee (PROC), where Liberal MPs have been filibustering over the past two weeks to stall a vote on calling Telford to appear.
The committee resumed Tuesday morning and voted to call Telford to appear between April 3 and April 14.
Katie Telford is ‘a critical witness’ on election interference: Conservative MP
Committee member and Conservative MP Michael Cooper, who first floated the motion for Telford to testify, said that while Liberal MPs should answer for their actions in obstructing the committee, he’s pleased with Tuesday’s decision.
“It’s critical that she testify. She’s the second most powerful person in this government, arguably. But not only that, she played an integral role in the 2019 and 2021 election campaigns on behalf of the Liberal Party,” he said.
“She is a critical witness to get to the heart of the scandal, which is what did the prime minister know, when did he know about it and what did he do or fail to do about Beijing’s interference in our elections?”
Liberal MP Greg Fergus said he wasn’t willing to call her to testify, but Telford volunteered.
“It allows us to move on to other business,” he said. “The tradition is not to have political staff come before committees. It should be ministers who are really responsible for this. It makes a lot of sense. It’s been a long-standing tradition of the House and one that should be broken with great hesitation.”
Public and political interest in foreign election interference has in