Katie Telford, the Prime Minister’s Chief-of-Staff, has agreed to appear in parliamentary committee to testify on recent allegations of foreign interference in Canadian elections.
“While there are serious constraints on what can be said in public about sensitive intelligence matters,” wrote the Prime Minister’s Office in a statement, “Ms. Telford has agreed to appear at the Procedure and House Affairs Committee as part of their study.”
Earlier this morning, Trudeau told CTV News that the Conservative Party’s motion to summon Telford to testify on foreign interference will not be a confidence motion after NDP leader Jagmeet Singh criticized the government’s response to allegations.
“It’s not going to be a confidence motion. Obviously, it goes to show how important the issue of foreign interference is,” Trudeau said walking into a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.
On Monday, Conservatives debated a motion that would see the House call on the ethics committee to investigate foreign interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections. The motion is set to be voted on in the House Tuesday afternoon.
The motion would call Telford and other federal officials to testify under oath within the next few weeks.
Last month, the Globe and Mail leaked CSIS documents revealing China’s favoured outcome to be another Trudeau minority government term. The leaks also implicated 11 candidates who benefited from foreign interference.
Last week, Trudeau appointed former governor general David Johnston as the chief investigator into China’s interference. Johnston’s connections to the Trudeau Foundation, which promptly returned a large donation from China, caused a stir.
