Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford will appear before a parliamentary committee to testify on foreign interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections, says the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
During a meeting on March 21, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) voted in favour of calling Telford to testify on the issue following Liberal opposition to having the prime minister’s top advisor appear for questioning on the matter.
“While there are serious constraints on what can be said in public about sensitive intelligence matters, in an effort to make Parliament work Ms. Telford has agreed to appear at the Procedure and House Affairs Committee as part of their study,” the
PMO said in a statement provided to the National Post on March 21.
All opposition party members on PROC had
previously voiced support for a motion that would’ve ordered Telford to appear for testimony on the matter, but Liberal members on the committee filibustered several meetings to avoid a vote on the matter.
The Liberal government’s shift on having Telford testify at committee comes on the same day that MPs in the House were set to vote on a Conservative motion that, if passed, would’ve ordered Telford to appear for questioning under oath before the Commons Standing Committee on Ethics.
The Bloc Québécois had voiced support for the motion and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said
he would support it if the Liberals continued to block voting on the PROC motion to order Telford to testify.
In addition to compelling Telford to testify, the Conservatives’ motion also would’ve
moved the study of foreign interference from PROC, which is chaired by a Liberal MP, to the Conservative-chaired Commons ethics committee.
However, the House vote on the Conservatives’ motion that was set for March 21 is now moot because of PROC voting to bring in Telford for questioning.
Trudeau
has accused opposition parties of playing “political games” in their calls for Telford to testify, while Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre says the government’s hesitancy on the matter inspires “a lot of suspicion.”
Opposition MPs on PROC have also said they believe Telford can shine some light on
what the government knew about foreign interference in Canada’s past two elections given her position as Trudeau’s chief of staff.
The Canadian Press and Noé Chartier contributed to this report.
