Tories Pressing for Trudeau’s Top Adviser to Testify on Beijing Interference

The Conservative Party says it will make another attempt to have the prime minister’s chief of staff testify on Beijing foreign interference before a House of Commons committee, after the NDP helped the Liberals defeat two recent attempts.

“It would be beyond outrageous if the Prime Minister of our country was made aware that one of his Liberal candidates was compromised by the Chinese Communist Party and outright refused to do the right thing,” said Conservative MP Michael Cooper in a Feb. 26 statement.

“It is crucial for confidence in our democracy that we know what Justin Trudeau and his government knew and when.”

Cooper has attempted twice in recent weeks to have Trudeau’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford testify before the Procedure and House Affairs Committee. But Liberal MPs on the committee, with support from the NDP, amended Cooper’s motions to remove Telford’s required appearance.

Cooper said the NDP must “cease aiding and abetting” the obstruction by the Liberals in the Conservatives’ bid for more transparency.

The NDP has an agreement to keep the minority Liberals in power in exchange for spending on NDP priorities.

On Feb. 27, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh joined the call for a public inquiry into interference in Canadian elections by the Chinese Community Party (CCP), but this doesn’t automatically equate to dropping support at committee.

Singh’s decision and Cooper’s push come after the latest revelations in the Beijing interference saga were published by Global News on Feb. 24.

The outlet says that according to security sources, Liberal MP Han Dong is a witting affiliate in China’s election interference network and that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had been warned about the issue.

Global added that Dong also allegedly won the Liberal nomination in the Don Valley North riding with the support of Chinese international students with fake addresses who were bussed into the riding and coerced to vote for the Liberal candidate in 2019.

The Epoch Times reached out to Dong’s office, the PMO, and the Liberal Party but didn’t immediately hear back.

“As a Member of Parliament, safeguarding Canada’s democratic institutions is a fundamental part of my job, and I take all serious allegations of foreign interference very seriously,” Dong told Global News. “I am unaware of the claims provided to you by alleged sources, which contains seriously inaccurate information.”

Currently there are no scheduled upcoming meetings for the Standing Committee on Procedure on House Affairs, and the Commons is on break from Feb. 20 to March 6.

A special meeting of the committee had been requested by opposition MPs on Feb. 21, where Cooper tabled a motion to expand the committee’s study into foreign interference by China.

This was prompted by other revelations made by the Globe and Mail based on information from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

The Globe reported that the CCP’s strategy for Canada was to have a minority Liberal government and to defeat Conservative candidates critical of Beijing. One Chinese diplomat reportedly boasted about helping to defeat two such candidates.

Cooper’s motion was adopted, but not before Liberal MP Greg Fergus passed an amendment with NDP support to remove Telford from the list of witnesses.

A similar scenario took place at a previous committee meeting on Feb. 9, this time with Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull passing the amendment.

At that time Cooper wanted Telford to testify due to Global News reporting on Feb. 8 that she had requested a briefing in 2017 on CCP interference from then National Security and Intelligence Advisor Daniel Jean.

The memo obtained by Global reportedly says CCP agents were “assisting Canadian candidates running for political offices.”

Commenting on the recent leaks, Trudeau said on Feb. 23 they contain “inaccuracies.”

“I will highlight, for example, around inaccuracies, that when the National Security and Intelligence Advisor appeared at committee a number of weeks or months ago, she highlighted the inaccuracies that were contained in some of these media leaks,” Trudeau said on Feb. 24 when asked to elaborate on the “inaccuracies.”

The prime minister was referring to his adviser Jody Thomas’s testimony before the Commons defence committee on Dec. 8, which took place before many of the recent revelations came to light.

“We have not seen money going to 11 candidates,” she said in reference to allegations Beijing had supported candidates as reported by Global News.

“I have not been briefed and have no awareness, and I’ve asked the question of 11 candidates and the connection to the money that was in that report. I know nothing of that. I have seen no evidence of it.”