Trudeau's top aide Telford to testify, amid Hill drama over foreign interference studies
CTV
After weeks of resistance, and ahead of a vote that could have compelled it to happen, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office announced Tuesday that his chief of staff Katie Telford will testify about foreign election interference, before a committee that has been studying the issue for months.
After weeks of resistance, and ahead of a vote that could have compelled it to happen, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office announced Tuesday that his chief of staff Katie Telford will testify about foreign election interference, before a committee that has been studying the issue for months.
“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,” Trudeau's office said in a statement.
“Foreign interference is not a partisan issue," Trudeau's office said, while pointing to the suite of measures the prime minister has announced, including appointing David Johnston as a new special rapporteur, and tapping federal national security review bodies to dig into concerns around election interference. Johnston's mandate and scope of his role was revealed on Tuesday.
This move was an apparent effort to find a compromise with the NDP, who had threatened to help the Conservatives pass a motion on Tuesday that would see Telford and numerous other federal officials testify as part of an entirely new committee study.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters that his party was prepared to vote in favour of the motion, unless the Liberals stopped their filibuster at the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) on an outstanding call to hear from Trudeau’s top aide.
Shortly after Telford's agreement to testify was reported, the nearly 24 hours of impasse at PROC broke, with the committee of MPs agreeing to ask Telford to appear before mid-April for at least two hours on her own.
"It's important that we're able to get to the heart of this matter, find out what Ms. Telford knew, when she knew it," said Conservative MP Michael Barrett at committee. Though, given the “constraints” the PMO has flagged, it remains to be seen what kind of detail she’ll be able to offer the committee during what will be a public hearing.
