The Conservative Party has announced that it will try again to have Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Chief of Staff, Katie Telford, testify before the House of Commons committee regarding Beijing’s foreign interference. Conservative MP Michael Cooper stated in a Feb. 26 statement, “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. It is crucial for confidence in our democracy that we know what Justin Trudeau and his government knew and when.”
The NDP has an agreement to keep the minority Liberals in power in exchange for spending on its priorities, and twice amended Cooper’s motions to remove Telford’s required appearance. Cooper has urged the NDP to “cease aiding and abetting” the obstruction by the Liberals for more transparency.
The latest revelations in the Beijing interference saga were released by Global News on Feb. 24, which reported that according to security sources, Liberal MP Han Dong is a witting affiliate in China’s election interference network and the PMO had been warned about the issue. The outlet also reported that Dong 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.
In response to the recent leaks, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has joined the call for a public inquiry into CCP interference.
The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs has requested a special meeting on Feb. 21, where MP Cooper tabled a motion to expand the committee’s study into Beijing foreign interference. This was prompted by other revelations made by the Globe & Mail based on information from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Currently, there are no scheduled upcoming meetings for the committee and the Commons is on break from Feb. 20 to March 6.