Staff From PM’s Office to Testify at Foreign Interference Inquiry

Staff From PM’s Office to Testify at Foreign Interference Inquiry
Katie Telford, chief of staff to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, arrives for a meeting of the Liberal Caucus on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Feb. 14, 2024. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)
The Canadian Press
4/9/2024
Updated:
4/9/2024
0:00

Staff from the Prime Minister’s Office are set to speak on April 9 at the public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s elections.

The testimony comes a day after the inquiry saw a briefing document prepared for the PMO stating China meddled in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

The document from Canada’s spy agency says it knew China “clandestinely and deceptively interfered” in those elections.

It says in 2021, Chinese foreign interference activities were very likely motivated by a perception the Conservative Party of Canada’s campaign platform was anti-China.

The commission will hear from the PMO’s Katie Telford, Jeremy Broadhurst, Brian Clow and Patrick Travers a day before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears on April 10.

Senior government officials who monitored election threats told the commission on April 8 that incidents during those campaigns didn’t meet the threshold to issue a public warning.