Katie Telford, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top adviser, said Friday her office has been following up on recent allegations regarding what her party knew about the Chinese government’s attempts to interfere in the past two elections — but she added that some of the claims “don’t add up” to her.
Telford, who has served as the prime minister’s chief of staff since he won power back in 2015, fielded questions from MPs on the procedure and House affairs committee Friday about what she knew about the extent of Beijing’s meddling.
The two-hours-plus meeting saw Telford — who has a top-secret security clearance — repeatedly tell committee members she couldn’t comment on sensitive intelligence matters. That led to some testy exchanges between her and opposition MPs.
Cooper, Telford spar during House committee testimony
Conservative MP Michael Cooper asks the prime minister’s chief of staff Katie Telford what she knew about a text communication from Beijing’s consul general in Toronto to a sitting MP.
The committee has been digging into recent allegations, including reports by Global News last fall claiming that intelligence officials told Trudeau that China’s consulate in Toronto had floated cash to at least 11 federal election candidates “and numerous Beijing operatives” who worked as campaign staffers in 2019.
“The connection that was being made between these candidates and the funds was inaccurate,” Telford said.
She also said she couldn’t provide specific details about what was inaccurate with those reports in a public setting.
“In my years in this job, I have seen a huge range of intelligence from all parts of the world. Some of it has been wrong, some of it right,” Telford said.
“Some we may never know, or only with time will we learn if it’s true.”
Trudeau reads all documents he receives: Telford
Trudeau also has said he was never briefed about federal candidates receiving money from China. His national security and intelligence adviser, Jody Thomas, has also gone on record saying she’s seen no evidence that any candidates in the 2019 federal election were influenced by financing from the Chinese government.
“Everything the prime minister receives he spends a lot of time with and he most definitely reads. So I can confirm that if there are documents that he received, he absolutely read them,” said Telford.
The Globe and Mail has published reports alleging that Beijing tried to ensure the Liberals won a minority government in the last general election and worked to defeat Conservative candidates who were critical of China.
The Globe and Mail and Global stories are based mainly on confidential sources and intelligence documents. An independent panel tasked with overseeing the 2021 election did detect attempts at interference but concluded that foreign meddling did not affect the outcome.
Telford said her office has been following up on recent allegations.
“There have been a number of things that don’t add up in the way that we know them, or that the officials are able to tell us about,” she said.
Conservatives accuse Liberals of hiding the truth
Conservative MPs on the committee said Telford’s responses invite more suspicion.
“She was unable or unwilling to even acknowledge that the prime minister had even read what was in his daily reading package,” said MP Michael Barrett after Friday’s meeting.
“It’s a continuation by the Liberals to hide the truth from Canadians about what they knew about foreign interference by Beijing into our democratic process and we continue to be resolute that a open transparent process is required.”
Conservative MP Michael Barrett says Telford was unwilling to share more information. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
NDP MP Rachel Blaney used some of her time during the hearing to press for a public inquiry into foreign election interference.
Trudeau recently appointed former governor general David Johnston as a special rapporteur on the issue.
Johnston’s decision on whether to recommend a public inquiry is expected next month.
Conservatives say Beijing texted candidate
During today’s committee hearing, Conservatives alleged that their former caucus colleague Bob Saroya was warned in a text message from China’s consul general in Toronto that he was going to lose in the 2021 election. Saroya had represented Markham—Unionville since 2008 but lost his seat in 2021.
Telford said she couldn’t comment on the matter.
“I find it a bit incredible the prime minister’s chief of staff couldn’t speak to that,” said Barrett.
When pressed for more information about the text, Barrett told reporters to contact the former MP for details.
CBC has reached out to Saroya for comment
MPs pushed for Telford to testify
Liberal MPs on the committee tried to prevent Friday’s committee appearance from happening. They filibustered the House of Commons for hours, over the span of a heated two weeks, to stall a vote calling her to appear.
During her opening comments, Telford said she wasn’t entirely sure she should even be appearing before the committee to field questions about national security. She said she agreed to appear “because I want Parliament to work.”
Former Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) director Ward Elcock said he believes Telford answered questions as thoroughly as she could, given her national security restraints.
He said calls for Telford to testify were “always kind of silly.”
“To be perfectly honest, I never thought that this had anything to do with reality. The call for Katie Telford [to appear] has been, more than anything, political grandstanding,” Elcock said.
“There is no real reason to have Ms. Telford testify. There is probably very little, if anything, that she could contribute.”
MPs debate Telford’s committee testimony
Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed, Bloc Québécois MP Christine Normandin and NDP MP Peter Julian joined Power & Politics Friday to discuss Katie Telford’s testimony before the committee investigating alleged Beijing-backed meddling in Canadian elections.
Conservative MP Michael Cooper, who brought forward the motion to call her as a witness, has called her a “critical witness to get to the heart of the scandal.”
On Thursday, Prime Minister Trudeau said again that his government takes the threat of foreign interference in elections seriously and cited measures taken, including the establishment of an interference monitoring committee.
“Conversations with my chief of staff, Katie Telford, on this subject, I have had many of them, many of them over long periods of time,” Trudeau told reporters in Regina.
“We have been talking about foreign interference for years.”
The Privy Council Office tabled documents Friday that show Trudeau has received at least six briefings on foreign election interference since October 2018. The document adds the lists are not exhaustive because records of the briefings may be incomplete.
PCO shared the documents just hours before Teford’s appearance, a move Barrett called an act of “bad faith.”
Telford says she’s a ‘consumer’ of intelligence, doesn’t brief PM on it
The prime minister’s chief of staff, facing questions about foreign interference at a parliamentary committee, says she appeared before MPs because she wants this Parliament ‘to work.’
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
