OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — Liberal and New Democratic Party (NDP) MPs voted yesterday to shoot down a motion seeking to call Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff to testify before a House of Commons committee in relation to recent reports of Chinese interference in Canada’s federal elections.
The motion, brought to the Commons Procedure and House Affairs Committee by Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) MP Michael Cooper, sought to compel Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford to testify in front of the committee after recent media reports allege she was made aware of potential Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interference in Canadian politics via an internal government memo in 2017.
“In order to get to the bottom of the memo, and what the prime minister knew, and wherever he failed to act, it’s important that we hear from Katie Telford,” Cooper reacted after his request to have Telford testify was denied.
“This is just an effort to, let’s just say it for what it is: cover up the facts,” the MP charged.
Cooper’s desire to have Telford testify came after Global News reported Wednesday that internal Privacy Council documents from Trudeau’s federal government show that the prime minister’s staff was warned in 2017 that Chinese agents were “assisting Canadian candidates running for political offices.”
According to Global News,the memo was prepared by the office of National Security and Intelligence Adviser Daniel Jean at the request of Telford.
While Global News stated it cannot be certain Trudeau ever saw the memo in question, numerous reports since then have continued to indicate that Trudeau was warned by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that at least 11 candidates in the 2019 federal election were under the direct funding and influence of the CCP.
To make the scandal worse, there have also been reports, including an analysis conducted by a federal research unit, showing that the CCP may have tried to influence the outcome of the Canadian 2021 federal election as well, mainly through the spread of disinformation about the CPC.
Considering Trudeau emerged victorious in both elections, even CPC leader Pierre Poilievre has questioned the prime minister on whether or not Canada’s recent federal elections were “compromised.”
Chinese influence in Canadian politics is unsurprising for many, especially given Trudeau’s past admiration for China’s “basic dictatorship” and his government’s unwillingness to declare the CCP’s treatment of its Uyghur population a “genocide.”
However, the recent reports of potential election meddling, Trudeau’s unwillingness to address the scandal, and continued reports that the CCP’s official law enforcement agency, the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau (PSB), has been operating multiple police “stations” within Canada, have further wounded many citizens’ trust in the government and the integrity of the nation’s democracy.