OTTAWA – Testifying before the House Committee on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford offered few new insights into the foreign interference issue, even as documents provided to lawmakers revealed the dates of high-ranking intelligence briefings provided to the Prime Minister on this matter between 2018 and 2023.

Indeed, in documents provided to the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) prior to Telford’s testimony, National Security and Intelligence Advisor (NSIA) Jody Thomas outlined how many times formal briefings were given to the Prime Minister, his office, cabinet ministries and representatives of political parties, and by whom.

Facing a series of questions from MPs, Trudeau’s top aide since 2015 was then questioned about the substance and nature of the briefings of which she was a part. But, citing the legal limits to which she is subject, she spoke cautiously about what she and Trudeau knew – and when – about specific allegations of attempts by China to interfere in federal campaigns in 2019 and 2021, to keep Liberals in power.

“Unfortunately I can’t go into specifics but, stepping back, the Prime Minister was regularly briefed on what was going on around election interference in the last two elections” Telford said during her two-and-a-half-hour briefing. sworn testimony.

As to the specific points Global News made regarding allegations that the Chinese government funded at least eleven candidates in the 2019 federal election race, Telford replied that reports on this matter are “inaccurate” because “intelligence it rarely paints a complete, concrete or actionable picture,” she said.

Meanwhile, a new storm has hit the government led by Justin Trudeau: the one linked to the Trudeau Foundation, named after the Prime Minister’s father. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has in fact written to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) asking it to “initiate a comprehensive audit” of the Foundation with particular attention to the donations that the charity has received from foreign governments. The letter follows reports that a controversial $140,000 donation to charity by two men with ties to the Chinese government has been returned.

In the letter, Poilievre asks the CRA to carry out the audit “with particular attention to the donation that has been the subject of public reporting, as well as any other financial transaction that may have a connection with foreign governments or their associates”.

As the Globe and Mail wrote, the two Chinese – businessmen later identified by the newspaper as linked to the Chinese government – had pledged in 2016 to donate $200,000 to the Foundation. The Foundation itself later said it received only $140,000 of the pledged amount, in the form of two $70,000 payments on behalf of one company.

According to Poilievre’s letter, the $140,000 donation, made without identifying the donors’ ties to the Chinese government, raises serious questions about “foreign influence dealing, attempts to hide the true source of the funds and, potentially, fraud”.

Shortly after the businessmen’s connection to China emerged, the Foundation announced the return of the full amount of the donation, stating that “a refund check has been issued in the name of the donor who made such payments and to the which CRA charity receipts were issued”.

The foundation itself also wrote a letter to Canada’s Auditor General Karen Hogan on Friday asking her office to investigate “all matters concerning the foundation’s receipt and handling of these donations” and promising that the Foundation “will cooperate fully to this investigation”.

However, the story resulted in the resignation of the Foundation’s entire board of directors because “the donation controversy has put great pressure on the Foundation’s management and volunteer board of directors, as well as on our staff and our community. The circumstances created by the politicization of the Foundation made it impossible to continue with the status quo and the board of directors resigned”, read the official communication from the Foundation, released last week.

In the pic above, Katie Telford in front of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (photo: YouTube / CPAC)