Trudeau's top aide faces MPs' questions about China's election ...

Katie Telford, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's top adviser, said some of the recent allegations regarding what her party knew about the Chinese government's attempts to interfere in the past two elections "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, is fielding questions from MPs on a parliamentary committee today about what she knew — or didn't — about the extent of the Chinese government's interference in Canada's past two elections.

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. 

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.

WATCH | Telford on the hot seat: PMO adviser to testify on foreign interference

Telford on the hot seat: PMO adviser to testify on foreign interference | About That

23 hours ago

Duration 9:53

Allegations that China's government was meddling in Canada's last two federal elections have seized Parliament Hill and put the prime minister's chief of staff on the hot seat. Catherine Cullen helps About That break down what to expect from Katie Telford's testimony.

Telford told MPs the "connection being drawn between those candidates and those funds ... was inaccurate."

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.

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. 

Telford repeatedly told MPs on the committee that she couldn't comment on sensitive intelligence matters.

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.

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"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." 

Previously, top security officials, including Thomas, promised to give the committee a list of the briefing dates.

A list of dates for foreign election interference briefings was sent to the committee Friday morning, a move Conservative MP Michael Barrett called an act of "bad faith."

Liberal MPs on the committee tried to prevent today'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.

The logjam was cleared when the Prime Minister's Office announced last month that she would appear before the committee.

Committee member and 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."

"She's the second most powerful person in this government, arguably. But not only that, she played an integral role in the 2019 and 2021 election campaigns on behalf of the Liberal Party," he said last month.

An independent panel tasked with overseeing the 2021 election did detect attempts at interference but concluded that foreign meddling did not affect the outcome.