Liberal and Conservative Campaign Agents to Testify on Foreign Election Interference

OTTAWA-

Members of the Liberal and Conservative backrooms will be in the spotlight today testifying before a parliamentary committee investigating allegations of foreign election interference.

The procedure and House affairs committee is set to hear from Jeremy Broadhurst, senior adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who served as the Liberals’ campaign manager in the 2019 federal vote.

Azam Ishmael, the Liberals’ national manager and the person who oversaw the party’s campaign in the last federal election in 2021, is also expected to appear.

The Conservative Party’s 2021 national campaign manager, Fred DeLorey, is also set to appear with Hamish Marshall, who held the same position in 2019.

The committee recently heard from Trudeau’s longtime chief of staff, Katie Telford, who repeatedly told MPs that national security provisions prevented her from releasing details of the briefings on the interference.

Concerns about Chinese interference in Canada’s affairs have intensified after a series of media reports citing unnamed sources alleging that Beijing tried to influence the outcome of the last election.

Many of these concerns relate to the 2021 federal election, where Conservative candidates lost in several ridings where many ethnic Chinese voters live.

Former MP Kenny Chiu has reported seeing false information spread about him via WeChat during the campaign.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on April 25, 2023