The Trudeau Liberals filibustered the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) meeting on Tuesday after Conservative members asked for a fourth time to have Trudeau’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford testify on election interference. 

The PROC was addressing the issue of Chinese interference in Canadian elections when Conservative MP Michael Cooper proposed a motion to have Telford testify on the matter.

“The heart of the issue is what the Prime Minister chose to do when he first knew about it, and what he did or failed to do about Beijing’s interference in order to get to the bottom of that,” Cooper said. 

“It’s imperative that we hear from the Prime Minister’s top aide.”

It was the fourth motion the Conservatives put forward to have Telford appear before the committee, but once again, the Liberals filibustered the process. 

“After filibustering for 3 hours this morning, the Liberals decided to stop the meeting from resuming by refusing to show up. Shameless tactics to continue the cover-up,” Cooper added. 

Opposition members said they weren’t aware the Liberals were not planning on showing up. 

However, committee chair and Liberal MP Bardish Chagger had announced the committee would not resume after the question period because of a guest speaker in the House that required attendance from all MPs. 

Despite elected MPs voting in favour of a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has snubbed the idea and is instead opting to appoint his own handpicked “special rapporteur” to investigate the matter.

In response, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre said the decision to avoid a public inquiry is a cover-up. 

“He wants a secret process. We want an open process. He wants to control it. We want it to be independent from him,” Poilievre said.