Katie Telford, Chief of Staff to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said her office is following recent allegations related to what her party, the Liberal Party of Canada, knows about attempts by the Chinese government to interfere in the last two general federal election campaigns, but she added that some of the allegations do not seem consistent.

Telford, who has served as Trudeau’s Chief of Staff since the Liberal Party returned to power in Ottawa in 2015, answered questions from the House of Commons Procedure and House Affairs Committee, which she appeared before this afternoon regarding what she knows about Beijing’s interference in Canada’s democratic process.

During the meeting, which lasted more than two hours, Telford repeatedly told committee members she could not comment on sensitive intelligence matters.

“I cannot go into details”… “I cannot comment on this matter”… “I cannot answer,” were some of Telford’s responses, who holds a top-secret security clearance, to the parliamentary committee members.

This led to some heated exchanges between Trudeau’s Chief of Staff and opposition MPs on the committee.

Meanwhile, the committee is investigating the recent allegations, including reports published last fall by the Canadian news network "Global News," which claimed that officials from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told Trudeau that the Chinese consulate in Toronto distributed money to at least 11 candidates in the federal elections and to "many Beijing agents" who worked on the 2019 election campaign.

“The connection made between those candidates and the funds was not accurate,” said the Prime Minister’s senior advisor.

She added that she cannot provide specific details about what is inaccurate in those reports in a public setting.

Trudeau had previously said he was never informed about federal candidates receiving money from China. His national security and intelligence advisor, Jody Thomas, also said she had seen no evidence that any of the candidates in the 2019 federal elections were influenced by funding from the Chinese government.

“The Prime Minister spends a lot of time on everything he receives, and he certainly reads it. So I can assure you that if there were documents he obtained, he has undoubtedly read them,” Telford said before the parliamentary committee.

Conservative Party members on the committee said Telford’s answers raised further doubts. The Conservatives form the official opposition in the House of Commons.

“She was unable, or unwilling, to even acknowledge that the Prime Minister had read even what was in his daily reading package,” said MP Michael Barrett, from the Conservative Party, about Telford after her appearance before the committee.