Trudeau’s top aides unbothered by delayed CSIS warrant on Liberal insider
At Tuesday's Foreign Interference Commission Hearings, there were no answers as the Trudeau's team sidestepped 2021 spy warrant delays which took place weeks before election.
PMO Chief of Staff Telford admitted to having done no investigation into the warrant delay, instead telling the commission, “I look forward to what the inquiry has to say about whatever happened."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s closest advisers, Chief of Staff Katie Telford and Brian Clow, Telford's deputy, shrugged off concerns about a suspicious delay in approving a CSIS warrant allegedly aimed at Michael Chan, a high-profile Liberal fundraiser. The warrant allegedly targeting the former Ontario cabinet minister sat idle for 54 days in 2021, under the watch of then-public safety minister Bill Blair’s office—mere months before a federal election.
CSIS typically gets its warrants signed in 4-10 days. Yet, this one lagged behind, with Ms. Telford claiming the Prime Minister’s Office had no involvement. “None of us in the Prime Minister’s Office are involved in anything to do with warrant processes,” Telford told the inquiry into foreign interference.
The delay happened in the office of Bill Blair’s then-chief of staff, Zita Astravas, who raised questions about a CSIS-provided list of individuals potentially swept up in the surveillance.
Astravas, who described the warrant’s target—allegedly former Ontario Liberal MPP Michael Chan—as a friend, was handpicked by Telford from Queen’s Park to join Trudeau's team in 2015.
Yet, she didn’t offer a clear explanation for the 54-day holdup, recalling little of how she handled the process. Astravas had been a top aide to former premier Kathleen Wynne and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.
Blair, now distancing himself from the delay, told the inquiry last week he wasn’t informed until May 2023. Despite the long delay, he didn’t criticize Astravas for keeping him in the dark.
Telford and Clow dismissed the need for any deeper inquiry, saying they’re eager to hear the commission’s findings. Meanwhile, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc testified about the urgency of such warrants, emphasizing their sensitivity.
The inquiry wraps up its hearings this week with Trudeau set to testify.
Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.
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