OTTAWA — A public and independent inquiry into Chinese interference, as called for by opposition parties, would run up against “the same limitations” as the current parliamentary study, says Ottawa National Security and Intelligence Advisor Jody Thomas.

“We cannot discuss information related to national security in a public forum,” she said Wednesday during testimony before the Standing Committee on Procedures and Household Affairs, which is investigating allegations of interference in the last two federal elections.

Ms Thomas, who works in the Privy Council – the department responsible for the prime minister’s office – nevertheless stressed that she believes the work in the committee is important.

“I think investigations like this are important to understand what’s going on. (…) I think it’s important to talk about foreign interference (and) the electoral process,” she concluded.

The adviser added that, in her opinion, a further investigation should only take place before the members of the parliamentarians’ National Security and Intelligence Committee.

“(This committee) was created for situations like this where we can be totally transparent with them and they can see information that is protected as secret or top secret (and that aims to inform decision makers,” Ms. Thomas said .

Minutes before the expert’s appearance before elected officials, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre joined his voice with those of other opposition parties to call for a public and independent investigation into Chinese interference.

For several days, members of the bloc and New Democrats have been calling for such an investigation to be launched.

Former Prime Minister advisers such as Gerald Butts also told the Globe and Mail that it was necessary.

The purpose of such an exercise is “to know exactly what the authoritarian government in Beijing has been doing” and “to know if there were any political parties that were aware of these actions,” Mr Poilievre argued.

The Conservatives are also demanding that Prime Minister Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, appear before the parliamentary committee, which is continuing its inquiry.

During Wednesday’s committee meeting, NDP House Speaker Peter Julian tabled a motion that the committee call for an independent investigation. A spokeswoman for the political formation said that the vote on this motion will take place on Thursday.

For her part, Bloc Québécois deputy leader Christine Normandin tabled a similar motion from the Bloc, stating that the commissioner leading a possible public inquiry should be appointed “by agreement between the deceased.”

Conservatives probably agree on that last point, if we are to believe what their leader said. “It has to be really independent and public. (…) This means that all parties should agree on the appointment of the commissioner,” said Mr Poilievre.

At a press conference in British Columbia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeatedly evaded questions from journalists asking if he would start the requested public inquiry.

Instead, he listed the measures taken by his government to solve the problems of foreign interference. “We currently have many public trials being held: a parliamentary committee, a national security committee of parliamentarians that has the ability to investigate top-secret and classified matters,” he said.

However, the prime minister did not close the door on the famous probe, claiming to be “always open to doing more” to reassure Canadians that the institutions are “robust and equipped to counter foreign interference”.

Earlier Wednesday, the Chinese embassy in Ottawa dismissed reports of attempted interference in Canada’s election, saying the “baseless” and “defamatory” allegations are damaging diplomatic relations.

The Liberal government has been under pressure for several weeks to explain what Canada is doing about allegations of Chinese interference in the last two federal elections. These allegations were mentioned in anonymous leaks to the media by Canadian security agency sources.

In an email sent to The Canadian Press on Wednesday, the Chinese embassy in Ottawa asserts that China has “always firmly opposed any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.”

The embassy says China is not interested in interfering in Canada’s internal affairs and has never attempted to.

The embassy says all of its consulates adhere to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which includes “a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs” of the state where diplomats are stationed.

The embassy also claims to have bilateral agreements with Canada that oblige diplomats to behave “frankly and impeccably” in the host country.

In the email, the embassy accused certain Canadian authorities and media of creating and spreading “disinformation” about China and poisoning “the media atmosphere” about the country.

For her part, as a witness, Ms Thomas argued that attempts at foreign interference in Canadian affairs were increasing and that China was the main state behind these threats.

She recalled that a committee monitoring any interference in the 2019 and 2021 general elections concluded that the latter were fair and legitimate despite attempts at interference.

At his side, Deputy Public Safety Minister Shawn Tupper pointed out that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are not investigating allegations of interference after the last election.

On Tuesday, a report evaluating the work of the Election Monitoring Committee concluded that the federal government should consider lowering the threshold at which it notifies Canadians of possible interference in an election campaign.

The independent report by former senior official Morris Rosenberg nonetheless concludes that the protocol for notifying Canadians of threats in the 2021 federal election worked overall well.

-With information from Michel Saba and Dylan Robertson