OTTAWA - Conservatives are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to allow his chief of staff to testify at a parliamentary committee about what she knew about a complaint involving former defence chief Jonathan Vance.
Questions have emerged about what Katie Telford and the Prime Minister's Office knew of the situation after recent statements from a former Trudeau aide to a committee looking into sexual misconduct in the military.
Elder Marques testified last week that Telford or an assistant contacted him in early March 2018 to speak with a top aide of Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan about an issue involving Vance.
That request came shortly after then-military ombudsman Gary Walbourne raised a complaint against Vance of inappropriate sexual behaviour with Sajjan during a closed-door meeting on March 1, 2018.
While the nature of the complaint reported by Walbourne has not been confirmed, Global has reported that it involves a lewd email Vance allegedly sent to a service member he significantly outranked in 2012, before he became commander of Canada's military.
Vance, who stepped down as chief of the defence staff in January and retired from the military in April, has not responded to requests for comment from The Canadian Press, but Global has reported he denies any wrongdoing.
