Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his chief of staff received a briefing from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service after allegations of election interference by China were tied to a member of his caucus.
Ford was responding Tuesday to questions about Vincent Ke, the provincial representative for Don Valley North, who resigned from the Progressive Conservative caucus earlier this month.
A statement from Ford's office on March 10 said Ke would sit as an independent while he worked to clear his name.
That followed a report from Global News that alleged Ke served as a financial intermediary in Chinese Communist Party election interference schemes, which Ke denies.
An earlier report by Global News in November referenced the alleged involvement of an Ontario member of provincial parliament, and while Ke wasn't publicly named at the time, Ford's office says the reporter had asked them questions about the MPP.
Ford's office says the premier's chief of staff then requested and received a briefing from CSIS, but didn't get concrete information out of it.