The Battle
To Get An Inquiry Into Foreign Interference In Our Elections
There
have been calls from the opposition parties for months to call a public inquiry
into information that China
has also interfered in Canada’s
federal elections by funding pro-China candidates while intimidating and
spreading false information about candidates who do not share the views of the
Chinese government.
Justin Trudeau
has tried to delay and disrupt any investigation into the claims. At first he
tried to dismiss the claims of interference as inaccurate or racist. Then he
appointed
a “special rapporteur”, David Johnston, to look into the matter. It soon became
clear that it was an attempted whitewash of the problem when Mr. Johnston
stated that a full public inquiry was not needed and it was noted that he has
been a personal friend of the Trudeaus for many years. When the opposition
parties objected to his appointment due to a possible conflict of interest due
to a perceived lack of independence, he resigned. Finally, after the delays,
denials and deception, a Quebec judge has been
appointed with a mandate to investigate foreign interference in Canadian
elections by any foreign government or organization, including China and Russia.
It was reported
by Global News that at least 11 candidates in the 2019 federal election were
funded by China.
China
also placed agents into MPs’ offices, tried to corrupt former Canadian
officials, and put in place “aggressive campaigns” against politicians viewed
as contrary to its interests. It has also come to light that Chinese “police
stations” on Canadian soil are being used to intimidate Chinese expatriates in Canada.
Although
Justin Trudeau said that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service never
briefed him on allegations that China was funding federal candidates in
Canada’s 2019 election, there are several reports to the contrary that he
ignored the information that was given to him. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s
chief of staff, Katie Telford, refused to answer questions about a leaked
report from Canada’s spy
agency that said a Chinese diplomat worked to flip Richmond’s two ridings from Conservative to
Liberal in 2021 when she appeared before the House of Commons Procedure and
House Affairs Committee in April 2023.
A CSIS official
said that Mr. Trudeau has been a target of Chinese influence for several years.
Chinese billionaire Zhang Bin was instructed by Chinese Communist Party to
donate $1 million to Trudeau-related causes after which he would be reimbursed
for the amount. It included $200,000 to the Trudeau Foundation, $50,000 to fund
a statue of Pierre Trudeau, and the rest went to Pierre Trudeau-named
initiatives at the University
of Montreal.
China’s communist dictatorship over the last few
years has tried to bully its neighbours, constantly threatens war with Taiwan, and
supports the North Korean dictatorship in its confrontations with the West. It
has also asserted its claims to ownership over 90% of the South
China Sea and has built military installations on artificial
islands that it created in the sea. It has a long history of cultural genocide
of its minorities, including the Muslim Ulghurs.
Two
Canadian citizens were kidnapped in December 2018 in China
in reprisal for Canada’s
arrest of a Huawei executive for an extradition request on an arrest warrant
issued by the United States.
They were held in a Chinese prison for almost three years until the U.S.
abandoned its extradition request.
Lately,
through its Hong Kong subsidiary, it has issued bounties for the arrests of
pro-democracy activists abroad in Britain,
the United States and Australia,
including Canadian-born Dennis Kwok.
The Trudeau
family has always had an oddly cosy relationship with the dictatorships of the
world, including Russia, Cuba and China. Pierre Trudeau was a close
personal friend with Fidel Castro, who’s greatest achievement was subjecting
the country and its captive people to perpetual poverty in the name of communist
ideology.
Pierre Trudeau
made several visits to China
including in 1961 when a government-induced famine was underway that killed 30
million people and resulted in widespread cannibalism. "He was enormously sympathetic to the regime and
failed to take note of anything involving repression, violence and death around
him," wrote Peter Schweizer in his book Red-Handed. He often voiced
his admiration of the communist government saying that “the country was a model
of central planning”.
Justin
was quoted at a 2013 Toronto fundraiser in which
he picked China
when he was asked what nation he most admired. "There's a level of
admiration I actually have for China.
Their basic dictatorship is actually allowing them to turn their economy around
on a dime." In attendance were people from Taiwan,
Tibet and Korea, all of whom say they suffered at the
hands of China's
dictatorship, said they were insulted by Trudeau's remarks.
In May 2023
Trudeau expelled one Chinese diplomat after an intelligence report accused him
of trying to target the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong, who has been
critical of China's
treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority. That resulted in diplomats in the
Chinese consulate in Toronto
gathering information to target him and his extended family. The Liberal
government did not inform him that he was being targeted by the Chinese, even
though the security agencies were aware, and said that “this was a symptom of
the national security system that isn’t working,” to protect Canadians. The
Conservative foreign affairs critic also testified about his experience before
the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a bipartisan committee of
representatives, senators and administration appointees with a legislative
mandate to monitor human rights in the People’s Republic. While trying to avoid
criticizing Canada’s
response to Chinese influence in Canadian politics, it became apparent that Canada was soft on China’s
meddling, and said that “Canada
must work more closely with democratic allies like the U.S. in
countering Beijings’s efforts to interfere in our democratic life”. Regarding
the boycotting of Chinese goods produced by the use of forced Uyghur labour, he
said “I think the United States has done an excellent job on enforcing bans on
the importation of goods like tomatoes and cotton”, citing the seizure of
shipments by U.S. border officials. “In Canada we have yet to seize one
shipment.”