OTTAWA – The former deputy chief of staff to Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper says the Liberal government isn’t doing enough to combat foreign interference, echoing similar testimony from experts who study the matter.
Jenni Byrne, who was also the Conservatives’ campaign manager in the 2015 election, is testifying today at a House of Commons committee.
She says the government is too soft on China and is turning a blind eye to the country’s alleged meddling in Canada’s democracy.
More often than not, when China is involved in a confrontation – whether it be a military, economic or political row – it is assumed that Beijing has the upper hand, or that the country is in a more advantageous position than its foe.
Indeed, given the expectation that China will surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy in the not-too-distant future, the fact that it boasts the world’s largest military, and its history of rather successfully leveraging global dependencies on crucial goods to navigate disputes, it makes sense why China’s ability to out-escalate and prevail in adversarial situations is presented as a sort of fait accompli. However, this thinking is flawed and it certainly does not apply to Beijing’s continuing row with Canada.
Interesting as the impression to date is that Canada would be mauled by ChiCom retaliation and therefore we should meekly kowtow to Xi. Was that just the China Class crying wolf to protect their financial interests?
OTTAWA — A former intelligence officer with Canada’s spy agency is calling on the federal government to kick out more Chinese diplomats, saying they have too big a presence in the country.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has known since the mid-1990s that Conservative and Liberal governments have been compromised by China.
Juneau-Katsuya, testifying today at a House of Commons committee studying foreign interference, says political parties have also been compromised.
The government’s story about who knew that Chinese diplomats were targeting a Canadian MP has gone back and forth. Each time, the upshot is the same: It fell through the cracks.
After The Globe and Mail reported last week that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service had learned in 2021 that a Chinese diplomat was involved in efforts to target Conservative MP Michael Chong’s relatives in China because of his criticism of Beijing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said CSIS had not reported that information to him, or to higher-ups outside the spy service.
Given that the Trudeau government ignored years of warnings that Beijing’s dictators were increasingly threatening Canadians of Chinese origin who were speaking out in Canada about China’s human rights abuses, it would be naive to think they’re going to stop now.
OTTAWA – The House of Commons has unanimously agreed that a committee should strike a study into the “intimidation campaign” allegedly orchestrated by a now-expelled Chinese diplomat against Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family.
Debate on the motion to see the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) take on this probe took priority in the House over the last few days, after House Speaker Anthony Rota found that Chong’s parliamentary privileges were breached as a result of the alleged targeting. The vote was held after question period on Wednesday, and passed with all-party support.
Canadian pension fund giants grilled by federal lawmakers over China investments
Federal lawmakers grilled Canada’s biggest pension fund managers about their continued investments in China this week amid spiking diplomatic tensions between the two countries and ongoing concern about human rights abuse in Xinjiang.
Representatives from five Canadian pension managers, including Canada Pension Plan Investments, appeared Monday evening before a hearing of the special parliamentary committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China Relationship.
There has been much discussion of late about Chinese interference, both in our democratic processes and directed at specific individuals. In both cases, concern has arisen because that information came from leaked intelligence reports. While no one has seen the leaked material, however, it is clear that Chinese activity has taken place – confirmed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and by testimony before a House committee.
The head of a British Columbia-based group that says it is a “non–political” organization helping Chinese integrate into Canadian society travelled to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping at a government conference this week.
Chinese state media videos and photos show Canadian Community Service Association president Niu Hua attending the “10th Conference for Friendship of Overseas Chinese Associations,” hosted by the state council’s overseas Chinese affairs office.
All three national security and intelligence advisers who served Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2021 told Global News that they do not recall receiving a top secret intelligence assessment prepared that year about Beijing targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family in Hong Kong.
The development raises yet more questions about how the report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), which was allegedly sent to the desk of the prime minister’s top national security official, somehow fell through the cracks.
“Persona non grata.” In diplomatic circles, those three words are the equivalent of excommunication. Under Article 9 of the 1963 Vienna Convention for Diplomatic Relations, to which Canada is a party, a country can declare any member of another nation’s diplomatic corps persona non grata “at any time and without having to explain its decision.” It is considered “the most damning form of censure a country can bestow on foreign diplomats.”
One would have thought that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat and suspected intelligence officer, would have been sent home by the evening the news broke that he was part of an effort by Beijing to target MP Michael Chong’s family – or better still, two years ago when CSIS first learned about this.
But the expulsion came a week after The Globe and Mail brought the matter to the public’s attention. Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly had said the government was considering what economic, consular and diplomatic retaliation might be visited upon Canada if it went through with the move.
She’s really saying Justin had to look out for the best interests of Canada’s China Class, they after all have money invested with the Communist Slave State.
OTTAWA – The Liberal government is expelling Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei, whom Canada’s spy agency alleged was involved in a plot to intimidate Conservative MP Michael Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly wrote in a statement that Canada has declared the Toronto-based diplomat as “persona non grata.”
“We will not tolerate any form of foreign interference in our internal affairs,” she wrote.
The recent controversy involving Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family being targeted by China is an enormous issue. For those who have repeatedly questioned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s commitment to ensuring that safety and security are among Canada’s highest priorities, this may be the biggest red flag of them all.
The Globe and Mail’s Robert Fife and Steven Chase recently published contents of a July 20, 2021, Canadian Security Intelligence Service report that examined China’s interest in Canada. The nine-page document suggested the former viewed the latter as a “high-priority target,” had employed “incentives and punishment” to gain an advantage, and the targeting was “expected to continue and increase over time.”
Jean Chrétien dismisses foreign interference in Liberal convention speech
OTTAWA — Former prime minister Jean Chrétien rallied Liberal troops, told war stories and dismissed recent reports of foreign interference at the party’s Ottawa convention Friday evening.
The current Liberal government has been dogged by questions of foreign interference for most of 2023, with allegations that China interfered in the 2021 election, channelled donations to the Trudeau Foundation and, most recently, allegations that China was threatening a Conservative MP’s family.
The Liberal convention is a case of whistling past the graveyard.
