Even as the Trudeau government had its “special rapporteur,” David Johnston, supposedly investigating foreign interference in Canada’s electoral process, China was harassing MP Michael Chong.
This is incredible and demonstrates how little China cares about any repercussions of its surveillance, interference, spying, and intimidation of Canadians who dare to question Beijing’s dictatorial and genocidal policies.
This came on the heels of Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s (CSIS) briefings that Chong and his family were targets of the Chinese communist government.
GAC discovered an “information operation targeting Michael Chong” on WeChat in May, a widely-used and Chinese regime-controlled social media site, while it was conducting a routine digital information check before the June 19 by-election.
“Most of the activity was targeted at spreading false narratives about his identity, including commentary and claims about his background, political stances and family’s heritage.”
GAC claimed that it did not believe this activity posed a direct safety threat to Chong and his family.
Really? We know how Chinese Canadians have been threatened and intimidated by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces for engaging in protests that are critical of the regime.
But it is truly astounding that China would not stop its intimidation of Chong after CSIS’s earlier revelations that were widely disseminated in Canadian and world media. It not only didn’t care, it escalated its activity – apparently thinking the Canadian government was so powerless, so ineffective, and so blasé about Chinese interference that it had nothing to fear.
Not surprisingly, Chong has responded with outrage to this revelation and repeated—again—his demand that the federal government initiate a full public inquiry into China’s unabashed and reckless intrusion into the lives of Canadians.
“This is another serious example of the communist government in Beijing attempting to interfere in our democracy by targeting elected officials,” Chong told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement on Aug. 9.
“This situation also again proves that we need an open, independent public inquiry into foreign interference and we need it now.”
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed former governor general David Johnston as special rapporteur, the reaction of most Canadians was to wonder what exactly this arcane office was and how exactly it could help investigate what had become a threat to Canadian national security and, quite frankly, an international embarrassment for this country.
However, upon learning that Johnston was an old and close friend of the Trudeau family, a former board member of the Pierre Trudeau Foundation, and had surrounded himself with staff with links to the Liberal Party of Canada, it became clear that the federal government was blowing smoke in the collective face of Canadians and seemed to be buying time.
Johnston resigned from his position on June 9 after ceaseless criticism from all opposition parties and much of the Canadian media that could no longer see Johnston as a credible choice to investigate the machinations of the CCP. His report was little more than a reading list of already-seen media reports—unless you applied to see the ultra-secret portions that Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre apparently couldn’t see with the security clearance he already possessed as leader of the official opposition.
As Parliament recessed in late June, there was still no announcement from the Liberal government about any public inquiry or even a possible replacement for Johnston—even though that would clearly be another waste of time.
Instead, Trudeau tried to change the channel by focusing on “Pride Season” and how Canadian parents had no right to question the indoctrination of their children by gender ideology because such opposition was both “hateful” and “far-right.”
The federal government’s response to CCP harassment, intimidation, and threats has been deplorable—and impeachable if such a political mechanism existed in Canada as it does in the United States.
The federal government has not cleaned up the Chinese police stations that are proliferating across urban Canada, despite former public safety minister Marco Mendicino’s false assurances that the RCMP had closed down these Gestapo units that are designed to keep Chinese dissidents in line through threats to their lives and those of their families.
It seems there was and is no political will from our federal government to face down the CCP.
Given Beijing’s cavalier attitude towards Canada and its apparent assurance that it can continue to target Canadian legislators or the Chinese diaspora without fear of reprisal, the federal government had better find both the will and way to confront this brazen and insidious meddling.
