Elections Watchdog Finds Insufficient Evidence to Probe Beijing Interference in Tory MP’s Defeat

Then-Conservative MP Kenny Chiu rises during question period in the House of Commons on April 13, 2021. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

The federal elections regulator says it looked into alleged Beijing interference in the 2021 election but found insufficient evidence to open a formal investigation.

The Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections (OCCE) review focused on an alleged China-linked disinformation campaign in a British Columbia riding where former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu was defeated.

The OCCE announced the conclusion in a memorandum submitted to the foreign interference inquiry on Sept. 17. Investigators said that they did not find enough evidence to reach the threshold for initiating an investigation under the Canada Elections Act, and recommended that the review be concluded.

“Although the information received during this review leads to suspect that attempts to influence the Chinese Canadian diaspora existed, at no time did investigators obtain sufficient evidence to support any of the elements of undue foreign influence or other contraventions as defined by the Act,” investigators wrote in the review.

The OCCE review, completed on Feb. 15, was shared with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP. On May 5, investigators received responses from both agencies, saying that their findings aligned with the agencies’ own understanding of the situation.

Chiu said the OCCE’s decision not to launch a formal investigation was not “something surprising” to him. He pointed to the OCCE memorandum, which noted that the Canada Elections Act has no clear definition of “foreign interference” and includes only a number of prohibitions that specifically “apply to foreign individuals or entities.”

“We know that there have been no laws, or there have been gaps in the law so big that you'll be able to drive a tank through it,” he told The Epoch Times on Sept. 18.

To remedy the situation, Chiu said Canadians need to elect legislators who will address significant gaps in the system.

“Canadians have to be concerned enough to plug those holes,” he said, adding that legislators, regardless of their political stripes, need to be “realistic and serious about countering foreign interference.”

China’s ‘Parallel Society’ in BC

Chiu, who represented Richmond-Steveston in British Columbia, was defeated in the 2021 election by Liberal candidate Parm Bains, who was running for federal office for the first time.

During the election, Chiu reported being targeted by an “exceptional” and “multi-dimensional” disinformation campaign likely linked to the Chinese regime, with false information about Chiu and his advocacy work circulating on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.

Chiu was outspoken against Beijing’s human rights abuses during his tenure, and had introduced a private member’s bill, C-282, aimed at creating a foreign agent registry to enhance transparency regarding individuals working on behalf of foreign entities.

As part of its review, OCCE investigators spoke with Chinese-Canadian residents in the Richmond-Steveston riding and nearby areas. The report said investigators learned that an extensive network of Chinese-Canadian associations, businesses, and media in the Greater Vancouver Area provided a lifestyle “which mirrors in many ways that of China” and that the diaspora has extensive commercial, social, and familial relations with China.

“Some interviewees reported that the above has created aspects of a parallel society involving many Chinese Canadians in the lower mainland area, which includes concerted support, direction and control by individuals from or involved with China’s Vancouver consulate and the United Front Work Department (UFWD) in China,” investigators wrote.

Public Safety Canada has described the UFWD as China’s “primary foreign interference tool,” citing a 2020 study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

The watchdog also reported that members of three Chinese-Canadian associations, as well as others, allegedly “used their positions to influence the choice of Chinese Canadian electors” during the 2021 election “in a direction favourable to the interests of China.”

Investigators said these influence efforts were motivated by the Conservative Party’s election platform and Chiu’s actions and statements, which were used to claim that both the platform and Chiu were “anti-China and were encouraging anti-Chinese discrimination and racism.”

“These messages were amplified through repeated posts in social media, chat groups, and Chinese-language online, print, and radio media throughout the Greater Vancouver Area,” OCCE stated.

However, the review said the messages were “found to not be in contravention” of the Canada Elections Act. It also cited the Supreme Court of Canada’s position that the ”concept of free and uninhibited speech permeates all truly democratic societies and institutions.”

‘Retributive Measures’

The review says the effectiveness of the disinformation campaigns targeting Chiu and the Conservative Party were “enhanced by circumstances unique to the Chinese diaspora and the assertive nature of Chinese government interests.”

It noted that the campaign was prefaced by statements from China’s Ambassador to Canada and the Vancouver Consul General, as well as articles published or broadcast in Beijing-controlled Chinese Canadian media entities.

“According to Chinese Canadian interview subjects, this invoked a widespread fear amongst electors, described as a fear of retributive measures from Chinese authorities should a [Conservative] government be elected,” the review stated.

This included the possibility that Chinese authorities could interfere with travel to and from China, as well as measures being taken against family members or business interests in China, the review said.

“Several Chinese Canadian interview subjects were of the view that Chinese authorities could exercise such retributive measures, and that this fear was most acute with Chinese Canadian electors from mainland China,” investigators wrote. They also cited an unnamed interviewee, who said “everybody understands” the pressure to say only positive things about China.

The public inquiry into foreign interference has resumed its hearings on allegations of election interference from Beijing and other foreign entities. The hearings will continue until Oct. 16.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.