MPs in the House of Commons have voted unanimously in favour of a motion to begin a committee investigation into the alleged targeting in 2021 of Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family living in Hong Kong by a now-expelled Chinese diplomat.
The motion, which was introduced by Conservative MP Michael Chong earlier this week, requested that the “prima facie contempt concerning the intimidation campaign orchestrated by Wei Zhao against the member for Wellington—Halton Hills [Chong] and other members be referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs [PROC].”
MPs displayed rare cross-partisan unity in voting on the motion following question period in the House on May 10, with all parties and Independent MPs voting in favour.
The Commons PROC committee will now undertake a study to determine if Chong’s parliamentary privilege was violated when Zhao, along with China’s intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security, targeted the MP and his family overseas about two years ago, according to a May 1 Globe and Mail article confirmed by CSIS.
The alleged targeting came after Chong sponsored a House of Commons motion in February 2021 declaring China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities a genocide.
About a week after the news broke, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced that the federal government had declared Zhao persona non grata, meaning he would be expelled from Canada.
“We will not tolerate any form of foreign interference in our internal affairs. Diplomats in Canada have been warned that if they engage in this type of behaviour, they will be sent home,” Joly said in her statement issued on May 8 on the matter.
In retaliation, Beijing declared a Canadian diplomat—Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, consul in the Canadian Consulate in Shanghai—persona non grata and ordered that she leave China no later than May 13.
Despite unanimous support of the motion on May 10 for PROC to investigate Beijing’s alleged threats against Chong and his family, Liberal MPs and Independent MP Han Dong voted against a Tory-introduced motion on May 8 calling for immediate action on a number of issues related to Beijing’s reported interference in Canada.
However, the May 8 non-binding motion, introduced by Conservative MP Michael Cooper, still carried 170 to 150, with all opposition parties voting in favour.
The Opposition motion, on “Interference by the People’s Republic of China” (PRC), called on the government to “stop delaying and immediately” shut down all PRC-run police stations operating in Canada, expel all PRC diplomats “responsible for and involved in” interference activities, create a foreign agent registry similar to the ones in Australia and the United States, and establish a national public inquiry on foreign election interference.
Matthew Horwood and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
