• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

Robert Fife has a similar article behind a paywall.

LILLEY: Trudeau Liberals blocking election interference info shameful​

Brian Lilley Published Mar 14, 2023

88 Comments

The public deserves to know but as the PM refuses to call an inquiry, Liberal MPs are also blocking key info from a Commons committee.

Justin Trudeau takes the issue of election interference seriously. We know this not because he’s doing anything about allegations that China helped his Liberal Party over the last two elections, but because he told us so.

Asked on Tuesday whether he will call a public inquiry into election interference even if his special rapporteur doesn’t recommend one, Trudeau prattled on without answering the question.

“This is a serious issue that we have always taken seriously,” Trudeau said. That line is getting harder to believe by the day.

As revelation after revelation shows that the Trudeau government knew about China’s election interference but didn’t inform the public, expel diplomatic staff involved or pursue any legal remedies, you get the sense they took it seriously only insofar as it helped them. The government has been warned about this interference by CSIS, by the Privy Council Office and the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, but other than reading the reports, they’ve done nothing.

Even Trudeau’s much vaunted panel of senior civil servants said there was interference, it just didn’t cross their threshold. Don’t ask what that threshold is, though, because it’s not defined anywhere, and the panel’s report doesn’t explain where the threshold lies.

That’s one of the many reasons the Conservatives, Bloc and NDP have been pushing for answers at the Commons Procedure and House Affairs Committee. The Liberals, meanwhile, have been pushing to block, stall and deny vital information.

As I write this, the Liberals have been involved in an 18-hour filibuster over a three-week period to block a vote on a motion that would require Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, to testify at committee.

“I will talk as long as necessary,” Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen said.

At one-point, Gerretsen said the only reason the Conservatives are pushing the issue of foreign interference by China in our national elections is to raise money from angry donors. Gerretsen’s comments at committee, like much of what he says, is utter nonsense.

Poll after poll shows that the majority of Canadians are concerned about China’s attempts to meddle in our elections. An Abacus Data poll last week showed that 67% of all Canadians back a public inquiry into this issue, but when broken down by party, 71% of Liberals and 72% of Conservatives support a public inquiry.

All three opposition parties in the House of Commons support an inquiry; the only one that doesn’t is the Liberal Party. That same Liberal Party opposes allowing key witnesses to testify and vital documents to be shared with the committee’s investigation and again, they are the only ones who oppose.

Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld spoke for nearly an hour on Tuesday, rarely addressing the issue at hand and often drifting off into discussions of how other committees function, her time working as a consultant overseas before being elected, even how MPs eat their catered meals at the Commons and how it should go back to the old ways.

The display is quite frankly shameful, a slap in the face to Canadians who want answers about China’s meddling. Right now, the Liberals are the only ones with access to the information and they aren’t sharing it with anyone else. Trudeau’s message is essentially: “Just trust me.”

“What has Justin Trudeau got to hide?” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asked at an event in New Westminster, B.C.

Poilievre spoke of how Chinese-Canadians have been victims of this election interference, including intimidation from agents of the regime in Beijing not to vote for certain candidates.

“I think it is disgraceful that the prime minister knew this and did absolutely nothing, he kept it covered up,” Poilievre said.

Trudeau appears fine with his actions being disgraceful. As long as they keep him in power, the actions of his Liberal MPs show they, too, have no shame.
 

BIV - Delivering BC's Best Business News​

https://biv.com/article/2023/03/cash-flew-west-coast-donors-trudeaus-montreal-riding-2015-and-2016

Cash flew from West Coast donors to Trudeau’s Montreal riding in 2015 and 2016

Many donations to Trudeau's and other Liberal Party candidates' campaigns came from individuals connected to the Chinese Communist Party​

By Bob Mackin | March 13, 2023, 2:19pm
justintrudeau-flickrgovofcan.jpg

Many donations to Trudeau's and other Liberal Party candidates' campaigns came from individuals connected to the Chinese Communist Party | Justin Trudeau/Flickr
In the space of two days in the summer of 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Montreal riding association received almost $63,000 from donors in Vancouver, Richmond, West Vancouver and Delta.

Almost all of the 41 donations to the Papineau Federal Liberal Association, dated July 6 and 7, 2016, were $1,500 each.

Three came from directors of the Tiger Arms Ltd. Port Coquitlam gun store, including its namesake Rongxiang “Tiger” Yuan, Ke Xiao of Richmond and Peiran Yang of Vancouver. Another $1,500 donation came from Avery H. Chow of Richmond, who replaced Yuan, Xiao and Yang on the Tiger Arms company registration in March 2020.

Elections Canada’s database shows that between October 2014 and September 2016, B.C. donors sent more than $224,000 across the country to Trudeau’s local re-election fund. Eighty-two of those donations, worth $118,774.55, were dated between Aug. 7, 2015 and Oct. 30, 2015 — five days after the start of the federal election campaign and two weeks after Trudeau’s Liberal majority win.
Individual Canadian citizens can donate to any riding association, up to the annual limit set by Elections Canada. At the time, former Richmond Liberal MP Raymond Chan was one of the Liberal Party’s key fundraisers, targeting wealthy immigrants from mainland China. His wife, Ting Ting Wang, was a special adviser to Trudeau.
Fenella Sung of the Canadian Friends of Hong Kong said a public inquiry is needed into foreign influence by the Chinese government and its Canadian supporters, including the financing and operation of Canadian political parties. Sung said Trudeau’s March 6 plan to hire a “special rapporteur” and refer the issue to two national security committees is totally inadequate.

“That’s one key thing, of all the allegations from the CSIS-leaked report,” Sung said. “That things are happening right at the grassroots level, at the ridings level, about the candidate nomination process, at nomination meetings, as well as political donations. How the money has been changing hands, who donated what?”

In 2015, the year before real estate investor Yuan sent money to Trudeau’s riding association, the former member of China’s People’s Liberation Army made cash buy-ins totalling $4.19 million at River Rock in Richmond, according to a Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch report. In January of this year, Yuan appeared on-stage at a River Rock Lunar New Year banquet in his role as president of the Canada-China Friendship Promotion Association.

“As ethnic minorities, we must also actively participate in and discuss state affairs, we must obey the law and pay taxes according to regulations,” Yuan said in a short speech, before returning to sit across the head table from NDP Municipal Affairs Minister Anne Kang.

Elections Canada’s database also shows 23 contributions worth $28,400 from B.C. donors to the Don Valley North riding in Toronto from 2016 to 2019.

Richmond real estate and immigration lawyer Hong Guo gave $1,500 in June 2016 to the association behind Liberal Geng Tan, the first China-born, Mandarin-speaking member of Parliament. Tan did not run for re-election in 2019. According to a Global News report, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warned Trudeau before the election that replacement candidate Han Dong was part of China’s foreign influence network.

More than two-thirds of the B.C. donations to Don Valley North, worth $11,000, were in August 2016, as Tan was preparing to travel with Trudeau on his first official visit to China.

Wang Dianqi, the executive chair of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations (CACA) from June 2016 to June 2018, donated $1,500 to Tan’s association. CACA is the Richmond-based umbrella for more than 100 business and cultural groups, whose website states that it is an active participant in Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO) activities. OCAO is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front program, which aims to influence foreign politicians to adopt positions favourable to the Chinese government.

Wang also contributes goods and money to the People’s Liberation Army and frequently attends Chinese government celebrations and meetings in Beijing. During his term heading CACA, Wang gave $3,950 to the association behind Vancouver-East NDP MP Jenny Kwan, and $3,390 in donations to the Liberals.
Wei Renmin, the South Surrey resident who was CACA executive chair from October 2020 to October 2022, made 15 political donations totalling $21,022.99. That included five to Kwan’s campaigns, one to the Montreal area riding of former Canadian Forces Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie in February 2015 and $1,500 to Trudeau’s Papineau association in October 2015.

His predecessor, Yongtao Chen, donated $10,558.96, of which 43 per cent went to the Conservatives, 42.5 per cent to the Liberals and 13.7 per cent to the NDP. Chen sent $1,510 to Michael Chong’s bid for the Conservative leadership in May 2017.
In 2016, two years after his term as CACA executive chair, Miaofei Pan gave $2,898.96 to the Liberals and $2,450 to the NDP. Pan was also Wenzhou Friendship Society president and famously hosted Trudeau at one of his Shaughnessy mansions for a private event on Nov. 7, 2016.

By April of 2017, still reeling from the controversial party at Pan’s, the Liberal Party buckled to pressure and announced proactive disclosure of fundraising events and attendee lists. Elections Canada later began an online registry of major fundraising events involving party leaders and cabinet ministers.

In an interview before the 2019 election, Pan correctly predicted the Trudeau Liberals would lose seats, but still remain in power.

Trudeau, he said, is a “good guy and with enough capability to be a prime minister in Canada. Of course [Stephen] Harper was also a good guy as well.”

Hanging on one of Pan’s walls was his framed photograph with Harper. In September 2011, Pan donated $1,100 to the Abbotsford Conservative Association.
twitter.com/bobmackin

VIEW COMMENTS
I truly wish that the mainstream US news channels would start running with this. Just put it on a news loop and keep hammering it day after day - it would truly have an effect up here tout suite - people would begin to get pissed off and start demanding answers I believe.
 
I truly wish that the mainstream US news channels would start running with this. Just put it on a news loop and keep hammering it day after day - it would truly have an effect up here tout suite - people would begin to get pissed off and start demanding answers I believe.
I am mildly surprised that this is getting no play in the US. I would think that the White House would be extremely concerned about this.
 
I am mildly surprised that this is getting no play in the US. I would think that the White House would be extremely concerned about this.
I can't understand why its not being picked up. Usually the US media loves to take down the 'holier than thou' Canadians whenever they get the chance.
 
Interesting opinion piece from Hill Times (paywall may apply) on how Poilievre could (or should) capitalize on China’s meddling in our affairs in the context of this being a new Cold War.

 
Interesting opinion piece from Hill Times (paywall may apply) on how Poilievre could (or should) capitalize on China’s meddling in our affairs in the context of this being a new Cold War.

We have been fighting this Cold War since 2001 - we just realized it very late in the game.
 
Interesting opinion piece from Hill Times (paywall may apply) on how Poilievre could (or should) capitalize on China’s meddling in our affairs in the context of this being a new Cold War.

Unless he doesn’t want to expose Beijing’s skeletons in the Tory closet.

Although the Liberals appear to have it the worst, CCP elite capture and influence appears to be an issue for all parties.

The main difference between the Russians and the CCP is that whereas the Kremlin supports far-left and far-right parties to maximize political chaos in the West, Beijing will work to influence mainstream parties to get trade, policy and diplomatic outcomes beneficial to them.
 
Unless he doesn’t want to expose Beijing’s skeletons in the Tory closet.

Although the Liberals appear to have it the worst, CCP elite capture and influence appears to be an issue for all parties.

The main difference between the Russians and the CCP is that whereas the Kremlin supports far-left and far-right parties to maximize political chaos in the West, Beijing will work to influence mainstream parties to get trade, policy and diplomatic outcomes beneficial to them.
I'm hoping that Fred Rose ceases to be alone in the future. He very well might be joined by 1 or more in the near future - including the stripping of CDN Citizenship.
 
I truly wish that the mainstream US news channels would start running with this. Just put it on a news loop and keep hammering it day after day - it would truly have an effect up here tout suite - people would begin to get pissed off and start demanding answers I believe.

Geese and Ganders though. Would that not be "Foreign Interference" in a Canadian election, or at least Canadian affairs?

I want the Communist Party of China out of our elections and the Tides Foundation out of our oilsands and natural gas.
 

as @suffolkowner says - if there has to be a "special rapporteur" then Johnston is probably as good as it is going to get. And now to see how far downfield this has been punted. Or will Johnston run it back quickly?

By the way - there is an "official" definition of "special rapporteur"

 
Back
Top