Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole in a sworn statement detailed several incidents which he “believes may have constituted foreign interference,” per Blacklock’s Reporter.O’Toole said “lovely,” “flirtatious” and “unprofessional” young Chinese women approached his campaign, including one woman who continuously tried to obtain his phone number. It followed a female employee of the state-run Xinhua News Agency targeting a former Conservative MP.“Mr. O’Toole recalled two incidents he believes may have constituted foreign interference,” counsel with the Commission on Foreign Interference wrote in a summary of a March 1 interview with O’Toole. “First, he recounted being approached on several occasions by a young ethnic Chinese woman at an event in 2018 or 2019.” .China Inquiry Commissioner Hogue cannot unmask Parliament Hill spies.“Mr. O’Toole described the young woman as very flirtatious and as unprofessional and relentless in her attempts to obtain his phone number to the point he felt bothered and uncomfortable,” said the interview summary.“Around the time he became Party leader he reflected upon this incident and believed it may well have been an overt attempt at gaining his influence.”“Second, Mr. O’Toole recalled during his first Party leadership race in 2017 two young foreign Chinese students approached his campaign office in Ottawa,” wrote Commission counsel. “They offered to accomplish a variety of tasks in Mandarin and in Cantonese such as calling voters and doing data entry.” .CHINA INQUIRY: 13 ridings named, MP changes story.“Mr. O’Toole described them as ‘lovely,’” said the interview summary. “He wonders why these foreign students offered to volunteer out of the blue and whether they were prompted to do so by foreign actors. He thought it strange for international students to follow domestic politics so closely and even stranger that they would volunteer in the context of an internal party leadership race.”O’Toole testified at Commission hearings last Wednesday. No lawyers questioned him on the anecdotes recounted in the newly-released interview summary. .Urgency for exposing spies growing among MPs across all parties.The incidents followed a 2011 public apology by then-Conservative MP Bob Dechert, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, over a romantic relationship with a young Chinese national. The woman, Shi Rong, was an employee at the Toronto bureau of Xinhua News.The couple exchanged hundreds of leaked emails Dechert described as flirtatious. “You are so beautiful,” the MP wrote in one email signed, “Love, Bob.” Dechert lost re-election in 2015. The Xinhua reporter was abruptly recalled to China after the relationship was made public.
