Cabinet should act against “irresponsible speculation” by media that Chinese Communist agents targeted 11 candidates in the 2019 election, Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) said yesterday. Woo claimed allegations had turned into a witch hunt, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“There is a witch hunt going on for the names of the 11 candidates as well as the identities of an unspecified number of campaign workers and political staffers who are also alleged to have been funded by the Chinese government,” Woo told Senate during Question Period. “It is no surprise Chinese-Canadians are among those who are most likely to be put under a cloud.”.“What is the government doing to draw a line under this kind of irresponsible speculation?” asked Woo. “There is a real concern about Chinese interference,” replied Senator Marc Gold (Que.), Government Representative in the Senate..Global News on November 7 quoted anonymous sources alleging a “vast campaign of foreign interference” by Chinese Communists including illegal spending and clandestine work targeting suspected Conservative candidates in the 2019 campaign. Neither the candidates nor constituencies were named..Cabinet in a December 14 submission to the House affairs committee said it had no list of 11 candidates and knew nothing of Chinese Communist interference. “I don’t have any form of information,” testified Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly..Woo yesterday said cabinet must condemn the Global News report. “The source of this allegation is a story by Global News that had no named sources and no subsequent validation by any other news outlet,” he said. “Yet the story has been repeated ad nauseam by other media.”.“If the story is indeed bogus it has done serious damage to our democracy,” said Woo. “Indeed this reporting should be understood as a kind of election denialism. Why is the government not calling out this egregious example of disinformation?”.“It is not possible for the government to characterize the stories one way or the other,” replied Gold..Allegations of Chinese Communist interference in Canadian politics have lingered for years. To date no parliamentary committee has fully investigated specific complaints..Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former chief of the Asia-Pacific desk at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, testified last August 9 at the Commons ethics committee that some politicians are paid by foreign agents. “There are elected officials at all levels whether it’s municipal, provincial or federal who are being paid by foreign governments and who are not necessarily acting in the interests of Canada,” said Juneau-Katsuya..“It is still happening,” he said. “Foreign agents try to recruit elected officials. It’s fairly easy because elected officials don’t necessarily listen to security guidelines to protect themselves.”.“What we know for sure is we have various foreign countries that succeeded in recruiting elected officials – again, municipal, provincial or federal – and were capable of influencing this way,” said Juneau-Katsuya. “We see that also, when we see at the end of their mandate, cabinet ministers going to work for a foreign company that works directly against national security and the national interests of Canada.”
Cabinet should act against “irresponsible speculation” by media that Chinese Communist agents targeted 11 candidates in the 2019 election, Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) said yesterday. Woo claimed allegations had turned into a witch hunt, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“There is a witch hunt going on for the names of the 11 candidates as well as the identities of an unspecified number of campaign workers and political staffers who are also alleged to have been funded by the Chinese government,” Woo told Senate during Question Period. “It is no surprise Chinese-Canadians are among those who are most likely to be put under a cloud.”.“What is the government doing to draw a line under this kind of irresponsible speculation?” asked Woo. “There is a real concern about Chinese interference,” replied Senator Marc Gold (Que.), Government Representative in the Senate..Global News on November 7 quoted anonymous sources alleging a “vast campaign of foreign interference” by Chinese Communists including illegal spending and clandestine work targeting suspected Conservative candidates in the 2019 campaign. Neither the candidates nor constituencies were named..Cabinet in a December 14 submission to the House affairs committee said it had no list of 11 candidates and knew nothing of Chinese Communist interference. “I don’t have any form of information,” testified Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly..Woo yesterday said cabinet must condemn the Global News report. “The source of this allegation is a story by Global News that had no named sources and no subsequent validation by any other news outlet,” he said. “Yet the story has been repeated ad nauseam by other media.”.“If the story is indeed bogus it has done serious damage to our democracy,” said Woo. “Indeed this reporting should be understood as a kind of election denialism. Why is the government not calling out this egregious example of disinformation?”.“It is not possible for the government to characterize the stories one way or the other,” replied Gold..Allegations of Chinese Communist interference in Canadian politics have lingered for years. To date no parliamentary committee has fully investigated specific complaints..Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former chief of the Asia-Pacific desk at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, testified last August 9 at the Commons ethics committee that some politicians are paid by foreign agents. “There are elected officials at all levels whether it’s municipal, provincial or federal who are being paid by foreign governments and who are not necessarily acting in the interests of Canada,” said Juneau-Katsuya..“It is still happening,” he said. “Foreign agents try to recruit elected officials. It’s fairly easy because elected officials don’t necessarily listen to security guidelines to protect themselves.”.“What we know for sure is we have various foreign countries that succeeded in recruiting elected officials – again, municipal, provincial or federal – and were capable of influencing this way,” said Juneau-Katsuya. “We see that also, when we see at the end of their mandate, cabinet ministers going to work for a foreign company that works directly against national security and the national interests of Canada.”
