Yesterday, we told you about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s opponent calling on him to investigate Chinese interference in the national Canadian elections. The Prime Minister largely dismissed the charged, and said he would look into whether or not an internal, being not an outside objective one, investigation is necessary. He’s treating the charges as a complete non issue.
Well, it’s official. The Chinese did interfere with a Canadian election. It’s not yet national, but the Canadian government officially and reluctantly confirmed that they did interfere in the Vancouver municipal elections last year.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Intelligence Agency wrote a massive report detailing how China’s consul-general “groomed” (their actual words) Chinese Canadians politicians to run for office, rise up the political ladder, and advance Bejing’s interest. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
Tong Xiaoling seen pictured on the right, the Chinese consulate general in Vancouver, saw an opening as incumbent mayor as Kennedy Stewart was facing deep opposition in his re-election as homelessness had skyrocketed out of control. In fact, the numbers, proportion wise, are bigger than Portland and San Francisco. Vancouver has the worst homelessness problem in North America. Stewart was notable liberal, and called for compassion when dealing with homelessness.
The winner, Ken Sim, of Chinese descent, was a businessman who operated a series of healthcare networks. He campaigned as a more conservative option, promising to be more aggressive in controlling homelessness, even if that meant forcible removal.
Sim beat Stewart by a whopping 20% last year. Even without Chinese interference, he would have most likely won.
But the Chinese government was eager for a fight. Mayor Stewart halted meetings with Chinese diplomats after the government put sanctions on a member of Parliament who was openly supportive of Taiwan’s independence.
The consul had control over a number of Chinese-language newspapers and television stations. Canada law states that diplomatic organizations cannot influence the press, particularly without disclosing their identity. They ran positive pieces on Sim and a number of city council candidates who were Chinese and supportive of the government. They revoked the mayor’s invitation to Chinese cultural events. Outside government interference on the day to day operations of a government in Canada is also an illegality.
Tong, the consul general in Vancouver, had apparently been looking at and investing in candidates for over half a decade. The documents states, “Ms. Tong passed information on this individual to someone who she hoped ‘could become acquainted with them’ and assess if the individual was a ‘good sapling to cultivate.'”
Most damning, the document states, is that Tong hoped an individual up for grooming “could join a political party that had a long-term strategy regarding their policy towards the People’s Republic of China.”
Expect this story to get more steam as discoveries about Chinese interference in other Canadian city elections, and very likely national, are expected to abound. Valuetainment will keep you posted and follow the story closely.
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