“Canada’s China Class”

What will it take for the federal government to deal seriously with Chinese technology theft?

I imagine everyone has heard the phrase “shooting the messenger.” This refers to a tactic where a person who receives bad news, or information that is unwelcome, decides to take his frustration and anger out on the individual who brought it to his attention in the first place. In other words, rather that deal with the consequences of the data and figure out mitigating strategies, just harangue the bearer of bad news. Not a great strategy in all honesty, but one that is used all too frequently.

Canada’s top spy says China’s concerted efforts to steal cutting-edge Canadian technology is mind-boggling, and is designed to build the People’s Liberation Army as a formidable force against Western interests.

David Vigneault, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told MPs on the Canada-China committee Monday that Chinese hacking and other espionage activities have become a serious threat since Xi Jinping became president in 2012.

A Quebec professor is a participant of a Chinese talent recruitment program deemed by Canada’s intelligence service as a “serious threat” to Canadian research and intellectual property.

Changhui Peng, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) since 2003, joined China’s Thousand Talents Plan in 2010. His participation in the Chinese talents recruitment plan was highlighted on his online profile at the Northwest A&F University, a school in China’s Shaanxi Province, which specializes in agriculture and forestry.

Who will fall on his sword after the public inquiry into election interference?

Probably everyone has heard of the Japanese samurai practice of “harakiri,” also called seppuku, or “falling on one’s sword.” This action, which apparently dates back to Roman times, refers to a ritual suicide by a soldier for something done wrong. The phrase is now used to describe anyone, most notably a high-level government official, who resigns after having taken responsibility for a mistake.

No one.

Chinese candidates applying for a Canadian taxpayer-funded exchange program need to declare allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership and the Party’s “socialist system,” The Epoch Times has learned.

MARKHAM, Ont.—The Toronto-area private school whose name came up prominently during the foreign interference inquiry for busing international students to the Liberal nomination vote of MP Han Dong in 2019 was invited to celebrate the Chinese New Year with the prime minister two years later.

The invitation was issued even as the prime minister and Liberal party organizers had been made aware of “irregularities” at the nomination vote by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in 2019. The cited issues included international students being told to support Mr. Dong under “veiled threats” by the Chinese consulate.

The foreign interference inquiry concluded its core public hearings phase on April 12 and a clearer picture has emerged of the threat Canada faces and what the government is doing about it.

The Liberal government had initially resisted holding the inquiry but eventually folded amid political pressure following a steady stream of intelligence leaks in the media about interference from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Earlier this week in Ottawa, I sat in the beautiful Bambrick Room of the Library and Archives Canada building and witnessed the Prime Minister of Canada along with his key ministers give sworn evidence to the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions (PIFI).

When Russian President Vladimir Putin was reelected in 2018, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rushed to the nearest microphone to express his worry that foreign actors might disrupt his nation’s future elections.

“We have been very much focused over the past years on strengthening our democratic institutions,” Trudeau said. “We need to make sure that they are kept up to date in holding off foreign meddling and interference.”

If one thing from the public inquiry into foreign interference is clear, it’s that China attempted to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 elections.

But the evidence is hazy on whether or not it succeeded. Here’s what we learned over the past 10 days of fact-finding hearings, which ended Friday and included testimony from politicians, bureaucrats and representatives from several intelligence and security agencies …

OTTAWA – CSIS director David Vigneault told an inquiry Friday that he’s been warning the Liberal government for years that Canada has been slow to respond to foreign interference and is ill-equipped to combat it.

He also confirmed that had not verbally discussed the contents of three important briefing documents directly with the prime minister and his senior staff, although he had shared similar information with them on previous occassions.

I get the feeling that Trudeau and Vigneault are scamming us.