MP Dong Admits Knowing a Bus Was Organized to Bring International Students to Nomination Contest in His Riding

MP Han Dong has admitted that he was made aware that a bus had been organized by a private school to bring international students to vote in the Liberal Party nomination contest in 2019, in which he was a candidate. The admission was mentioned by counsel at the foreign interference inquiry in Ottawa on April 2.

Referring to a statement of evidence to be presented later, commission counsel Kate McGrann said Mr. Dong knew “that international students attending a private high school and living in a residence at Seneca College voted in the 2019 Don Valley North nomination.”

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On foreign interference, Canada has been a sitting duck

The opening day of the second round of public hearings of the Foreign Interference Commission – and the first to get at the meat of the issue – was about as heart-rending as might be imagined.

Foreign interference, as we have been learning, takes many forms: not just the election meddling that was the proximate cause of the inquiry, but propaganda and disinformation, spying and – the subject of Wednesday’s hearing – intimidation.

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Foreign Agents Can Easily Impact PM Selection via Unvetted Canadian Party Memberships: Study

Lax membership criteria in major political parties, such as allowing international students and foreign nationals to join, leave Canada vulnerable to foreign interference and could potentially impact the selection of prime ministers, a recent study says.

“Foreign actors could also influence the selection process of party leadership, and hence the prime ministership, simply by purchasing party memberships that hand out ballots in leadership races without verifying the identities of new members,” said the study “Beyond General Elections“ published by Sage Journals on March 18.

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Ban TikTok, half of Canadians say in new poll as U.S. fears spread

A new poll indicates 51 per cent of Canadians support banning the social media app TikTok, after a U.S. bill aiming to do just that passed in the House of Representatives.

Canada has ordered its own national security review of TikTok, something the Liberal government revealed following passage of the U.S. bill earlier this month.

Canada’s China class will ensure that TikTok is not banned.

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Chief Electoral Officer acknowledges he lacks authority to properly investigate foreign interference allegations

Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault says he doesn’t have the authority to investigate whether some donors were encouraged to provide campaign contributions in the 2021 election to candidates favoured by China – donations for which they allegedly received a tax credit from the federal government.

Lawyers for the public inquiry into foreign interference pressed Mr. Perrault Thursday on a report by The Globe and Mail in February, 2023 that outlined a funding scheme to help elect politicians who would be uncritical of China.

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Interference inquiry must walk very fine line on secrecy to avoid revealing traitorous actions by Liberal party

Interference inquiry must walk very fine line on secrecy, transparency: commissioner

OTTAWA – The head of an inquiry into foreign interference emphasized Wednesday that the need for secrecy about the sensitive subject has not hindered her work to date.

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue cautioned, however, that the inquiry must walk a very fine line in balancing confidentiality and the desire for transparency.

Hogue’s remarks came as the commission began two weeks of hearings into foreign meddling allegations and how the federal government responded to them.

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Parliamentary committee agrees to take on probe of Winnipeg lab scandal

Justin Trudeau Xiangguo Qiu Keding Cheng – Everybody say Xi

A parliamentary committee has agreed to question key witnesses about how two scientists studying deadly viruses at a special lab in Winnipeg were able to work closely and covertly with China.

Conservative MP Michael Chong brought forward a motion to the Canada-China committee Tuesday morning to study the recent release of federal documents related to the dismissal of two scientists — Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng — from the National Microbiology Lab.

The ChiComs had the run of the joint.

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Winnipeg man was member of Chinese military branch behind cyber attacks on Canada, officials allege

A military veteran who spent 20 years in uniform, Lieutenant Colonel Huajie Xu now lives on a quiet street in Winnipeg.

But he did not serve in Canada’s armed forces.

Instead, he was a member of China’s People’s Liberation Army, according to records obtained by Global News.

Before arriving in Canada in 2021, Xu worked at the military academy of the Chinese cyber warfare department that hacks Canadians and steals their secrets.

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Intelligence watchdog completes report on Chinese interference allegations, sends it to PM

One of Canada’s intelligence watchdogs has finished its investigation into allegations of foreign electoral interference and has sent its findings to the prime minister and members of his cabinet.

It will still be a while before the public can read it, however — and it remains to be seen how much of the report will be redacted.

Just over a year ago, when the Liberal government was under constant fire over claims that China meddled in the 2019 and 2021 elections, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the country’s two intelligence review bodies — the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) — to investigate the issue.

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Filing Patents for Wuhan Lab and Using Aliases: What the Fired Winnipeg Lab Scientists Are up to in China

Fired Winnipeg lab scientists and married couple Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng are actively engaged in research work in China with various organizations, some of which have close links to the Chinese military, an investigation by The Epoch Times shows.

The two are also using aliases in some instances, while Ms. Qiu has been filing patents related to her area of research in Canada.

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Justin Trudeau isn’t meeting China’s threat to our democracy. Here’s one thing he could do right now

As U.S. legislators race to disconnect the world’s most downloaded app and prevent TikTok’s massive American data from potentially feeding Chinese security agencies, Ottawa should demonstrate equal resolve.

Canada’s Bill C-34 — proposed legislation to prevent foreign investors from harbouring foreign intelligence services — is in its home stretch of Senate review, before going to the House of Commons for final discussions.

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Infectious-disease scientist fired from Winnipeg laboratory surfaces in China

Justin Trudeau Xiangguo Qiu Keding Cheng – Everybody say Xi

One of two fired scientists at the centre of an RCMP investigation into a massive security breach at Canada’s top infectious-disease laboratory in Winnipeg is working in China and collaborating with researchers from the People’s Liberation Army.

The Globe and Mail has learned that Xiangguo Qiu has been conducting research with Chinese military scientists and other virology researchers, including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, on antibodies for coronavirus and the deadly Ebola and Nipah viruses.

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Former Mountie William Majcher, accused of being an agent for China, says he’s a ‘patriot not a traitor’

Former Mountie William Majcher has made a career out of deception and dancing on the edge of danger. As a young officer, he nearly died after being jumped from behind and smashed repeatedly in the head with a steel bar. After transitioning into undercover work, Majcher was planted in the same cell as an Air India terror suspect. He infiltrated the Medellin drug cartel and was warned he was on a hit list after a $100,000 bounty was put on his head.

His subterfuge maximized his easy-going demeanour and commerce degree from St. Mary’s University, allowing him to pose as a clean cut expert in money laundering. This work in the shadows came in handy when he was tasked to run the B.C. office of the RCMP’s financial crime unit before retiring in 2007.

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US Jailed Prof for Lying About Wuhan Ties, Chinese ‘Talent’ Recruitment; Would Canada Do So With Winnipeg Lab Scientists?

In 2023, a U.S. judge sentenced high-profile Harvard professor Charles Lieber to imprisonment and fines for lying about his ties with China’s state-run talent recruitment program and a Wuhan university. Several other researchers in the United States have been arrested on similar charges in recent years.

In Canada, after more than four years since Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng were expelled from the high-security Winnipeg lab in 2019 and later fired for undisclosed ties with Chinese regime entities and talent programs, no charges have been announced.

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Terry Glavin: The elephants in the room at the foreign interference inquiry

You’ve got to feel at least a twinge of pity for Justice Marie-Josée Hogue. She’s the head of the public inquiry into foreign interference that is only now getting off the ground, 16 months after leaked intelligence first revealed that Beijing ran elaborate election-interference operations to the benefit of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party in 2019 and 2021, and the government knew it but did nothing about it.

Among the questions Hogue has to properly sort out, this one rarely gets a proper look-in: when we say “foreign” interference, what do we mean by “foreign,” exactly?

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