OTTAWA – The federal government gave up to $200,000 in funding since 2020 to a Quebec charity the RCMP suspects may be hosting a secret Chinese “police station.”
Experts on Chinese foreign interference fear that funding may have helped pro-Beijing actors grow the Chinese Communist Party’s network in Canada, while “legitimizing” the organization police suspect may be supporting efforts to intimidate or silence critics of China’s ruling regime.
Long before David Johnston was given a role in Canada’s foreign-interference saga, and even before he served as governor general under a past prime minister, he had a walk-on part in a famous work of fiction.
Johnston was the real-life inspiration for the character “Davey Johnston” in Erich Segal’s tragic novel “Love Story,” which was made into one of the most wept-over films of the 1970s, starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw.
So what made an over privileged frat boy become a ChiCom sympathizer?
OTTAWA – A senior Conservative campaign official said the government’s system for sharing foreign interference information left him with the impression there were no major issues during the campaign.
Walied Soliman, who was co-chair of the Conservatives 2021 campaign, was also one of the party’s representatives to a special task force of Canada’s intelligence agencies.
Bill Blair took months to approve CSIS surveillance of Liberal powerbroker, national-security source says
… Although lawyers for CSIS and independent counsel from the Justice Department approved the warrant as did the office of CSIS director David Vigneault, the source said Mr. Blair, a former Toronto police chief, did not sign off on it until June.
The four-month delay left little time for CSIS to get the approval of a federal judge and to figure out the best ways to plant bugs in Mr. Chan’s cars, home, office, computers and mobile phones before the election campaign got under way.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau triggered the election in August, 2021, for Sept. 20 – a ballot in which the Liberals returned to power with another minority government.
The LPC is in the bag to China.
Will the public finally be provided some details behind the mysterious firing of Chinese-Canadian scientists who were working at the country’s top biosafety lab?
The Liberal government announced on May 17 that an ad-hoc committee of selected MPs will be able to review documents pertaining to the matter, and a panel of arbiters composed of three former justices will decide what can be released to the public.
Up to now, the government has resisted revealing details about the scientists Qiu Xiangguo and Cheng Keding, who were escorted out of Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Lab (NML) in 2019 amid a police probe and then fired in January 2021.
A panel of members of Parliament and judges are going to review documents related to the firing of two scientists at Canada’s highest-security laboratory.
On Wednesday, House of Commons leader Mark Holland revealed the names of MPs and judges who will serve as arbiters on an ad hoc committee tasked to examine both redacted and unredacted documents pertaining to the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
Opposition MPs are asking why the Chinese diplomat recently expelled for being involved in threatening an MP’s family wasn’t removed sooner after it emerged that Canada’s intelligence agency knew for several years that he was spying on Falun Gong adherents and Uyghurs in Canada.
As of the time of this writing, there are 177 Chinese diplomats in Canada, including their representatives to the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal. This is second only to the United States, Canada’s closest ally and neighbour to the south, with 291 diplomats. The country with the third-highest number of diplomats in Canada is Japan, with 80 diplomats.
OTTAWA – More than two years after controversy first erupted around the firing of two scientists from Canada’s national microbiology lab, the federal government has finally come to an agreement with all opposition parties on a way forward to view the related secret documents.
Mark Holland, the government’s House leader, announced on Wednesday that three former judges would determine which documents related to the firing of Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng in January 2021 could be disclosed without compromising national security.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has declined to meet with the government’s special rapporteur on foreign interference, citing an inability to find a mutually convenient time, a spokesperson for Poilievre said Wednesday.
Poilievre has mocked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to appoint former governor general David Johnston to look into the matter of foreign interference, calling it nothing more than a delay tactic to avoid calling a public inquiry and describing Johnston as Trudeau’s “neighbour, family friend and ski buddy.”
While testifying before the Commons Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) in April, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the RCMP have taken “decisive action to shut down the so-called police stations” operating covertly on Canadian soil.
But when asked about that statement during an interview with CTV’s “Question Period” on May 14, the minister backtracked, saying that “the RCMP have taken concrete action to disrupt any foreign interference in relation to those so-called police stations.”
Conservative MP Michael Chong told a committee of fellow parliamentarians Tuesday that Canada needs to “catch up” to its allies on addressing foreign interference threats against politicians.
The Globe and Mail, citing a top secret document from 2021, reported earlier this month that the Chinese government was targeting a Canadian MP. An unnamed security source reportedly told the Globe that Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei was allegedly working on efforts to target Chong’s family in China.
Appearing before the House procedure and affairs committee Tuesday evening, Chong said the attempted interference “would likely not have happened” if Canada had policies in place similar to those in the U.S. and the U.K.
Policies similar to the US and UK? Are you crazy? That would mess up the China Grift!
Next week we’ll learn what advice former governor general David Johnston has given to Justin Trudeau to deal with the tentacular issues of Chinese government interference in Canada.
Make no mistake: Johnston has absolutely no decision-making powers, despite the high-sounding title of “Special Rapporteur” with which Trudeau saddled him.
Trudeau often says that he’s waiting for Johnston’s decision. That’s just more poppycock in a dossier filled with coverups, stonewalling and outright deception.
The Liberal government finally expelled Chinese consulate official Zhao Wei last week when it became virtually impossible not to.
With mounting evidence that Zhao had put the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong under surveillance in Hong Kong, even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau understood he needed to do something to indicate Canada’s official diplomatic disapproval that China cannot continue to interfere in Canadian politics—and elections—without any sanction.
The 64 Dollar Question.
Canadian plywood makers seek duties as cheap Chinese rivals carve out half the market
It’s been years since Carlos Zarate and others in Canada’s decorative plywood industry started telling the federal government about a growing problem in their business.
The president of the Canadian Hardwood Plywood and Veneer Association warns of an industry in decline, but not due to falling demand for things like kitchen cabinets, decorative wood panels, furniture, and other non-structural wood products.
Zarate, who’s also president of Industrie Ergie Inc. in Victoriaville, Que., said the association’s members have seen their market share in Canada drop because they are unable to compete with plywood products imported from China at prices domestic producers could never hope to match, let alone beat.
Yet another example of Trudeau serving the interests of the China Class.
Canada’s politicians need to be more proactive to responding to foreign interference by establishing a “national security culture” within the government to recognize threats when they emerge, former intelligence and security officials say.
While they believe institutions like the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) are equipped to respond to national security issues — though underfunded — very few people outside those agencies are experienced with the issue.
There is a security culture in Ottawa, the LPC is fully cooperative with Communist China.
