When Member of Parliament Kenny Chiu was contacted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) ahead of Canada’s federal election in 2021, he was puzzled.
He had never expected to be part of a CSIS investigation, let alone one that required an in-person talk at the height of Canada’s COVID-19 pandemic.
“At that time, everything had moved online, so it was quite unexpected that they insisted on a face-to-face sit-down,” Chiu told Al Jazeera.
But the topic of the meeting was highly sensitive: alleged Chinese interference in Canada’s elections. And soon, it would be a dominant issue in Canada’s politics, shaping Chiu’s political fortunes – and eventually even the prime minister’s.
Intelligence reports leaked from the CSIS in recent months indicate that Canada’s intelligence community has been concerned about Chinese election interference for decades.
The documents suggest the Chinese government has not only been spreading disinformation but has also been operating a clandestine network to influence the past two federal elections, in 2019 and 2021.
The alleged network includes Chinese diplomats, Canadian politicians, business owners and international students. They are accused of using their influence to support pro-Beijing candidates and scuttle voices critical of China.
One of those figures is the former Chinese Consul General of Vancouver Tong Xiaoling. In a leak to the newspaper The Globe and Mail, Tong allegedly boasted that Chinese efforts resulted in the defeat of two candidates from Canada’s Conservative Party in the province of British Columbia. Chiu was one of them.
Disinformation on the campaign trail
Chiu started to note a shift six months ahead of his reelection bid, in the early months of 2021.
First elected to represent the district of Steveston-Richmond East in 2019, Chiu had recently introduced a private member’s bill called the Foreign Influence Registry Act.
The tensions between China and Canada were evident when the country’s two leaders met at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Indonesia last November [File: Adam Scotti/Prime Minister’s Office/Handout via Reuters]
It would have required individuals working for foreign governments and political organisations to register their communications with Canadian officials if they sought, for example, to introduce policy proposals or influence public contracts.
According to Chiu, the bill was intended to provide Canada with tools to combat foreign interference without singling out any country in particular.
“Yet, we saw a lot of disinformation being circulated about the bill, saying things like, ‘It is going to put Chinese-Canadians in jeopardy and that people with ties to China would risk being fined 400,000 Canadian dollars’ [about $300,000],” Chiu said. “Of course, none of that was true.”
Chiu himself came under fire. “There was also slander directed at me, saying that I am a sell-out and accusing me of racism in spite of my own Chinese heritage.”
But Chiu was not alone in noticing an increase in scrutiny after the introduction of his bill. The Canadian disinformation monitor DisInfoWatch closely reviewed the stories about Chiu and other Conservative Party candidates during the 2021 election.
It found there were strong indications of a coordinated campaign aimed at influencing Chinese-Canadian voters.
Benjamin Fung, a cybersecurity professor at McGill University, also analysed the disinformation disseminated during the election. He too concluded that there were links to Asia.
“It was widespread but a lot of the activity would be concentrated around a 9am to 5pm time slot – only not in Canada time, but in China time,” Fung told Al Jazeera. “So it was most likely being coordinated from somewhere in East Asia.”
Chiu’s district had a large Chinese-Canadian community and experts found that a sizeable proportion of the disinformation was being spread through WeChat, a Chinese social media app used widely in the diaspora community.
With an estimated 1 million users in Canada, WeChat was one of the few apps that allowed for communication between people inside and outside China.
Chiu subsequently lost his bid for reelection. And his private member bill on foreign interference was ultimately shelved.
Scandal for the Liberal Party
The precise effect of the alleged Chinese interference is difficult to measure, however.
While Canada’s government has acknowledged that China did meddle in the 2019 and 2021 elections, a report released in February concluded that those efforts did not meaningfully affect the outcome of either vote.
Chiu agrees that the Chinese interference might not have changed the result of his 2021 campaign. But, he insists, that does not mean that foreign meddling should not be taken seriously.
“It is not just our democracy that is under threat. It is our very sovereignty as a nation that is at stake,” he said.
The recent revelations about election interference have ignited a political firestorm for the ruling Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
One Liberal Party MP, Han Dong, was identified among the leaks as having private meetings with the Chinese consul general in Toronto, Han Tao.
National security sources quoted by CTV News accuse Dong of encouraging China to delay freeing two Canadians, Michael Sparov and Michael Kovrig, who were detained in 2018 on espionage charges.
Releasing them too early, Dong allegedly implied, would benefit the Conservative Party in the polls.
Dong has denied he made any such suggestions but confirmed that he did speak with the consul general. His office did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment and Dong has since stepped down from the Liberal Party, serving instead as an independent.
Amid growing political pressure, Trudeau appointed an independent special rapporteur in March to examine the reports of election interference and determine whether a public inquiry was necessary.
His critics say it is too little, too late. They accuse Trudeau of being more fixated on stopping the leaks than addressing the interference itself.
Preying on anti-Chinese hate
Initially, Trudeau dismissed the allegations against Dong as evidence of anti-Asian racism.
“One of the things we’ve seen unfortunately over the past years is a rise in anti-Asian racism linked to the pandemic and concerns being arisen around people’s loyalties,” Trudeau said at a news conference in Mississauga.
Accusations that Dong was “somehow not loyal to Canada”, he added, “should not be entertained”.
But some experts say the issue of anti-Asian hate has been used as a smokescreen, in some cases, to disguise election interference efforts.
Reports have shown that cases of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia rose in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic and afterwards, resulting in an increased sense of insecurity among Canadians of Asian heritage.
Beijing has been able to play on such concerns, dismissing criticism of its interference efforts as further evidence of anti-Asian bias, according to research analyst Ai-Men Lau. She works for the Doublethink Lab, an organisation that tracks influence operations.
The solution, she told Al Jazeera, is to engage directly with Chinese diaspora communities to build trust in Canada’s public institutions. But the government initiatives she has seen so far have been top-down.
“I still haven’t really seen anything that’s forward-looking in terms of what we are going to do for the next election,” she said.
“Unfortunately, we have a particularly nasty habit in Canada of being incredibly reactive to any allegations of foreign interference rather than being proactive.”
China, meanwhile, has consistently denied allegations that it interfered in Canada’s elections. On a message board on the Chinese embassy’s official website, a spokesperson called the accusations “pure slander and total nonsense”.
Al Jazeera reached out to the Chinese consulate in Vancouver and Toronto as well as the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, but none replied to requests for comment.
Beyond election interference
Some advocates believe the interference extends well beyond Canada’s electoral system. In 2019, Canadian activist Rukiye Turdush said she uncovered evidence that students planned to obstruct a talk she gave at Ontario’s McMaster University, in collaboration with Chinese officials.
Turdush, a member of the Uighur ethnic group, had given a talk about the situation in Xinjiang, the far western region of China where some 1 million Uighurs have been held in reeducation camps, according to the United Nations.
One Chinese student in attendance accused her of lying and swore at her before storming out. But afterwards, Turdush received a series of screenshots from WeChat purporting to show Chinese students gathering information about her and her son, ostensibly to intimidate her.
Based on the chats, shared with Al Jazeera, Chinese student groups reported to and coordinated with the Chinese embassy in Canada to disrupt her event.
“It shows how deep the Chinese interference goes in Canadian society today and how many different Chinese actors are involved,” Turdush told Al Jazeera.
In 2022, the Spanish NGO Safeguard Defenders released a report revealing a global network of more than 100 so-called overseas police service stations, operating on behalf of the Chinese government.
It identified three sites in Toronto alone, with other locations believed to be in Montreal and Vancouver.
The presence of such police stations does not surprise Toronto resident Mimi Lee, a member of the NGO Torontonian HongKongers Action Group.
The Chinese government’s influence is pervasive, she said. “The interference from the Chinese government exists from top to bottom in Canada today.”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
