At least two Conservative parliamentarians have indicated they want a government-ordered public inquiry to investigate Canadian news outlets for alleged Chinese influence, a proposal that one advocate warns could endanger press freedom.
In an article published on his Substack last week, former Global News reporter Sam Cooper cited “intelligence documents” which claimed that the government of China has mounted a “covert takeover” of Chinese-language media, and is also “seeking to control” mainstream news outlets in Canada. Per Cooper’s article, the intelligence documents said media manipulation is “a key weapon” in the Chinese government’s “clandestine arsenal” for boosting certain political candidates at all levels of government.
Cooper warns of “Beijing’s overarching strategy to subvert democracy using Canada’s free press.”
Responding to the story on “X” (the new name for Elon Musk’s Twitter), Conservative MP Ryan Williams called for an inquiry into the matter. Reached for comment by The Maple via email, Williams confirmed that he wants both mainstream and independent news outlets to be investigated.
Williams stressed that “especially the smaller and independent news organizations mentioned in [Cooper’s] article” should be included as part of any inquiry.
“We need a full independent public inquiry for any and all interference in our democracy and we need it now.”
Conservative Senator Denise Batters also responded to Cooper’s story on X, writing: “Public Inquiry Now. Foreign Agent Registry Now.” Batters’ advisor for parliamentary affairs Lana Fawcett Helman told The Maple via email that Batters was unavailable for an interview last Thursday to discuss her call for an inquiry.
After being given an opportunity to submit a written statement, Batters’ office provided no further correspondence.
James Turk, director of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Centre for Free Expression, told The Maple that calls for an inquiry into news outlets are reminiscent of the McCarthy era.
This refers to a period named after U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy, who spearheaded a campaign of political persecution against individuals and organizations accused — often baselessly — of spreading communist influence in American society during the 1940s and 1950s.
U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy. Photo via Wikipedia, licensed under Public Domain.
The McCarthy witch hunt also spilled over into Canada, with the RCMP conducting over 70,000 checks for political or sexual nonconformity among civil servants, scientists, university professors and trade unionists in one year alone. Prior to the McCarthy period, the government of Quebec passed a “padlock law” in 1937, allowing the authorities to shutter any organization suspected of harbouring communist literature or activities.
“This just resonates with the same kind of excessive and unjustified claims being made that we saw happen then, a period that most people look back on as a shameful period in Canadian and American history,” said Turk.
“One of the four fundamental freedoms in the Charter includes freedom of the press, and so the idea of the government investigating the media, and in particular, smaller media that have fewer legal resources to defend themselves, is really quite worrisome.”
Williams did not respond to a follow-up request from The Maple seeking comment on how his call might infringe on press freedoms.
The latest calls for a public inquiry stem from a broader panic about allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections and civil society. This has included claims against MP Han Dong, who is currently suing Cooper over a story that reported allegations that Dong had advised a Chinese consulate official to delay releasing two Canadians from Chinese custody in February 2021.
More recently, the National Post published two articles suggesting that recently elected Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow had received campaign help from and/or been in contact with groups that had previously made statements aligned with Beijing, despite Chow being a longtime critic of the Communist Party of China.
In May, special rapporteur David Johnston, who was controversially appointed by the Trudeau government to investigate alleged foreign interference, said that allegations about Han Dong attempting to delay the release of the Canadians from Chinese custody were false, and that there was no intelligence to suggest that Chinese government money reached specific candidates during the 2019 federal election.
Johnston also said that he found very little evidence to support claims made by former Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole that some of his party’s candidates were defeated at the 2021 election because of Chinese government interference.
Johnston stepped down from his role in June, citing concerns about the fact that his role had become too mired in political controversy. His appointment was criticized due to his personal connections to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Turk said that while concerns about any interference in elections are legitimate, most countries seek to play a role in shaping the conduct of other nations. The current panic in Canada, he noted, has focused almost exclusively on China, despite evidence of other countries playing an equally or more prominent role in attempting to influence civil society.
“In terms of interventions using the diaspora, arguably India does it even more aggressively than China, and yet there’s never talk about that,” he said. “It also strikes me that it taps into a long history of anti-Asian racism in Canada.”
Critics have likened the current focus on alleged Chinese influence in Canada to the “Yellow Peril,” whereby authorities in Western countries stoked racist fears and conspiracy theories about Chinese people and the Chinese government. Turk echoed that criticism.
“The single-minded focus on China suggests that it’s not really just about foreign interference, but there’s a political agenda being played out here as there was in the 1940s and 50s.”
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), approximately 5.1 per cent of the Canadian population is of Chinese descent. Turk said the notion that Chinese Canadians are all dupes for Chinese government narratives has no serious evidentiary basis.
As well, Turk questions the apparent degree of trust placed by some media reports in intelligence agency sources.
“There’s a surprising trust … in documents from intelligence agencies, instead of being skeptical,” Turk explained. “There’s the old cliche that to a hammer, everything looks like a nail. For intelligence agencies, their business and their ability to get funding depends on there being threats.”
The Maple reached out to both the Canadian Association of Journalists and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression for comment, but did not receive any response.
Alex Cosh is the news editor of The Maple.
Now, let’s turn to the members’ corner…
The calls for a public inquiry into Canadian media outlets represent the Conservatives’ latest fever pitch in whipping up narratives about alleged foreign interference. Here’s what else you need to know.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
