David Johnston hired crisis communications firm Navigator - "Toronto-based Navigator is a public relations, lobbying and crisis management firm. Its slogan is "When you can't afford to lose” and the firm has developed a reputation for steering notable Canadians through high-profile scandals—at high prices. Past clients battling sexual abuse allegations, for example, have included Hockey Canada and disgraced former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi. Former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly also hired Navigator during the Freedom Convoy in early 2022 to help with messaging while facing criticism for how he handled the weeks-long protest."
Licia Corbella: Trudeau offended by foreign money only when it opposes him - "The PM was so obsessed about donations from Americans helping to fund the truckers’ protest on Parliament Hill last winter that he actually brought it up with U.S. President Joe Biden last February. It remains unclear what he expected the president to do. Freeze his citizen’s bank accounts, perhaps? Despite Trudeau’s obsession with foreign funding, it turns out the majority of donations, 86 per cent through GoFundMe and 60 per cent through Give Send Go, we’re actually Canadian... More than 200 bank accounts were frozen under the Trudeau government’s Emergencies Act for supporting a cause the Prime Minister disagreed with. Regardless of what the Emergencies Act Inquiry found and which side of this issue you fall on, all Canadians should be alarmed that such draconian actions were taken by the prime minister against his own citizens. Which brings us to the stark contrast between Trudeau’s concern over individual U.S. citizens supporting a cause he disagrees with and his years of inaction and apathy towards foreign money being used to influence the most important cornerstone of our democracy — our free and fair elections... it’s alleged that at least 11 candidates were targeted by operatives of the Chinese government working to help Trudeau win those elections. There is also evidence that foreign money flowed into the 2015 election, though instead of donations coming from the Chinese regime, this money came from U.S. non-governmental organizations with the aim of defeating Conservative candidates. I broke that story back in 2017 and despite dire warnings of the danger of foreign money influencing Canadian elections, particularly by Jean-Pierre Kingsley, who served as Canada’s chief electoral officer for 17 years — from 1990 to 2007 — Trudeau’s government did very little to remedy election law loopholes big enough to drive a “747 jet” through, as Kingsley put it... 114 third parties spent $6 million during the 2015 election and many were funded by the California and New York-based Tides Foundation — which donated $1.5 million to Canadian third parties. It’s important to note that there was an $8,788 spending limit per riding for that election. Crockatt’s seat was one of 29 targeted by Leadnow, an organization allegedly “spawned” by foreign funding, with a campaign it called Vote Together. A December 2015 Leadnow report called Defeating Harper , boasts how successful its campaign was in the 2015 federal election. “The Conservatives were defeated in 25 out of 29 ridings, and . . . in the seats the Conservatives lost, our recommended candidate was the winner 96 per cent of the time,” states the report... When you consider that Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro spent one month in jail and four months under house arrest after being criminally convicted for spending too much of his own money on his own political campaign in 2008, it appears as though third-parties, including ones funded by foreign money, are held to a much lower standard than Canadians involved directly in the electoral process. Indeed, Yves Côté, who was the commissioner of Elections Canada between 2012 and 2022, admitted during an April 2017 Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee that an investigation needs to be launched following questions by then Conservative Senator Linda Frum."
I just see liberals claiming that the Post is foreign owned so it is unreliable. Conflict of interest is only a problem when it hurts liberal ends
China election interference investigation could cause more anti-Asian racism, communities warn
Doing what the CBC does best
Former Trudeau Foundation CEO quit over tensions on Chinese donation - "The former CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, Pascale Fournier, said she stepped down on April 10 alongside eight members of the board after she sought to shed some light on the Chinese donation of $140,000 but was met with fierce resistance. Fournier, who was appearing in front of the parliamentary committee of ethics Friday morning, told MPs her last weeks at the foundation were “very heated” and that she was personally attacked for insisting that certain board members recuse themselves from the investigation... Fournier told MPs that she only found out about the possible links between the donation and the Chinese government after seeing a Globe and Mail article from Feb. 28. The money came from Chinese billionaire Zhang Bin and Niu Gensheng, another wealthy Chinese businessman... Fournier said she found discrepancies between the donation contract, the two cheques — one sent in 2016 from an address in China and a second one in 2017 from an address in Quebec — and the tax receipts that were issued to the Canada Revenue Agency at the time, as well as the foundation’s annual reports. For instance, the two cheques were issued by a company named Millennium Golden Eagle International, but only the names of Zhang and Niu appear in the annual reports, she said... Fournier also found a number of emails from the China Cultural Industry Association, directing the foundation to tell them what to write on the tax receipts, including names and addresses. She told the committee that she found the content of those emails “very curious and troubling.” The China Cultural Industry Association says on its website it adheres to the “total leadership” of the Chinese Communist Party"
Trudeau refuses to clear up confusion over communication of China interference allegations
Stephen Harper thinks foreign interference is ‘far worse than we think’ - The Globe and Mail - "China’s political interference in Canada is pervasive, and likely goes well beyond what has already come to light, former prime minister Stephen Harper is warning, calling for an end to what he calls “naive globalism.”... “Xi Jinping is a much more long-term, serious threat than [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” he said. Under Mr. Xi, Beijing wants “to create a new world order, a hub-and-spokes global economy where all authority is ultimately centred in Beijing,” he said. Were China to attain Western standards of lifestyle and output, he said, its size means it would be three times more powerful than the U.S. at the end of the Cold War... He recalled how, as prime minister, he received pressure from the corporate sector to mute his criticism of China’s human-rights record. But the deal to allow China into the World Trade Organization “was the worst commercial arrangement in the history of mankind,” he said. “It essentially has allowed the Chinese unfettered access to our markets,” with no reciprocal guarantees of access to China’s own enormous population of consumers. Western leaders, he said, should approach trade with China in the same way it has itself approached trade. “I don’t think we should allow an import into this country, or an investment, unless it is specifically approved – and unless we are sure we are getting something in return,” he said. And “we need to unite. Western countries need to act in concert.” Mr. Harper was critical of Canada’s current approach to global affairs and economic management. Canadian foreign policy has been too soft, he argued, built around an idea of “go along to get along. Just being friends with everybody at all costs is kind of the objective.” It would be better, he said, to see more “hard thinking” in the Canadian approach, one propelled by the country’s values and interests, which include both security and economic priorities. That economy, he added, has become deeply imbalanced, insufficiently productive and too focused on demand policy. “You can’t solve the problem of stagflation by manipulating interest rates or deficits,” he said. “You need serious supply reforms to kickstart growth and encourage entrepreneurialism.” His proposed solutions echoed those of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, saying it is time to remove bureaucratic barriers to construction, housing, infrastructure and resource projects. “The kind of supply reforms you focus on are things that are going to attack – in this country – both bureaucratic and corporate, oligopolies, and monopolies that are holding back growth,” he said... He nonetheless offered a note of optimism at a time of deep political division and war. Look to history, he suggested: In 1979, inflation rates were near double-digits, unemployment was far higher, and the U.S.-led West “was losing every conflict around the world. The Soviet Empire was growing everywhere. It looked absolutely hopeless.” A decade later, with a new generation of leaders in power, the world was being remade."
Politicians allegedly targeted by foreign interference 'disappointed' in Johnston's report - "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Johnston as a special rapporteur on foreign interference in March in response to the furor over Chinese government interference... Chiu — who said he was not offered a meeting with Johnston — said he doesn't think that section of the report is a fair representation of what happened in 2021. "For [Johnston] to conclude that, I think to me, is a bit premature," he said. Chiu said that even though Johnston may have access to top secret information, he may not understand how election interference plays out "on the ground." NDP MP Jenny Kwan also expressed disappointment in Johnston's decision not to recommend a public inquiry. "I think there are a lot of unanswered questions that we're still waiting for," Kwan said. Unlike Chiu, Kwan said she was able to meet with Johnston, but only because NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh invited her to join him in his meeting with the special rapporteur."
Erin O'Toole says special rapporteur only met with him as report was already being translated - "The leader of the Conservative party during the 2021 election says special rapporteur on foreign interference David Johnston only met with him when his report was being translated and the review was “set up to fail” by the Liberal government... "To set the scene, Mr. Johnston did not reach out to the Conservative Party, my office, or Pierre Poilievre’s office until the final week of his initial assignment. He waited until the very end to meet with the current and former leaders of the party that had been the central target of the foreign interference he was charged with investigating"... O’Toole also had harsh words for an independent report that reviewed the system that was meant to protect Canada during the 2021 election. The report, headed by former senior government bureaucrat Morris Rosenberg, found the system worked as designed and there was no widespread interference during the last election. But O’Toole says Rosenberg didn’t speak to a single Conservative central actor from the 2021 election, despite implying in his report he conducted interviews with “party representatives.”"
Globe editorial: Mr. Singh, axe your alliance with the Liberals - The Globe and Mail - "NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will “use all our tools” to push for an independent public inquiry into China’s election meddling. He should reach for the one closest at hand: scrapping his parliamentary alliance with the Liberals, as a clear warning to the government that it cannot continue to ignore the will of Parliament... That agreement has allowed the Liberals to ignore the majority vote, 172-149, on a motion to call an independent public inquiry. That vote is non-binding since, under the Public Inquiries Act, only the government can initiate such an effort. It nevertheless is a crystal-clear expression of the will of MPs, but the Liberals have been able to ignore Parliament, secure in the knowledge that Mr. Singh has committed to support them under their agreement... the Prime Minister’s offer of secret briefings misses the entire point of why a public inquiry is needed: a full airing of what the government knew, when it knew it and what it did about it. Only that can begin to repair Canadians’ damaged confidence in our institutions... Mr. Singh can show the sincerity of his belief by ratcheting up the pressure on the Liberals, by scrapping his parliamentary alliance. Anything less than that will demonstrate that the NDP is not serious about ensuring public scrutiny is trained on Beijing’s meddling and Ottawa’s inaction. Anything less will show that the NDP thinks that wringing a few more dollars out of the government is more important than safeguarding Canada’s electoral system from China’s malign influence."
Opinion: Other world leaders may be brought to account, but Canadian prime ministers, it seems, are invincible - The Globe and Mail - "We do not have the same system of formalized checks and balances the Americans have, nor is the separation of powers so absolute. Our prime ministers have powers, particularly of appointment, that other heads of government can only dream of. Our legislatures can more easily be tamed, not only by prorogation but through the use of omnibus bills, limits on debate, or snap elections – or the threat of the same. Our committees are not so powerful as those in either the U.S. or the UK. But in part it is because of our culture of deference to the party leader, and to the prime minister in particular. Canada’s system of party discipline, it is well known, is among the most ferocious in the democratic world. A 2020 study of voting records in the 42nd Parliament, carried out by the Samara Centre for Democracy, found the average Canadian MP voted with his or her party fully 99.6 per cent of the time. The most independent-minded MP in the House bucked his party on just 3.4 per cent of votes; no other MP dissented even 2 per cent of the time. This is especially glaring in the case of government MPs. Opposition MPs, it is true, are no less captive of their party leader. But at least opposition MPs, pious frauds though they may be, have a professional interest in serving as a check on abuse of power. Whereas government MPs seem to think it is their job to collude in it. It was not always thus. It is not often recalled that, until the 1930s, a member of Parliament, on being appointed to cabinet, had first to resign his seat and run in a by-election. The practice, an inheritance of the British system, had its roots in the ancient proscription of ordinary members of Parliament from accepting offices of the Crown. But more broadly, it was because the MP’s role had changed: from being a watchdog on the government – yes, even as a member of the governing party – to being a member of it. Before he could accept such a post, therefore, he was obliged to ask his electors’ permission... It is only because we are in a minority Parliament that they have so much as a chance of being held to account. But even there it is a near thing. Liberal members of the committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) had no difficulty in filibustering for days on end to preserve the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, from having to testify about what she or the Prime Minister knew when, much as Liberal members of other committees had prevented them from calling witnesses – into SNC-Lavalin in particular – in the days when the government had a majority. (The same might be said, by the way, of the NDP members of these committees, who seem inclined to do the least they can possibly do to hold the government to account rather than put in jeopardy last year’s supply-and-confidence agreement. Party leader Jagmeet Singh’s intervention this week, helping the government in from the limb it had put itself on with the Telford filibuster, was in much the same spirit: While she will now have to testify before PROC, she was spared from having to testify before the Ethics committee (ETHI), where unlike PROC a Conservative occupies the chair.) This is the key. I have said the problem is that prime ministers, of whatever party, have too much power. That also makes the problem difficult to correct. It is possible to imagine all sorts of reforms to strengthen parliamentary oversight and hold the prime minister to account. But all of them require the prime minister’s approval to implement, and thus none of them are ever likely to pass. But why is that? Ultimately the prime minister’s powers do not derive from the laws or rules of the House – those can always be changed – but from the willingness of government MPs to acquiesce in them. Reforms may not be possible unless the prime minister agrees. But reforms are only necessary because government MPs refuse to do their job, as members of the legislative branch, of holding the executive to account."
Liberal MP Han Dong secretly advised Chinese diplomat in 2021 to delay freeing Two Michaels: sources - "Liberal MP Han Dong, who is at the centre of Chinese influence allegations, privately advised a senior Chinese diplomat in February 2021 that Beijing should hold off freeing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, according to two separate national security sources. Both sources said Dong allegedly suggested to Han Tao, China’s consul general in Toronto, that if Beijing released the “Two Michaels,” whom China accused of espionage, the Opposition Conservatives would benefit."
MP Han Dong leaving Liberal caucus, denies allegations of working against release of 2 Michaels
Trudeau government decided CSIS transcript of MP Han Dong provided no ‘actionable evidence’ - The Globe and Mail - "The Trudeau government determined that there was no “actionable evidence” after it received a CSIS transcript of an early 2021 conversation between Liberal MP Han Dong and China’s top diplomat in Toronto... Mr. Trudeau’s press secretary Ann-Clara Vaillancourt told The Globe on March 3 that the PMO only became aware of Mr. Dong’s conversation with the Chinese consul-general after The Globe reached out for comment"
Our reports of Chinese meddling got ignored for years: advocates | The Star - "The first time Cheuk Kwan and Sheng Xue testified to a parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee was in 2006. They warned of Beijing’s desire to “control everything” including activities of Canadians, and urged Ottawa to adopt a stronger stance in order to “earn (China’s) respect and not wrath.” “But every time we spoke to the government, it felt like we were putting on a show and helping them tick off a box that they were hearing from critics. Nothing was done,” Kwan said. Nearly 20 years later, he said they are part of a group of veteran Chinese-Canadian advocates and experts on China who are still struggling to be heard... None of the recent leaks of Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) warnings about Beijing’s foreign interference have surprised people in the country’s Chinese diaspora who have directly experienced Beijing’s intimidation and harassment, they say. “These are not even open secrets. It’s common knowledge,” said Kwan, an author and filmmaker who co-founded the Chinese Canadian National Council in 1980. “It’s just the tip of the iceberg.” Kwan’s group supported those who fled to Canada from China following the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, and he has since witnessed Beijing’s mobilization of resources to influence other societies, particularly in places such as Canada, the U.S. and Australia where many Chinese diaspora settled. These days most of the blame is attributed to the increasingly infamous United Front Work Department. Since 1979, the United Front has been an official bureau in China that employs thousands of agents to pursue the Chinese Communist Party’s political strategy to use international networks to advance its global interests. According to official documents, the bureau takes special interest in people of Chinese descent living abroad, viewing them as powerful external threats as well as potential allies... He and others also became suspicious when they saw buses of people arrive at federal political nomination meetings to support candidates who were known to shy away from critical messages about China, or when buses of international students in Toronto arrived to participate in counterprotests defending China’s position. Sources in the Chinese-Canadian community tell the Star that they have sent many tips, including copies of email correspondence, to RCMP and CSIS. In 2018, Mounties in Metro Vancouver probed allegations that the Chinese-state-linked Canada Wenzhou Friendship Society sent out messages on the social-media app WeChat urging chat group members to vote for certain candidates in mayoral elections — and offering a $20 transportation subsidy. But police later said they found no evidence of voter manipulation... And these are relatively subtle forms of influence, Kwan said: Beijing’s blunt tactic of coercion on Canadians is to threaten their friends, family members or business connections in China... many Canadians have told the Star that their reports of threats from foreign actors to police have gone largely unheeded. A Chinese student in Quebec only had two followers on Twitter, but he still didn’t escape Beijing’s tactics, which he alleged included tracking his IP address and threatening his father living in China. Chinese-Canadian reporters and others would whisper to each other the names of Canadian politicians of various backgrounds who they saw having meetings or attending events with Chinese consulate staff. But without support from Canadian law enforcement, they didn’t dare air those observations publicly... She thought she would be safe living with her mother in Greater Toronto, But since 2014, the award-winning writer has faced a relentless online smear campaign, including fake nude photos and a photo that seemed to show her kissing a man who is not her husband. “This started in 2014, the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. In addition to the online posts and images, thousands of emails were sent to my contacts with the material and if you Google my name in Chinese, there are still a lot of fake nude photos as well as my phone number listed in fake online ads offering sex services”... “I remember going to a police station in Mississauga to report, and the officer just advised me to change my phone number. I told him, ‘Whatever new number I choose, they will find it out right away.’”... “Of course, the CSIS leaks aren’t surprising. We’ve spent years sharing information to Parliament,” said Uyghur Canadian human-rights advocate Mehmet Tohti, echoing Kwan and Sheng’s frustrations. In the early 1990s, when the Chinese government was already targeting Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, the biology teacher left China for Turkey and then Canada. For over a decade, as China interned an estimated over a million people in Xinjiang in “re-education camps,” Tohti has been a prominent advocate, co-founding the World Uyghur Congress and working as the executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project based in Ottawa. For this work, he alleges, Chinese police threatened his mother at gunpoint and ordered her to not speak to her son again. The last time he spoke with her was on the phone in 2016 — to say goodbye. More recently, ahead of an unanimous House of Commons vote last month to accept 10,000 Uyghur refugees, a move that Tohti lobbied for, he said he received a menacing call from Chinese police. “They told me that my mother died and my two sisters are dead and it’s time for my cousin to pay the price. The message was basically that my family paid a heavy price and if I don’t stop, my cousin will be in danger. It’s a direct threat and it’s still ongoing”"
Internalised racism and white supremacy!
O’Toole says CSIS told him about ‘active’ voter suppression by Beijing - "Former Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) found an “active campaign of voter suppression” by China against him and his party in the 2021 election. O’Toole made the comments Tuesday from the floor of the House of Commons, within which MPs are protected by parliamentary privilege from civil or criminal prosecution under freedom of speech provisions. His speech comes after a briefing with CSIS last week. “I also believe my privileges as a Member and officer of Parliament were infringed by the government’s unwillingness or inability to act on the intelligence related to foreign interference,” O’Toole said. “The briefing confirmed to me what I had long suspected – that my party, several of my caucus colleagues and myself were the target of a sophisticated misinformation and voter suppression campaign orchestrated by the People’s Republic of China before and during the 2021 general election.”... Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed former governor general David Johnston as a “special rapporteur” on foreign interference. The opposition New Democrats, who have propped up the minority Liberal government, are now calling on Johnston to resign after he recommended against a public inquiry into foreign interference – a decision that has faced intense scrutiny and criticism since he announced it... Conservative MP Michael Chong’s family was targeted by Chinese officials miffed about the Ontario MPs support for a motion to recognize China’s treatment of the Uyghur minority as genocide. But targeting the leader of the Conservatives — and a potential prime minister — is another matter... In his report, Johnston said that officials were unable to tie misinformation about the Conservative campaign “to a state-sponsored source.”"
One of the cope from liberals is that Harper also welcomed the Chinese by promoting trade. Clearly it's the same as refusing to publicly investigate election interference
Opinion: I met with David Johnston for his report – here’s what happened - The Globe and Mail - "I take national defence and security matters seriously and I am disappointed that in the past few years our government has not. While my time in elected office will come to an end soon, I feel that I have a duty to speak out on the issue of foreign interference in our elections. I have watched this issue get progressively worse during my decade in politics. I have also been stunned by the level of indifference from the Trudeau government in their response to this rising threat... If I am to believe media reports, Mr. Johnston interviewed the Bloc Québécois Leader about events alleged to have taken place in British Columbia and Ontario – where Yves-François Blanchet ran no candidates – before he finally got around to me or the present Conservative Leader. This makes no sense... I was left with the clear impression that my meeting was nothing more than a box-checking exercise. I shared with them detailed examples of my concerns and how I believed that intelligence leaks on interference were the result of many years of inaction by the Prime Minister and senior officials and a steady erosion of trust with our security agencies charged with doing important work in our national interest. I was not really asked any questions or given any insights. It was a very strange meeting. When they made a comparison of nomination-level interference by China to nomination campaigns by specific groups in Canada, I realized that sharing my on-the-ground experiences leading the team that had been targeted by China was a waste of time... He was appointed to be the “Independent Special Rapporteur on Foreign Interference” but a quick review of his mandate shows that his examination of election interference largely consists of talking to the same political leaders and senior officials who have presided over the ineffective and trust-eroding decisions that led to the leaks in the first place. But as disappointing as this box-checking exercise was, even this was an improvement over the Rosenberg report... no senior Conservative Party officials were interviewed by Mr. Rosenberg about the 2021 election... The content of the report itself is even more concerning because Mr. Rosenberg suggests that he did speak to the Conservative Party... This suggests that the report was used by the Trudeau government as a way to discount or discredit the reports in The Globe and Mail and Global News. Add to that the perceived conflict of interest related to Mr. Rosenberg’s leadership of the Trudeau Foundation, and the Rosenberg report should not be viewed as credible in any way."
The source behind foreign interference leaks 'will be found' and punished, PM's security adviser says - "Jody Thomas says security official jeopardized intelligence secrets to leak information, gain ‘notoriety’... "There are better ways of doing this," Thomas said during the interview — her first since being named national security adviser. "There are better ways of raising your concerns within a national security agency. There are better ways of trying to bring some light to this topic than risking Canada's national security."... The source wrote that they were motivated to speak out because "it had become increasingly clear that no serious action was being considered. Worse still, evidence of senior public officials ignoring interference was beginning to mount."... Criticisms of the government's handling of the situation have been particularly ferocious when it comes to a 2021 CSIS intelligence analysis that said Chinese officials may have been targeting the overseas family of a Canadian MP. That MP turned out to be Michael Chong, now the Conservatives' foreign affairs critic. Chong allegedly was targeted by Beijing in response to his advocacy for the persecuted Uyghur minority. Chong himself was not informed of the CSIS report until two months ago, when it was reported on in the Globe. In the immediate aftermath, Prime Minister Trudeau said his office never received the document. He was forced to backtrack later in the week and acknowledge it was received but not brought to his attention."
He's so notorious, we don't know who it is
