A Canadian lawmaker has accused government officials of turning a blind eye to Chinese harassment of his family as pressure mounts on Justin Trudeau to launch a public inquiry into Beijing’s attempts to meddle in the country’s domestic politics.
The Globe and Mail reported that China’s intelligence agency had sought information about Michael Chong’s family in Hong Kong “for further potential sanctions” over the Conservative MP’s criticism of Beijing’s human rights abuses. The paper also reported that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Toronto, was part of the harassment campaign.
“The government did nothing about a person in Canada that was targeting me and my family and targeting other members of parliament,” Chong told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. “The government knew about this two years ago and did nothing.”
“They didn’t expel [Zhao]. In fact, they continued to accredit this individual as a diplomat, giving this individual special rights and immunities not afforded to Canadians, allowing this individual to continue the correction and intimidation campaign,” he said, adding he believed there were “political calculations” in the decision not to notify him. He called the failure an “appalling breakdown of leadership on the part of the prime minister”.
Chong has been an outspoken critic of Beijing and led a 2021 effort to hold a parliamentary vote to recognize China’s treatment of the Uyghur population as genocide. He said that he had made the decision years ago to cut off contact with family in Hong Kong out of an “abundance of caution” for their safety and is unaware of what threats or harassment they may have faced.
Trudeau told reporters that the country’s spy agency needs to do a better job sharing more information with the federal government about threats to lawmakers and their families.
Trudeau said he was previously unaware of the allegations and only learned of them through the Globe’s reporting. The prime minister said he was later told by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that it “wasn’t a significant enough concern” to notify him.
Earlier in the day, the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, said he found it “very hard to believe” that CSIS wouldn’t tell the prime minister or his top public safety minister about the threats.
“This is insane. You know, if any one of you were to threaten the family of an MP because of a vote in the House of Commons, you would be in jail. This guy’s not only not in jail, he’s in Canada with diplomatic immunity.”
In an apparent reference to Chong, China’s Toronto consulate general said on Thursday that a report of consular officers “coercing” a Canadian lawmaker and his family had “no factual basis and is purely baseless”, and alleged that Canadian media and politicians had ulterior motives. “We express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to this,” said a consular statement.
Chong said he was previously briefed by CSIS in 2021, along with other lawmakers, about general foreign interference threats, but no specifics were ever raised by the spy agency.
Both Poilievre and New Democratic party leader, Jagmeet Singh, have repeatedly called on the prime minister to call a public inquiry into China’s election interference efforts. A recently appointed special rapporteur, David Johnston, is expected to make a decision on whether to call an inquiry later this month.
