We Don't Have to Trade With China

This China:

The Liberal candidate selected by Mark Carney to replace one who dropped out over a China-related controversy is a member of a Beijing-friendly lobby organization and has given talks at events honouring a Toronto group that advocates for the annexation of Taiwan by China.

Onetime Toronto police deputy chief Peter Yuen, who is now carrying the Liberal banner in the Toronto-area riding of Markham-Unionville, succeeded Paul Chiang. The former MP stepped down April 1 after news broke that he had talked to reporters about how someone could take a Conservative candidate and human-rights advocate to the Chinese consulate to claim a bounty put on him by Hong Kong authorities.

Foreign interference has been a significant topic in this federal election campaign, including this week when Ottawa’s election-interference watchdog announced that it had detected an information operation from Beijing aimed at shaping public opinion among Chinese-Canadians about Mr. Carney.

Mr. Yuen appears to have a strong relationship with China’s diplomatic mission in Toronto. In 2014, the consulate held an event to mark his promotion to Toronto police superintendent. He has attended consulate celebrations, including one in January, 2020, that included a photo display on Xinjiang province that did not acknowledge Beijing’s brutal treatment of its Muslim Uyghur minority there. Canada’s Parliament adopted a motion in 2021 that declared China’s treatment of its Uyghurs a genocide.

Mr. Yuen has also spoken at and attended events of the Toronto branch of Chinese Freemasons, which has advocated for what it calls the “peaceful reunification of China and Taiwan,” a phrase rejected by the Taiwanese government, which contends that only the self-governing island can decide its own future. Ottawa’s position is that it opposes the use of coercion or force to unilaterally change the status quo of Taiwan.

The new Liberal candidate as of Wednesday was listed as honorary director of the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada (JCCC), a Toronto-headquartered organization founded in 2002 with clear ties to China’s United Front Work Department. The UFWD answers to the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s central committee and oversees Beijing’s influence, propaganda and intelligence operations inside and outside of China.

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He described a complex scheme in which Beijing funded and used organized crime gambling rings to influence votes for certain candidates in Taiwan.
“I will share an example that has been happening in Taiwan and probably elsewhere, including Canada,” Jan said. “This is a very… https://t.co/UdGsbrwiqc

— Sam Cooper (@scoopercooper) April 10, 2025

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🎤 REPORTER: “Why does China like you? Why is the PRC praising you?”
🇨🇳
CARNEY:

“Uh… I have absolutely no idea. And I, um… yeah.
I have absolutely no idea. And I think it, well… I’ll leave it at that.”

😬 That’s not the answer of someone with nothing to hide.
That’s the… pic.twitter.com/WEnDSFEO0v

— Jim Ferguson (@JimFergusonUK) April 9, 2025

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Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday said Canadians “can’t believe everything you read” about his contacts with friends of China. Carney denied meeting members of a pro-People’s Republic business group despite photographic evidence: “I certainly never had a set-up meeting.”

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Canadian intelligence reported in 2021 that Beijing planned to interfere in Canada’s next federal election with disinformation suggesting the Conservatives “will follow the path of … Donald Trump”—a narrative now echoed in a clandestine dirty tricks operation exposed inside Prime Minister Mark Carney’s campaign.

The warning comes from a classified CSIS bulletin dated December 20, 2021 and marked Secret, distributed to Canadian departments including Global Affairs Canada, the Privy Council Office, the Communications Security Establishment, and Five Eyes intelligence partners. The report was based on information from Chinese consular officials in Canada.

According to the CSIS assessment, a consulate official in mid-November 2021 discussed how Chinese influence in federal ridings with large Chinese-Canadian populations had proven effective, and laid out a forward-looking strategy to shape future electoral outcomes. The official reportedly stated:

“Ethnic Chinese voters should be told that if the CPC wins a federal election, the CPC will follow the path of former United States President Donald Trump and ban Chinese students from certain universities or educational programs. This will threaten the future of the voters’ children.”

The consulate official also suggested that during Canada’s next federal election, the message should be circulated that the Conservative Party of Canada “is critical of the PRC and opposed to individuals from mainland China.” The remarks were made shortly after Justin Trudeau’s Liberals won a minority government in the fall of 2021.

CSIS concluded that PRC officials believed Chinese immigrants were relatively easy to influence toward Beijing’s geopolitical goals and could be mobilized to oppose Canada’s Conservative Party. The bulletin describes a broader context in which Chinese state actors sought to paint Canadian Conservatives as hostile to immigrants, aligned with Trump-style nationalism.

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That's what we call a buy-out:

The Trudeau Foundation has passed a 15-month federal audit but cut all ties with the Trudeau family. Alexandre Trudeau, the former prime minister’s brother, was replaced as executive director after endorsing a six-figure donation from friends of the Chinese Communist Party: “These changes mark a significant step forward.”

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Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre yesterday questioned why a public registry of foreign agents approved by Parliament 10 months ago is still not in operation. The Department of Public Safety did not comment: “Find out who is a bad actor.”

Forget about Trump.

The real enemy is selling this country off to China piecemeal.