Liberals ignored CSIS warning on 2019 candidate accused in Chinese interference probe: sources | 24CA News

Three weeks earlier than Canada’s 2019 federal election, nationwide safety officers allegedly gave an pressing, categorized briefing to senior aides from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s workplace, warning them that one in all their candidates was a part of a Chinese international interference community.

According to sources, the candidate in query was Han Dong, then a former Ontario MPP whom Canada Security Intelligence Service began monitoring in June of that 12 months.

National safety officers additionally allege that Dong, now a sitting MP re-elected in 2021, is one in all at the very least 11 Toronto-area driving candidates allegedly supported by Beijing within the 2019 contest. Sources say the service additionally believes Dong is a witting affiliate in China’s election interference networks.

Three sources with data of the investigation mentioned Dong emerged as a successor to MP Geng Tan because the 2019 Liberal candidate in methods the service discovered suspicious. These sources spoke to Global News on the situation of anonymity, which they requested as a result of they danger prosecution underneath the Security of Information Act.

CSIS allegedly had intelligence that Beijing most well-liked Han Dong to Tan. “The Consulate was not pleased with Geng Tan’s performance,” a nationwide safety official conscious of the service’s investigation informed Global News.

The service relied on surveillance and wiretap proof in addition to human-source reporting, sources mentioned.

In late September, about 48 hours earlier than the federal election nomination deadline, CSIS urged Trudeau’s staff to rescind Dong’s candidacy, a nationwide safety official mentioned.

Sources alleged that Dong incessantly known as Chinese officers in Ontario and “was considered a close friend of the Toronto Consulate.”

CSIS was additionally allegedly involved in regards to the Liberal Party’s nomination course of. Among different irregularities noticed within the September 2019 contest, sources say, was that Chinese worldwide college students with pretend addresses have been allegedly bussed into the driving and coerced to vote in Dong’s favour.

An official with data of the temporary additionally mentioned that the service alleged that “Han Dong was a close contact of Michael Chan, who is a target of CSIS.”

Chan, a former Ontario cupboard minister, is a political kingmaker and pivotal Liberal fundraiser. Three intelligence sources mentioned investigators believed Chan had orchestrated Tan’s ouster with a marketing campaign that persuaded Justin Trudeau’s aides to again Dong as a substitute.

Sources conscious of the intelligence mentioned the alleged warning to the PMO about Dong and Chan didn’t present particulars of the continuing investigation however as a substitute outlined the considerations. They mentioned the warning was supposed to guard Canada’s democratic establishments.

Those identical sources conscious of the service’s Don Valley North investigations have been additionally troubled by the perceived affect of Chan, who’s now deputy mayor of Markham. They say he secretly offered political info to the Toronto Consulate and in addition promised to assault critics of the Chinese Communist Party.

Both Dong and Chan deny the allegations towards them.

“This sort of vague innuendo is impossible to respond to,” Chan mentioned in an emailed response to Global News’ questions. “To the extent you are suggesting I am not a true Canadian, you should be ashamed of yourself.”

In the e-mail, Chan additionally acknowledged, “First, I have a concern that CSIS or some of its employees are apparently breaking the law in selectively ‘leaking’ their false and unfounded opinions about me and other Canadians.”

With respect to the allegations from CSIS sources who mentioned Dong and Chan have been shut contacts and a part of the alleged 2019 election interference scheme, Chan wrote: “The implication from your phrase ‘in contact’ seems to be an allegation that we are part of some foreign Chinese spy ring, which is totally outrageous.”

Dong additionally rejected the allegations by e-mail.

“As a Member of Parliament, safeguarding Canada’s democratic institutions is a fundamental part of my job, and I take all serious allegations of foreign interference very seriously,” Dong wrote. “I am unaware of the claims provided to you by alleged sources, which contains seriously inaccurate information.”

In an emailed response to the CSIS allegations, Prime Minister’s Office spokesperson Alison Murphy mentioned the regulation didn’t allow her to touch upon questions relating to secret or top-secret issues. She additionally declined to reply Global News’ questions, saying that they had so many factual inaccuracies that it was not potential “to even begin to answer” them.

When pressed for examples, the PMO didn’t present any.

The PMO, did, nonetheless, provide help for its MP. “Han Dong is a strong representative who served his community through the pandemic and consistently works to make life better for people, including calling out discrimination that is too often targeted at the Chinese Canadian community,” Murphy mentioned.

The Prime Minister and senior officers preserve that the alleged interference didn’t compromise the general outcomes of the 2019 or 2021 contests. “Canadians can have confidence that integrity of our elections held,” Trudeau mentioned Thursday.

Global News has not confirmed the CSIS allegations on this story.

Another purpose the service determined to focus on Dong, an intelligence official mentioned, was his alleged assembly with a senior official from Beijing’s United Front Work Department in New York state, in accordance with sources and paperwork. This occasion is alleged to have taken place in the course of the service’s 2019 election interference probe.

This organ of the Chinese Communist Party is facilitating Beijing’s huge political subversion operations in Canada, in accordance with a January 2022 Privy Council Office “Special Report” that summarizes findings from the service’s 2019 investigations. Beijing, nonetheless, denies utilizing the United Front to help CCP coverage overseas.

“The Liberal Party of Canada is becoming the only party that the People’s Republic of China can support,” says a Dec. 20, 2021, CSIS report reviewed by Global News.

It continues to say that after the September 2021 federal election, CSIS collected intelligence that Chinese consulate officers imagine “it is easy to influence Chinese immigrants to agree with PRC’s stance.”

The report — which CSIS distributed to the CIA, FBI, in addition to Australian, New Zealand and British intelligence providers — concludes: “PRC officials anticipate that in the next federal election, voters from Mainland China will show their strength again.”

For that purpose, ridings in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, comparable to Don Valley North, are more and more essential in Canadian elections. A majority of Don Valley North’s voters establish as Asian-Canadian, many with ties to Hong Kong or mainland China. As a consequence, political and financial relations with Beijing play a job in election technique.

Global’s investigation into Chan’s actions in Don Valley North additionally raises questions of whether or not CSIS and the RCMP can examine Canadian politicians,  intelligence and political sources mentioned.

It additionally brings up considerations that Trudeau’s workplace might have downplayed warnings about Chan due to his fundraising ties to senior celebration officers.

“Michael Chan is involved centrally in decision-making, and the party consults with him and his team,” one GTA Liberal politician mentioned, referring to Chan’s capability to advocate native candidates and celebration personnel to Trudeau’s workplace.

“They are kingmakers of the party, standing behind the scenes and moving their pawns. So if they can produce the money, the party is putty in their hands.”

In response to Global’s questions on Dong’s nomination, Chan mentioned that he supported Dong’s candidacy however added that he supported many different federal Liberal candidates.

“That being said, my relationship with him is essentially the same as with many other past or present colleagues,” Chan mentioned.

Even if allegations relating to Chan and Dong’s alleged acts for the Chinese Communist Party are confirmed to be true, some nationwide safety specialists say Canada lacks international interference legal guidelines that may make these actions unlawful.

Intelligence sources added they imagine Canadians have to know the way deeply endangered future elections are and that the residents most impacted are Chinese Canadians, lots of whom concern the facility of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rising affect and safety equipment in Canada.

The considerations additionally embody so-called Chinese police stations presently probed by RCMP investigators in Vancouver and Toronto, the place Chinese safety officers are believed to function undercover and goal Chinese diaspora residents, together with Beijing’s critics.

CSIS wouldn’t touch upon the precise allegations towards Dong and Chan.

“CSIS takes any allegations of foreign interference in Canada’s democratic institutions and processes by foreign states, including the People’s Republic of China and its ruling Chinese Communist Party, very seriously,” wrote spokesman Brandon Champagne in an e-mail.

In response to questions from Global News relating to the service’s allegations and experiences on China’s election interference, officers from the People’s Republic’s embassy acknowledged: “the allegations in the report are purely baseless and defamatory.”

Nominations and Money

Delving extra deeply into the alleged irregularities in Dong’s 2019 nomination, sources say a case cited in an October 2022 CSIS report, underneath the subheading “Nomination Processes,”  outlines systemic points within the contest, starting with who is definitely voting.

“Individuals who are not Canadian citizens, and therefore cannot vote in elections at any level of government in Canada — can still vote in a party nomination process as long as they are party members,” the CSIS file says.

It provides that “gaining a party’s nomination in a riding that has long supported that party is akin to winning the subsequent election,” and hostile state actors “exploit this loophole to engage in Foreign Interference that target specific candidates in particular electoral ridings.”

While it doesn’t establish Dong or his driving, the report describes the service’s Don Valley North investigation findings, an intelligence official mentioned.

“CSIS reporting indicates that, during a political party nomination vote prior to the 2019 General Election in Canada, two busloads of Chinese Canadian seniors were brought in to support a specific candidate,” the report says.

It provides that the seniors had the title of the candidate they have been informed to vote for hid underneath their sleeves.

Sources additionally say CSIS investigations alleged that Chinese worldwide college students with pretend addresses have been bussed into Don Valley North and coerced to vote for Han Dong’s nomination in 2019.

“Chinese international students were also transported in to support the same candidate,” the report says. “The students were given letters that provided them with an address in the specific riding, thereby enabling them to participate in the nomination vote. The students were also ‘told by the PRC Consulate’ to support the specific candidate, ‘if they want(ed) to maintain their student visa status.’ CSIS intelligence indicates that this candidate is very close to — and receives support from — the PRC Consulate.”

In response to those particulars, the Liberal Party of Canada mentioned that Dong was nominated by registered Liberals in an open nomination course of that complied with its nationwide nomination guidelines. “And we thank Han for his continued work championing the issues that matter to the people of Don Valley North,” mentioned LPC director of communications Parker Lund.

Lund added that an eligible voter in an open nomination course of should current identification to show their handle is situated in the identical electoral district that they’re voting in.

In response to the allegations, Dong mentioned, “my nomination in 2019 was open and followed the rules.”

“In 2019 and again in 2021, my team and I successfully lead an inclusive and welcoming campaign to engage our neighbours in the democratic process,” Dong wrote, “and I reject any attempts to undermine people’s faith in this process.”

The October 2022 CSIS report, which sources say summarized high-level assessments gleaned from the service’s Dong and Chan investigations, explains that Chinese intelligence employs “community networks” to hide Beijing’s funding and affect of Canadian election candidates.

In April 2018, when Chan introduced he wouldn’t run for re-election as an Ontario MPP, the service had already been monitoring the previous cupboard minister for over a decade, in accordance with sources conscious of prior and ongoing investigations.

Those sources say their considerations included Chan’s unusually shut relations with Chinese officers and ties with pro-Beijing group leaders additionally investigated by CSIS in Toronto.

In reply to the CSIS allegation that Chan offered experiences on political points to Chinese officers, he responded, “If they are alleging this, it is not true.”

Sources mentioned among the service’s extra pointed considerations about Chan and Dong’s actions within the Ontario legislature are documented in a July 2018 CSIS file, “Foreign Influenced Activities in Canada: Critical Threats to Canadian Democracy.”

“A provincial Cabinet Minister responsible for the province’s ‘dealings with PRC officials appeared to favour China’s interests in many of his activities,’” a doc referring to the 2018 CSIS file says. “This individual provided political information to the PRC Consulate and offered to verbally attack other members of the provincial assembly who raised Chinese human rights issues.”

The identical doc additionally says: “PRC Consulate officials and two members of a provincial legislature persuaded a Member of Parliament at a specific community event to decline an invitation to travel to Taiwan. The PRC Ambassador was kept apprised throughout the event on the progress of their efforts.”

Three intelligence sources mentioned Michael Chan and Han Dong have been the unidentified Ontario Liberal MPPs who pressured Liberal MP Geng Tan to forgo the Taiwan journey.

Beijing’s prime international coverage is the so-called “reunification” of Taiwan, a democratic nation that the Chinese Communist Party considers a renegade province. Thus, a lot of Beijing’s interference in Canada is geared toward blocking any political engagement with Taiwanese officers, the January 2022 Privy Council Office “Special Report” reviewed by Global News mentioned.

Geng Tan’s woes

In December 2018, Tan introduced he’d run for re-election. His Facebook web page reveals he continued to attend political occasions for Trudeau’s authorities till April 2019.

Around the identical time, Geng Tan grew to become engulfed in a weird scandal, making him a possible legal responsibility for Trudeau in an overwhelmingly Liberal driving the place a nomination is equal to an election win.

On May 11, a report was printed on WeChat, a Chinese state-controlled messaging app, alleging Tan was having an extra-marital affair. A second Chinese media article reported the allegations on May 19.

Tan has repeatedly denied the affair and declined to touch upon this story. “I’m a private citizen,” he informed Global News at his residence.

An intelligence supply immediately conscious of the Chan investigation mentioned the service believes Chan might have influenced these experiences. According to sources with data of the CSIS probe, Chan advisable to Trudeau’s workplace that Dong ought to substitute Tan because the nominee for Don Valley North.

Within a month, Tan introduced on Facebook he wouldn’t run: “After much consideration, I have come to [the] conclusion that time has now come to spend more time with family and pursue other careers.”

On June 25, the National Post ran a narrative with the next headline: “Liberal MP hired girlfriend to work in riding office, then fired her and refused to support their baby, lawyers allege.”

Two days later, on June 27, Michael Chan and Han Dong held a press convention for Chinese media within the workplace of a group chief, asserting Dong’s bid to be the Liberal candidate in Tan’s vacated driving.