Michael Taube: How the Trudeau Liberals Lost the Plot With Chinese Election Interference

The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Commentary

For more than 25 years of writing columns and making media appearances, I’ve often discussed the importance of controlling the political narrative. It’s a key component for successful governments, and an art form unto itself.

The narrative is the messaging, or series of events, pertaining to a particular issue, policy, event, or controversy. There are times when it’s been shaped by parties and leaders. There are moments where it naturally develops on its own. No matter how it evolves, it’s always incumbent on the government to ensure the narrative points in their general direction for as long and as often as possible.

Do leaders and governments regularly mishandle the narrative? Yes. Case in point, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals continually losing the plot with respect to allegations of Chinese election interference in Canada.

Ottawa foolishly tried to downplay the entire matter from the start, for instance.

Trudeau has claimed he was never “briefed” about the 11 federal candidates allegedly involved in 2019 election interference “receiving any money from China” during intelligence briefings. Opposition politicians have expressed doubts over this. As Bloc Quebecois MP Alain Therrien said in Parliament last November, “Either [the PM is] hiding the truth and knows that China is trying to destabilize our democracy...or he’s revealing that he’s diplomatically irresponsible to the point of being dangerous.”

Meanwhile, the Conservatives said they strongly “considered going public” in the 2021 election “with warnings of potential foreign interference in the campaign” in up to 13 ridings, according to an internal party document. In hindsight, they should have gone ahead. The Liberals also tried to tie Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s comments about election interference to former U.S. President Donald Trump, a clear sign of desperation if ever there was one.

Every Liberal dart to deflect attention away from themselves failed to hit its target. Opposition parties successfully pushed back, and the public turned against the PM and his government.

There’s also the story of Han Dong, a Liberal MP in the Ontario riding of Don Valley North.

Beijing had apparently soured on then-sitting Liberal MP Geng Tan in 2019, according to a Feb. 28 report by Global News. The Chinese Consulate in Toronto “was not pleased with [his] performance,” in the words of an unnamed national security official with knowledge about this matter. Dong, who sources reportedly claim “frequently called Chinese officials in Ontario” and was “considered a close friend of the Toronto Consulate,” ultimately became Tan’s successor. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, reportedly found the ways he did this to be “suspicious.” For instance, Global News noted that “Chinese international students with fake addresses were allegedly bussed into the riding and coerced to vote in Mr. Dong’s favour.”

The Liberals defended Dong for a lengthy period of time. Senior advisers to Trudeau reportedly ignored CSIS warnings about election interference just before the 2019 election that directly pointed to Dong’s involvement. Even when the allegations spread to include Progressive Conservative MPP Vincent Ke, the provincial representative of Don Valley North riding, they didn’t follow Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s lead and ask him to step away from their caucus.

Until a March 22 Global News story broke another intelligence report about the embattled Liberal MP, that is. Dong reportedly met with Han Tao, China’s consul-general in Toronto, in February 2021 and allegedly suggested Beijing delay freeing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, or the two Michaels. Why? Their release could have potentially aided the Conservatives’ political fortunes, the report says. After a public outcry, Dong finally stepped away from caucus. He denies the allegations.

We also can’t forget Trudeau’s decision to ignore calls for a public inquiry in spite of a growing tide of Canadian support.

A March 10 Abacus Data poll showed that 72 percent of Conservative voters, 71 percent of Liberal voters, and 65 percent of NDP voters support a public inquiry. An NDP motion in support of a public inquiry passed on Mar. 23 by a vote of 172-149, with the Liberals opposing it en masse. Trudeau is free to ignore this non-binding motion, but it will be incredibly hard to justify.

In spite of all this, Trudeau continues to stand by his decision to maintain former governor general David Johnston as a special rapporteur to investigate Chinese election interference. Johnston is widely regarded as a decent, honourable man with decades of public service. Yet it quickly became clear he was the wrong choice to fill the special rapporteur appointment due to his long-standing ties with Trudeau, his family, and China. The PM has refused to budge thus far.

That’s three separate instances where Ottawa has clearly lost the narrative. There were things they could have done to stop the political bleeding. An immediate recognition of the problem instead of avoiding and evading the controversy would have helped. Real solutions to the long-standing problem of interference in our elections and democratic process, including a public inquiry, would have made sense. Asking Dong to leave the Liberal caucus immediately wouldn’t have hurt.

Instead, this is shaping up to be a case study of ineffectiveness during a political crisis. Governments need to immediately deal with major issues and controversies rather than ignore the problems, let them drag on, or sweep them aside. That’s a narrative the Trudeau Liberals should have employed from the beginning.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.