Commentary
The recent controversy involving Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family being targeted by China is an enormous issue. For those who have repeatedly questioned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s commitment to ensuring that safety and security are among Canada’s highest priorities, this may be the biggest red flag of them all.
The Globe and Mail’s Robert Fife and Steven Chase recently published contents of a July 20, 2021, Canadian Security Intelligence Service report that examined China’s interest in Canada. The nine-page document
suggested the former viewed the latter as a “high-priority target,” had employed “incentives and punishment” to gain an advantage, and the targeting was “expected to continue and increase over time.”
CSIS also mentioned that a Chinese Ministry of State Security officer tried to obtain information about a Canadian MP’s relatives “who may be located in the PRC, for further potential sanctions.” This strategy was “almost certainly meant to make an example of this MP and deter others from taking anti-PRC positions.”
Who was the MP? The report didn’t name the individual. Fife and Chase, two of Canada’s top investigative journalists, found out. “A national-security source, whom The Globe is not naming because they risk prosecution under the Security of Information Act,” they wrote on May 1, “said the MP targeted was Conservative MP Michael Chong and that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Canada, was working on this matter.”
Yikes.
It’s common knowledge that Chong’s relationship with China has been strained for years. Beijing
sanctioned the Conservative foreign affairs critic in March 2021 for speaking out against the PRC’s disgraceful treatment of the Uyghur Muslims. (The story also
received international coverage at the time.) Chong, vice-chair of the Special Committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China Relationship, said he would wear it as a “badge of honour.”
With respect to the CSIS report, Chong “said he had no knowledge of this,” according to the Globe. He directly said this was “more evidence of the PRC’s meddling in Canadian democracy and more evidence for Ottawa to take immediate action.”
Here’s where things got much worse.
Trudeau was grilled about this controversy on May 3. “We asked what happened to that information, was it ever briefed up out of CSIS? It was not,” the PM
told reporters. “CSIS made the determination that it wasn’t something that needed be raised to a higher level because it wasn’t a significant enough concern.”
This statement was disproved the next day. By Chong himself, no less.
He
told the House of Commons on May 4, “I have just been informed by the national security adviser [Jody Thomas] that the CSIS intelligence assessment of July 20, 2021, was sent by CSIS to the relevant departments and to the national security adviser in the PCO. This report contained information that I and other MPs were being targeted by the PRC. This contradicts what the Prime Minister said yesterday.”
This jaw-dropping revelation put the floundering federal government on its back heels. Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly couldn’t mitigate the damage whatsoever. As for Trudeau, he
refused to address the contradiction’s source, saying at a news conference on May 5: “I’m not going to go into details on that.”
Chong brought up another valid point.
“CSIS has been advising the government, the departments, the Privy Council Office, the national security adviser and deputy ministers that foreign agents in Canada, foreign diplomats in Canada, are presenting a threat to Canadian MPs in the House of Commons,” he
said in the House on May 4. “In fact, the 2022 intelligence report from CSIS today says, ‘These threat actors must be held accountable for their clandestine activities. ... We will also continue to inform national security stakeholders and all Canadians about foreign interference.’ Why is the government not listening to the advice of CSIS and not listening to the advice in the reports that are being distributed?”
Indeed. Why not?
The way the Trudeau Liberals consume information from CSIS, or lack thereof, has been one of this government’s most troubling aspects since it took power in 2015. Ottawa often gives off the impression that CSIS reports aren’t significant or important, but of a lesser value. This hasn’t just been the case with China. Previous CSIS warnings about Russia, Iran, and other totalitarian nations have received similar treatment.
CSIS isn’t perfect. No organization is. The role they play in protecting Canada from existential threats to our democracy, liberty, and freedom is vital, however. How can the Liberals be trusted on any issue, from foreign election interference to border control, when they don’t appear to trust the judgement of intelligence officials who want to help ensure Canada remains safe and secure?
“Perception is reality,” the late GOP strategist Lee Atwater once
said. When it comes to our federal government, their perception of reality is downright frightening.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
