Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dodged questions about MP Han Dong after an intelligence report presented at the foreign interference inquiry said Mr. Dong advised a Chinese official on the two Michaels’ detention in China.
“Foreign interference is a real challenge,” responded Mr. Trudeau when asked by reporters about the information and whether it changes his opinion of Mr. Dong’s fitness for caucus.
When pressed by reporters about not having answered the question, Mr. Trudeau said “obviously, these are ongoing conversations that need to be taken very seriously.”
Global reported that Mr. Dong said Beijing should hold off freeing the two Michaels to avoid the potential political benefits for the Conservative Party.
Mr. Dong has sued Global for defamation and he told the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference on April 2 that he has always advocated for the two Michaels. He also said that he wishes to rejoin the Liberal caucus.
Allegations
A sanitized summary of the CSIS information was presented to Mr. Dong at the inquiry, which was drawn from an intercepted conversation he had in early 2021 with Toronto’s Chinese consul general Han Tao.“MP Dong expressed the view that even if the PRC [People’s Republic of China] released the ‘Two Michaels’ at that moment, opposition parties would view the PRC’s action as an affirmation of the effectiveness of a hardline Canadian approach to the PRC,” says the intelligence summary.
“MP Dong stressed that any transparency provided by the PRC in relation to the ‘Two Michaels’, such as a court hearing or court date, would help to placate Canadian public opinion and provide some valuable talking points to his own political party against the opposition,” adds the intelligence summary.
Mr. Dong told the inquiry he didn’t have an exact recollection of the conversation but admitted he had spoken with the consul general about the two Michaels.
Among the accusations was that Mr. Dong had benefitted from Chinese nationals in Canada on student visas who helped him during the 2019 Liberal nomination in his riding by being bussed in to vote for him. This topic was addressed during Mr. Dong’s testimony at the inquiry.
Mr. Dong had changed his evidence just before appearing at the commission to indicate he was aware that international Chinese students from a high school had been bussed in to vote in his 2019 Liberal nomination contests. Mr. Dong acknowledged he had courted the students for votes and to volunteer for his campaign, but defended the move, saying they were residents of the riding. The school, though, is outside his riding of Don Valley North.
Liberal Party rules for nomination allow individuals over 14 and residing in Canada to vote. There is no restriction related to citizenship or permanent residency.
A summary of federal government intelligence presented at the inquiry says that students were “provided with falsified documents to allow them to vote,” and that the documents were provided by “individuals associated with a known proxy agent” of the PRC. It adds the Chinese consulate issued “veiled threats” to the students that they could lose their visas if they didn’t vote for Mr. Dong.
Mr. Dong said he was not aware of these issues and he “would be the first one condemning it.” Mr. Dong has not responded to multiple requests to comment from The Epoch Times.
The prime minister had been briefed about this issue before the closure of the 2019 nomination contest but decided to let Mr. Dong become the Liberal candidate in the riding.
He told reporters on April 3 that he believes foreign interference did not impact the 2019 and 2021 elections and that his government has taken adequate steps to counter foreign interference.
Mr. Trudeau and his political staff will testify at the inquiry in the coming days.
