星空传媒

Skip to main content

Former MP says Canada has become 'open market' for foreign interference in elections

Share
Richmond -

A former British Columbia member of Parliament says he fears Canada has become an "open market" for foreign governments to sway elections after being named in a newspaper report as the target of an alleged campaign by Chinese diplomats to defeat him.

Kenny Chiu, a Conservative who lost his seat of Steveston-Richmond East in the 2021 election, says he's not surprised by the report in the Globe and Mail citing Canadian intelligence documents and describing alleged efforts to oust candidates seen as unfriendly to Beijing.

Chiu, who has previously said he was targeted by pre-election misinformation on Chinese-language social media, says there's been a lack of action from Ottawa on foreign interests operating in Canadian politics.

He says he's "gravely concerned" about Canada's national security situation and the ability of "predatorial regimes" such as China, Russia and Iran to influence votes here.

Chiu says he's frustrated that more isn't being done to counter foreign interference in Canadian elections.

The Globe and Mail report says Canadian Security Intelligence Service documents describe then-Chinese consul-general in Vancouver Tong Xiaoling boasting about a strategy that led to the defeat of two Conservative MPs in 2021.

Chiu and then-Richmond Centre MP Alice Wong, also a Conservative, both lost their seats in 2021 after suffering large drops in vote share.

Richmond has a large population of Chinese immigrants.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2023. 

IN DEPTH

Opinion

opinion

opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

CTVNews.ca 星空传媒

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man鈥檚 best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.

Stay Connected