Canadian lawmaker speaks out on being targeted by China

OTTAWA — The Canadian member of Parliament allegedly targeted by a Chinese diplomat in a foreign meddling scheme said his story illustrates how the country’s national security system is malfunctioning.

Conservative MP Michael Chong said the fact he learned about his case through a newspaper leak of classified intelligence is a “symptom of a national security and intelligence system that is not working” and that intelligence is not being shared properly with legislators.

And he said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is to blame for not moving to fix the broken machinery of government — processes, protocols and the way institutions are set up — sooner.

“The last several weeks have been a trying time for me and my family,” Chong told a parliamentary hearing, but added his case is only one among an unquantifiable number of Canadians who have “suffered in silence” under threat from foreign governments.

Chong told his story to Canadian legislators at the procedure and House affairs committee Tuesday evening and laid out how he and his extended family in Hong Kong suddenly found themselves in the crosshairs of a foreign government aiming to influence the country’s domestic politics.

He said it was “shocking” to learn there was a diplomat on Canadian soil that “put a target” on the backs of he and his family.

The saga ensued in the wake of an incredibly rare Canadian intelligence leak to the Globe and Mail newspaper, which revealed Canada is a high-priority target of Beijing and that Chong was targeted. Chong had notably sponsored a motion in 2021 decrying China’s abuses of the Uyghur Muslim minority population as a genocide.

The explosive revelations that landed just two weeks ago resulted in Canada expelling Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei a week ago, followed by China retaliating in kind by ordering Shanghai-based Canadian diplomat Jennifer Lalonde to leave the country.

China has denied the allegations and condemned the expulsion of its diplomat.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on May 9, “Canadian media and senior politicians have cited so-called CSIS ‘classified documents’ to smear the Chinese diplomatic and consular missions in Canada.”

Chong said the unauthorized intelligence leak is “injurious” to confidence in Canada among its Five Eyes intelligence-sharing allies and it would not have happened if the system was “functioning properly.”

Chong rattled off a list of ways to fix the problem, including looking to “best practices” from the U.S. and the U.K.

A key political sticking point in the controversy is that it happened years ago, in 2021, yet Trudeau had said he was never briefed on the case before it went public, and said Canada’s spy agency should have warned Chong sooner.

Earlier Tuesday, the government moved to ensure the spy agency shares information with parliamentarians under threat.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told reporters he and the prime minister need to be “informed directly” on cases involving attempts by other countries to influence parliamentarians.

The Globe has meanwhile reported the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is drafting a list of parliamentarians to brief on attempted political interference by China involving their family members, widening the scope of the scandal.

But Mendicino would not reveal how many other politicians may have been targeted, citing the law covering national secrets.

“Any form of foreign interference is unacceptable,” he said. “This is an issue that is evolving. It is complex. It is not easy.”