Han Dong
Courtesy of CBC
 

Liberal MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, ON) yesterday said he welcomed an investigation of “insinuations” he kept secret contacts with Chinese Communist agents. Dong, the co-chair of the Canada-China Legislative Association, denied wrongdoing, according to Blacklock's Reporter.

“I strongly reject the insinuations in media reporting that allege I have played a role in offshore interference in these processes and will defend myself vigorously against such inaccurate and irresponsible claims,” said Dong. There was “no indication of any irregularities or compliance issues regarding my candidacy or election,” he said.

“Safeguarding Canada’s democracy is integral to public service,” said Dong. “I will support all fact-based efforts from parliamentarians to investigate alleged offshore interference and if called upon look forward to refuting these anonymous and unverified allegations.”

 

Global News on February 24 named Dong as a “witting affiliate in China’s election interference networks.” Global said Dong was under surveillance by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as early as June 2019 months before his election to Parliament, and that Dong was named in a CSIS memo distributed through the Prime Minister’s Office.

 

Dong was born in Shanghai and is former marketing director of the Canada-Shanghai Business Association. A longtime Liberal aide at the Ontario legislature, he served as a Toronto member of the assembly prior to winning a contested federal nomination in Don Valley North in 2019.

A Conservative-led investigation of alleged Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections is currently underway at the House affairs committee. Bloc Québécois and New Democrat MPs yesterday joined in demanding an independent public inquiry.

 

“Serious allegations that individual candidates may have been impacted by foreign interference deserve a thorough, transparent and independent investigation,” said New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh. “When Canadians learn about possible foreign interference through leaked documents, confidence in our democracy is put at risk.”

Any federal inquiry would be the first of its kind since a 1946 Royal Commission delved into contacts between public office holders and the Soviet Embassy. Ten individuals were convicted including Fred Rose, a Communist Party MP (Cartier, QC) sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for violating the Official Secrets Act.

 

The Global News report was the first to name names amid ongoing allegations of Chinese interference in Parliament. The Department of Public Safety in a 2022 briefing note Foreign Interference said it was aware foreign agents attempted to “influence federal officials” but did not elaborate.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former chief of the Asia-Pacific desk at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, last August 9 told the House of Commons ethics committee it was common knowledge that public office holders had improper contacts with foreign agents. “It is still happening,” he said.

 

“What we know for sure is we have various foreign countries that succeeded in recruiting elected officials – again, municipal, provincial or federal – and were capable of influencing this way,” testified Juneau-Katsuya. “We see that also, when we see at the end of their mandate, cabinet ministers going to work for a foreign company that works directly against national security and the national interests of Canada.”