The furor that led Paul Chiang to drop out of the election portends poorly for Canadian sovereignty. Amidst Donald Trump’s threats Canada should be seeking rapprochement with China not more Washington-instigated Sinophobia.
On Friday the Toronto Association for Democracy in China brought to light a tasteless joke made by a Liberal MP about a Conservative opponent. In January Markham-Unionville MP Paul Chiang told Chinese language journalists — as quoted by Ming Pao daily — that they could receive a $1 million HK ($184,000 CDN) reward for taking Conservative candidate Joe Tao to the Chinese consulate. In December Hong Kong authorities offered the reward (bounty) for any information leading to Tao’s arrest. Alongside nearly 20 others, they accused the founder of the critical outlet Hongkonger Station of violating the Chinese Island state’s security law.
The bounty appears to be a repressive response to someone promoting anti-Hong Kong messages. Canadians shouldn’t make light of it.
But anti-China hysteria is a bigger problem. Even though Chang immediately apologized and Mark Carney deplored the comment, the RCMP suggested the joke may violate the law and the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force said they were actively reviewing the controversy. Tuesday’s Globe and Mail included a front-page story headlined “Carney stands by candidate who suggested rival be turned over to China”, two letters criticizing Chiang, an official editorial noting “Mark Carney has to dump Paul Chiang” and a column titled “It’s astonishing that Paul Chiang is still running”. On Monday Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong labelled Chiang’s joke “one of the most undemocratic things ever said in an election” that “will negatively impact our democracy for years to come.”
Days after Israel killed and maimed hundreds, including children, by turning pagers in Lebanon into bombs, Conservative MP Michael Barret joked about hearing a pager as he criticized NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson. Barrett never apologized, let alone resigned. Isn’t an assassination joke in favour of a country committing genocide worse than Chiang’s detention joke?
The NDP jumped on the Chiang gaffe. An ardent critic of a country that has lifted 800 million out of extreme poverty over the past four decades, Vancouver MP Jenny Kwan vociferously criticized Chiang. She called his comment “absolutely astounding” while Canada faces “active, sophisticated foreign interference activities targeting Canada’s democratic institutions.”
Subsequently, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh called Carney’s unwillingness to dump Chiang “unacceptable” and his comments “chilling”. Singh said a wide array of diaspora communities felt threatened by his comment.
But Singh has largely ignored the plight of dozens of Palestinian Canadians who have lost their jobs or been otherwise harmed recently for speaking out against Israel’s slaughter of their brethren in Gaza. Or the hundreds of Arab, Muslim and other critics of genocide harmed by Israel lobby authoritarianism.
(In response to the kerfuffle one Conservative commentator lauded Joe Tay for running in a riding “riddled with foreign interference”. Andy Lee tweeted, “Joe Tay has made himself a target by fighting to represent Canadians in a riding riddled with foreign inference”. A “riding riddled with foreign inference” appears to be code for many of Chinese descent. Imagine labeling the heavily Jewish riding in which Anthony Housefather and Neil Oberman are out doing each other with expressions of fidelity to Israel as “a riding riddled with foreign inference”.)
I have little interest in defending a former police officer, turned Liberal MP, but the Chiang case highlights the anti-China panic in Canada. As I’ve argued, the brouhaha over “foreign interference” largely reflects US power in Canada and racism. The Canadian institutions most strongly connected to the US, such as CSIS and the military, have led the China interference scare.
As Washington prepares for war with its only peer competitor, the Conservatives, NDP and most of Canada’s media are demanding Carney get tougher on China. The front of Wednesday’s National Post noted, “Carney weak on China. And watchers in Washington have noticed”. In it Tasha Kheiriddin claims, “Canada’s trade imbalance and flow of fentanyl may be the irritants cited by the White House for its belligerent attitude, but an underlying reason is our political and economic infiltration by China… So while tariffs are the stick, and fentanyl the scape-goat, the endgame for Trump is for Canada to clean up its act on defence and foreign influence. When your prime minister defends a member of Parliament who has joked about turning over opposition members to the Chinese Embassy, that sends the wrong message.”
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has repeatedly criticized Carney as being soft on China. A week ago Poilievre asked, “Given that China has murdered our people, taken our people hostage, how is he ever going to stand up to foreign interference?”
But Chinese influence in Canada is a tiny fraction that of the US and its government is not threatening to annex us. It’s our southern neighbour’s president and commander-in-chief of the most powerful military force in the world who has repeatedly done that.
As the US openly uses its economic power, especially tariffs, to intimidate Canada, shouldn’t we broaden our trade with the second largest economy in the world rather than damage relations with China to curry favour with the USA? Let’s get straight which country’s foreign interference we need to be most concerned about.
Support Yves’ work. Donate Now.
You must be logged in to post a comment.