Justin Trudeau’s office intervened to remove Han Dong from the Canada-China committee – National
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office intervened in 2019 to prevent Han Dong from participating in a House of Commons committee investigating Canada’s relationship with China, according to testimony from Trudeau’s top officials.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) informed Liberal security officials during the 2019 election of “irregularities” related to Dong’s nomination as the party’s candidate in Don Valley North.
These irregularities included CSIS intelligence suggesting that Chinese diplomatic officials relied on international students to support Dong’s nomination, as well as the busing of people to the nomination meeting, pressured to support the now-independent MP.
Documents previously released by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s foreign interference inquiry suggest that CSIS was aware of these “irregularities”, first reported by Global News in 2023, and had informed the senior liberal officials on the issue in 2019.
Dong resigned from the Liberal caucus on March 22, 2023 and now sits as an independent. He has denied any wrongdoing and is suing Global News’ parent company over its coverage of foreign interference.
“I didn’t pay attention to the busing of international students because…I didn’t understand it as an irregularity,” Dong told the foreign interference inquiry earlier this year.
Dong’s campaign manager, Ted Lojko, said he knew nothing about the busload of students.
Although Dong had been allowed to sit as a Liberal MP for years, the intelligence was sufficiently concerning that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) rejected Dong’s nomination to the special committee on relations between Canada and the People’s Republic of China , according to Trudeau’s speech. Deputy Chief of Staff, Brian Clow.
“After the (2019) election, the Clerk briefed the Prime Minister, (Chief of Staff Katie) Telford and (Jeremy) Broadhurst about the intelligence” related to Dong, according to documents released Tuesday by the commission.
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“However, there was very little information available.… At this stage, Mr. Dong’s level of engagement with the (People’s Republic of China) was unclear.… Mr. Clow said that, around December 2019, the Whip’s office put Mr. Dong’s mandate on the agenda. application to become a member of the China-Canada Committee. Due to concerns raised by officials, the Prime Minister’s Office intervened and Mr. Dong was not named.
The committee was created to examine “all aspects” of Canada-China relations, but has devoted much of its time to examining Beijing’s alleged interference in Canadian affairs and human rights abuses by the communist government.
Trudeau previously told the commission that the 2019 briefings did not contain “sufficient or sufficiently credible information” to impeach Dong as a Liberal MP, or as a candidate in the 2021 general election when he retained its seat in the Greater Toronto Area for the Liberals.
According to documents released by the inquiry on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s Office decided that Dong would not be “promoted” to the cabinet or parliamentary secretary post after the 2019 election. Dong previously told the commission that meeting with diplomats – including other countries – was part of his job as an MP.
PMO officials also said they expected the intelligence agency to provide “updates” on any new information relating to Dong’s dealings with PRC officials.
“MS. Telford testified that there were discussions with intelligence at the time, including that it was not uncommon to have busloads of supporters at nomination meetings.” , can we read in a document.
“MS Telford and the Registrar sought to understand what the concerns were and the information on which they were based.
The evidence addresses an issue that has been raised repeatedly during the months-long investigation into foreign interference in Canada: differences of opinion among intelligence agencies, which know about intelligence collection but do not are not necessarily very knowledgeable about politics, and political veterans who are not necessarily intelligence experts.
These debates between intelligence agencies and politicians are particularly pronounced in the so-called “gray zone” between normal, albeit aggressive, diplomatic behavior and interference operations.
It’s not uncommon for foreign countries to collect information on influential political figures in Canada, for example – and Canadian diplomats do the same in the countries where they are stationed.
But the line between collecting information to inform policy and collecting information for leverage or blackmail is not always easy to spot.
“MS. Telford explained that they often see debates between departments (such as Global Affairs Canada and CSIS) and other parts of government about the difference between diplomatic activity and (foreign interference) », We can read in a document.
“She gave the example of a situation where, during a security assessment, they are presented with information that an individual is ‘vulnerable’ to a country or high commission. Just because an individual is vulnerable doesn’t mean they’ve made a mistake… That’s different from being told that an individual is secretly doing something inappropriate with a foreign official.
As for Dong’s future within the federal Liberals, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told the commission Tuesday afternoon that he would wait for Hogue’s final report before making a recommendation to Trudeau.
Trudeau himself is scheduled to testify before the commission on Wednesday, with Hogue’s final report expected by the end of the year.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
