Liberal Leader Mark Carney lashed out again at reporters after he was asked about meeting with a pro-communist China group and if he was ok with one of his candidates having ties to the Communist Party of China.
On Thursday, Carney denied knowing the CPC-backed Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada and told a Globe and Mail reporter that the outlet needs to “check its sources” and that people can’t trust the paper, despite being photographed with the group.
Carney came under scrutiny again over potential links to Chinese foreign interference after the photos of him meeting with a communist-Chinese-backed group from Toronto resurfaced.
Reports first released by the Globe and Mail found that Carney’s new candidate for Markham–Unionville, Peter Yuen has a history with the group and has participated in several Chinese consulate events.
When confronted on the recent string of connections to the CCP, Carney lashed out saying he never heard of the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada and he certainly didn’t have a “setup meeting” with them.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t believe everything you read in The Globe and Mail,” he said. “Check your sources before you or your colleagues write things like that, okay? I’m a politician. I go to events where there (are) thousands over the course of a day, of different people there. That’s not a meeting. If somebody happens to be in the room takes a picture with me, that’s not a meeting.”
Yuen was listed as an honorary director of the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada, an organization allegedly tied to Beijing’s United Front Work Department, a known foreign interference arm of the CCP.
Yuen was chosen as Carney’s replacement candidate for the riding after the former MP and candidate Paul Chiang stepped down following an RCMP investigation into comments he made about a Conservative candidate.
Now known as “the bounty hunter” online, Chiang suggested to an audience, including CCP backed media, that Conserative candidate Joe Tay could be kidnapped and turned over to the Chinese consulate to collect a hefty bounty. Before Chiang stepped down Carney defended Chiang and decided not to fire him despite “joking” to hand his political rival over to China.
True North first reported on Chiang earlier this week when videos of Yuen surfaced of him singing a ballad to the CCP while in his police uniform.
The song “My Chinese Heart” is about holding onto Chinese communist nationalism when living in a foreign land. It also has allegedly been used to force minorities in China, such as Buddhists and Catholics, to swear allegiance to the Chinese state.
Carney has also recently been the subject of a Security Threats to Elections Task Force report which found that Chinese government backed WeChat news platforms were attempting to influence Chinese diaspora Canadians to vote for Carney.
Carney continued to defend Yuen’s record, lauding his record of service to the community as a police officer.
“This is a person who served his community,” Carney said. “In discharge of those responsibilities (he) meets with a variety of community groups in the community, because that’s his job. That’s his responsibility. We’re proud to have him as a candidate. And, and I honour his service, including on today.”
According to an article found on the English translation of the JCCC’s website, the group had an “in-depth meeting with the soon-to-be-appointed Prime Minister.”
The group called the “in-depth exchange” a “game-breaker in China-Canada cooperation.”
“Carney highly praised the pioneering role of the Chinese business community in emerging fields such as clean technology, digital trade and financial technology,” the group boasted. “At a time when the global landscape is undergoing profound adjustments, Carney’s appointment is seen as an important turning point in the upgrading of China-Canada relations.”
Lauding China’s clean technology are similar to previous statements Carney has made to Toronto investors before running for politics. In a 2016 interview with the then Liberal climate minister Catherine Mckenna, he told financiers about the profits they can make by investing in China’s emerging “green energy” investment opportunities.
Since then China’s emissions have only increased, from 29.75 per cent of the world’s share of C02 emissions in 2016 to 32.88 per cent in 2022.
Did the communists kidnap Carney and force him to take photos?