The federal Conservatives have introduced a motion in the House of Commons calling on the Liberal government to immediately take action on a number of measures involving Beijing’s alleged interference activities in Canada, including one Chinese diplomat reportedly targeting an MP and his family.
The motion, put forth by Conservative MP Michael Cooper on May 4, calls on the federal government to take action on four specific points in response to “intimidation tactics of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) [that] are being deployed against many Canadians of Chinese descent in diaspora communities across the country.”
Cooper’s motion calls on Ottawa to immediately expel any PRC diplomats “responsible for and involved in these affronts to Canadian democracy.”
The motion comes just days after a Globe and Mail report cited top-secret CSIS documents saying that one of the PRC’s spy services took “specific actions to target Canadian MPs” behind a 2021 House of Commons motion declaring China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities a genocide.
The report said Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family living in Hong Kong were targeted for intimidation and that a Chinese diplomat in Canada named Zhao Wei was involved.
Cooper’s motion also calls on the federal government to immediately create a foreign agent registry similar to those adopted in Australia and the United States.
The Liberal government began a consultation process regarding the creation of a foreign agent registry in March, but it has not yet concluded and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has said there is not yet any timeline for when it will be introduced.
The Tories’ motion also calls on Ottawa to establish a public inquiry on foreign election interference, for which all opposition parties in the House have previously voiced support.
On March 23, the House passed a non-binding motion introduced by the NDP calling for a public inquiry on the matter.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has often reiterated that special rapporteur David Johnston, who has been tasked with independently investigating foreign election interference allegations, will recommend that the government initiate a public inquiry if he believes it is necessary.
Trudeau previously said his government will “comply with and implement” all of Johnston’s recommendations on the matter.
Cooper’s motion also called on Ottawa to “close down” all unofficial Chinese police stations operating in Canada, several of which the RCMP has said it is currently investigating. No arrests have been made so far.
Mendicino recently said the RCMP took “decisive action” to shut the stations down, but the RCMP told The Epoch Times that investigations remain ongoing.
In response to Cooper’s motion being introduced in the House on May 4, Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen said the prime minister only learned of Beijing’s targeting of MP Chong and his family through media reports on May 1.
Chong recently said CSIS gave him a briefing about “foreign interference threat activities from authoritarian states” in 2021, but he said it was “general in nature and did not contain any specific threats.”
Chong previously said the federal government never informed him of the threats.
MPs from both the Bloc Québécois and NDP voiced support for the clause in Cooper’s motion calling for a public inquiry into foreign election interference.
Marnie Cathcart and Noé Chartier contributed to this report.