Please Advise! Is China Choosing Our MPs?

[Editor’s note: Steve Burgess is an accredited spin doctor with a PhD in Centrifugal Rhetoric from the University of SASE, situated on the lovely campus of PO Box 7650, Cayman Islands. In this space he dispenses PR advice to politicians, the rich and famous, the troubled and well-heeled, the wealthy and gullible.]

Dear Dr. Steve,

An investigative report by Sam Cooper for Global News says that prior to the 2019 federal election CSIS discovered serious interference by the Chinese government.

At least 11 Liberal candidates were allegedly backed by Beijing and one sitting MP, Han Dong, was identified by CSIS as a willing participant in China's political interference operation. CSIS recommended to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Dong’s nomination be rescinded before the election, but it was not.

Trudeau says there will be no public inquiry.

What's your take?

Signed,

S.P. O'Nash

Dear. Ms. O'Nash,

Well, let's not go overboard. After all, we're not talking about Trump and the Russians here, are we? Trump and Putin — that was serious. It involved allegations that Russia was trying to pervert the U.S. election results for its own devious ends. By comparison, this case merely involves a foreign government secretly and illegally interfering in Canadian domestic politics to twist the result to suit their own purposes. Totally different, somehow.

When stories like this emerge Dr. Steve is reminded of the endless parade of free speech debates. People are always quick to defend free speech against the forces of right-wing fascism, or left-wing wokeness. But it's almost never the same people. You get Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis howling to enforce the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution “against those in academia, media and politics who seek to silence conservatives.” Could that possibly be the same DeSantis who now sends his goons into Florida libraries to remove books about LGTBQ2S+ families and Black history? Surely not.

Similarly, if Trump's alleged collusion with Putin was disturbing, this case can hardly be less so. Cooper's report includes allegations that influential Liberal fundraiser and former Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan has also been involved in efforts to elect MPs favoured by the Chinese Communist Party.

Former Richmond-Steveston MP Kenny Chiu believes he lost his re-election race in part because of ugly rumours spread by the CCP on Chinese language social media channels. Chiu had been a vocal opponent of Chinese government repression in Hong Kong.

No one is suggesting the government of China changed the outcome of the federal election, although former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, who lost to Trudeau’s Liberals, now claims it did have an effect.

Han Dong occupies a safe Liberal seat. Whoever won the Liberal nomination was almost certainly going to end up as the MP for Don Valley North. The apparent goal instead was for the Chinese government to have at least one and possibly more pet MPs planted inside the governing party. And then who knows? Perhaps one of those MPs would then be asked to play a game of solitaire. Dr. Steve once saw a disturbing documentary with Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury that explained the whole process. If somebody ever tells you “Han Dong is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life,” you should probably be worried.

There will always be concern that news stories like these will exacerbate the recent surge in anti-Asian attacks in Canada. But the undeniable existence of bigotry and racial violence in this country can never be allowed to obscure legitimate evidence of political sabotage by foreign governments. They ought to be separate issues, whether some fools know it or not.

Former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley has called for a public inquiry. The prime minister says that’s not necessary. Young Dr. Steve used to adopt a similar stance when his mom caught him in the pantry interfering with cookie totals. And it is hardly wild speculation to suggest that the discovery of a Chinese government campaign to assist the Conservative Party would result in a DefCon 1 alert from the ruling Liberals — possibly the creation of a Canadian Inquisition and witnesses testifying from the rack. “Permission to lash the witness, Your Honour?”

Donald Trump did not want an inquiry into the Russian affair, either. When former Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Robert Mueller to lead one, Trump never forgave Sessions. Sessions was not just thrown under a bus — he was thrown under the biggest, the most incredible bus, with studded tires, gold upholstery and a marble bathroom.

But ultimately Meuller was so restrained in his official conclusions that Trump was able to skate through largely unscathed. As far as Dr. Steve knows, Mueller is not doing anything special right now. Trudeau might want to give him a call. His rates are probably quite reasonable.