A Canadian MP has been forced into political retirement because he did not tow the anti-China party line, and now the candidate who replaced him is coming under extreme scrutiny.
Former Liberal MP Paul Chiang represented the Markham-Unionville federal riding between 2021 to 2025.
Chiang was caught suggesting that people could turn in Joe Tay, now the Conservative candidate for the same riding, and one of the six Hong Kongers with the $1 million bounty slapped on their heads for actions around the 2019 Western-backed riots in Hong Kong.
There are some claims that Chiang’s comments were made as a joke, rather than a serious suggestion.
Regardless, there is a long-term bitterness about Chiang’s victory in 2021, with the Conservatives and their media allies claiming Chinese “interference” drove former MP Bob Saroya’s defeat in the riding, without proper evidence to back the claim up.
Initially, it looked as though Chiang would continue being the Liberal candidate for Markham-Unionville, as Liberal leader Mark Carney called Chiang’s comments “deeply offensive,” but a “teachable moment” that did not warrant Chiang’s removal as a candidate.
However, Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed on March 31, 2025, that they were “reviewing whether a Toronto-area Liberal candidate broke the law” with his comments about Tay.
Given how the Canadian political establishment is coddling and supporting the anti-Chinese government faction of the Chinese Canadian diaspora (including the “HongKongers”), the comments of Hong Kong Watch (HKW) need to be considered:
“Mr. Chiang’s conduct would appear to fit within the parameters of counselling to commit the indictable offence of kidnapping, per section 464 of the Criminal Code.”
Before anything else is considered, it is important to understand that Canada’s parliament was preparing to give the “HongKongers” (such as Hong Kong Watch) and their allies a spotlight, which would be used to target Canada’s trade and special relations with China’s HKSAR.
This only stopped because Canada’s former Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, prorogued (paused) Canada’s parliament and PM Carney triggered a new federal election, which ensured all legislative activities and parliament business died immediately.
Given how Canada’s government and parliamentarians use and support the anti-China “HongKongers” in Canada, the reasoning behind Canadian political elites’ rage toward Chiang becomes more clear.
The anti-democratic Bill C-70 (against foreign interference), which The Canada Files warned (ex. 1, ex. 2) about last summer, contains very broad and vague text that punishes supposed interference with life imprisonment. Hong Kong Watch cited it regarding Chiang:
“In addition, Section 20 of the Foreign Interference and Security of Information Act passed by Parliament into law last year, states, ‘Every person commits an offence who, at the direction of, for the benefit of or in association with, a foreign entity or a terrorist group, induces or attempts to induce, by intimidation, threat or violence, any person to do anything or to cause anything to be done.’”
HKW made their comments in a March 31 letter to RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme, which included this demand:
“As Canadians prepare to vote on April 28, you must provide reassurance that the RCMP is capable of countering foreign interference.”
On the same day, the RCMP confirmed they were investigating Chiang’s comments about Tay. HKW proudly stated that “Late on 31 March, following this letter, Paul Chiang announced he was stepping aside from the federal election.”
While there is a question whether Chiang’s comments genuinely could be considered counselling to commit kidnapping, even if Chiang had only suggested the bounty on Tay was justified, it is obvious he would have been forced out in a similar way. Chiang’s potential overreach in his comments obscure the deeper ramification of the reactions toward Chiang (that dissent toward China policy will be punished more and more firmly in the future), which produced the “voluntary” end to his political career as an MP.
Which candidate replaced Chiang? How is he being attacked?
The Liberal MP candidate selected to replace Chiang is Peter Yuen, a former Toronto police deputy chief. He has been targeted by members of the anti-Chinese government faction of Chinese Canadian diaspora, and their supporters (ex. 1, ex. 2, ex. 3), for daring to have sung “My Chinese Heart” at a Chinese Canadian community event in 2017. The anti-communist diaspora faction’s narrative is that this song indicates “loyalty” to the Chinese government because “in 2009, My Chinese Heart was selected as one of the 100 patriotic songs recommended by the Central Propaganda Department.”
Canada’s Globe and Mail, known for having a prominent journalist volunteer to promote a domestic intelligence campaign pushing paranoia about foreign interference in Canadian politics, has gone after Yuen.
Robert Fife and Steven Chase, the same two who were caught doing the dirty work of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), produced an article which included quotes such as (emphases added):
- “Mr. Yuen appears to have a strong relationship with China’s diplomatic mission in Toronto. In 2014, the consulate held an event to mark his promotion to Toronto police superintendent. He has attended consulate celebrations, including one in January, 2020, that included a photo display on Xinjiang province that did not acknowledge Beijing’s brutal treatment of its Muslim Uyghur minority there.”
- In the context of Yuen being a former honorary director at JCCC: “The JCCC’s stated aim is to promote trade, business co-operation and ‘friendly relations’ between Ontario and the Chinese province of Jiangsu and between Canada and China. Statements and actions by JCCC echo narratives pushed by Beijing that, according to Human Rights Watch, has deepened repression of its citizens under Mr. Xi’s rule.”
- “Mr. Yuen has also spoken at and attended events of the Toronto branch of Chinese Freemasons, which has advocated for what it calls the ‘peaceful reunification of China and Taiwan,’ a phrase rejected by the Taiwanese government, which contends that only the self-governing island can decide its own future.”
- “Cheuk Kwan of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China said it is well known within the Chinese-Canadian community that the JCCC and Chinese Freemasons are pro-Beijing proxy organizations.
‘We pretty much know that they are part of the organizations that are friendly to China and promote China’s agenda,’ he said.”
The Globe and Mail tried to have Yuen do the usual ritual for Canadian politicians, to declare how evil China is. The article notes Yuen “declined to answer e-mailed questions from The Globe and Mail on whether he supports Taiwan’s self-determination, condemns China’s crimes against its Uyghur minority or disapproves of UFWD activities.”
A further Fife and Chase article targeted Yuen for accepting an invitation to a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) celebration in 2015, but his participation was greenlighted by Toronto’s police service.
Sam Cooper, a journalist known for claiming movie footage “proved” an ex-RCMP officer met with the mafia in Macau—then claiming his failure was somehow China’s fault, when caught—also joined in the pressure campaign on Yuen. After Yuen became the replacement Liberal candidate for Markham-Unionville, Cooper used Conservative party sources, to claim without evidence, that China interfered in that riding during the 2021 election race.
Canada and the lack of a right to dissent against foreign policy
Canada’s government has been less and less tolerant of dissent about foreign policy over the last few years. When Russia launched its Special Military Operation in 2022, Canada’s heritage ministry pressured the “independent” Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC)—Canada’s broadcasting regulator—to fast-track an RT ban.
Canada’s foreign ministry has been busy targeting dissent on foreign policy toward Russia and China as if it were foreign interference.
The same ministry has also been busy working with the anti-Chinese government faction of the Chinese Canadian diaspora, and helping them network with each other. Canada funded the participation of alliances that smeared China during its 2024 foreign interference inquiry, contributing to a growing McCarthyite political atmosphere in Canada that has led to the upcoming creation of a national Chinese Canadian organization against McCarthyism. They have even funded a Uyghur separatist organization which, without evidence, said a Canadian senator was working for the benefit of China rather than Canada.
Bill C-70, a new act passed in 2024 to target “foreign interference” includes the following wildly vague section which, if violated, would produce a life sentence for the convicted person:
“Every person commits an offence who, at the direction of, for the benefit of or in association with, a foreign entity or a terrorist group, induces or attempts to induce, by intimidation, threat or violence, any person to do anything or to cause anything to be done.”
Lawyer and journalist Dimitri Lascaris detailed how dangerous and devastating this bill is for the right to dissent against Canadian foreign policy decisions. In August 2024, this author explained how Iranian monarchists were using the text of Bill C-70 in a bid to get students at Palestine solidarity encampments in Canada prosecuted.
Canada, at the behest of the country’s Zionist lobby, put the Palestine solidarity organization, Samidoun, on its terror list in fall 2024.
Meanwhile, The Canada Files’ recent investigation exposed how Canada’s government funded a report calling for an “anti-foreign-interference” “kill chain,” that targets the Chinese Canadian community (emphasis added):
“A ‘kill chain’ is a systematic process that outlines the steps required to identify, target, disrupt and neutralize an adversary.” – Digital Public Square
Worryingly, one part of the “kill chain” has already been implemented, indicating it could be heavily used in Canada.
This comes as Canada continues to collaborate with the U.S. in a bid to spark a hot war with China, in a desperate bid to fight against the rise of a multipolar world. U.S.-led “Freedom of Navigation” missions are regularly joined by Canada (who ensures they can be used for “China bad” propaganda), while continuing to be a supporter of the so-called “Rules-Based Order” as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to annex Canada into the U.S.
And thus, even a timeline starting in 2022 shows clearly that the right to oppose Canadian foreign policy is being targeted openly by the state, even as its foreign policy blows up in its face.
In Canada, the slope is leading downhill, and fast. Change will come in the next few years, but the question of what direction it will go is a very uncomfortable one to consider.
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About the Author
Aidan Jonah is the Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, an independent media group. Jonah wrote a report for the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in September 2021.
He can be reached at aidanjonah.canadafiles@gmail.com.
