ANALYSIS: Threat of CCP Interference Casts Shadow Over BC Election

.

With British Columbians heading to the polls in a few weeks, security experts and Chinese diaspora groups are sounding a warning about potential interference by China, given its previous attempts to meddle in federal and municipal elections in the province.

“B.C. is the landing point of so many activities from the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] in collaboration with triads, in collaboration with tycoons as well,” Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former chief of the Asia-Pacific unit at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said in an interview.

There have been extensive reports about the CCP’s interference in politics at all levels in British Columbia.

The only MPs whose targeting by the CCP in the last two federal elections has been documented by the Foreign Interference Commission—with the exception of former Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole—are B.C. MPs.

Last year, the province’s premier demanded a CSIS briefing over reports of the Chinese regime’s interference in the 2022 municipal elections.

One format could be for the CCP to favour a certain party over another if it deems it more favourable to its interests, or even attempting to bring about a certain overall election outcome.

Another format that the Chinese regime’s election interference could take is supporting the campaign of certain candidates.

Dong went on to win the nomination, become MP in the Liberal stronghold riding in 2019, and get re-elected in 2021. He resigned from the Liberal caucus in 2023 to sit as an Independent amid media reporting about his interactions with the Chinese Consulate. Dong, who hasn’t responded to Epoch Times’ requests for comment, has denied any wrongdoing and has launched legal action against Global News for its reporting about him.

Yet another form the interference can take is Beijing’s targeting of candidates whose positions are injurious to the regime.

Another form of interference could come from staffers and campaign volunteers.

These “staff are thereby placed in positions where they can clandestinely and deceptively control and influence the activities of elected and appointed officials in ways that support PRC or CCP interests,” the CSIS document says.

Rights activist Tong says the CCP’s tactics include targeting high-profile election candidates and arranging for its cronies to surround the candidate and become his volunteers and political staffers.

“They try to create relationships with them and help them,” she said.

If that high-profile candidate gets elected, they may even become a cabinet minister, and then they’ll be under the influence of the CCP, she says.

She says in the B.C. election, it’s important for politicians to pay attention to whom they hire as aids and volunteers, and also not to shy away from criticizing China’s aggressions due to fear of upsetting Beijing. As well, she says, they need to be clear that China uses the “racism” label to stifle criticism of its aggressions.

“Human rights and democracy, they’re our Canadian values. We should be standing by our values in whatever decision we’re making, and any policies we’re making,” she said.

.

Targeting Those in Power

In an interview with The Epoch Times, former MP Chiu said that when it comes to election interference, there are two key points to keep in mind.

The first point, he says, is that the CCP targets those who hold power, regardless of their party affiliation.

.

“The CCP is not Liberal or Conservative, or socialist or capitalist, they are attracted to power, and so they would be willing to approach from that perspective,” he said.

The second point Chiu stresses is that the CCP is “ethno-agnostic.”

“They don’t care if you’re Chinese, Korean, Japanese, white, Anglo-Saxon, French, Quebecois. They would approach, and they would at least analyze your accessibility according to the information they have on hand on you,” he said. “If the target can be a ‘useful idiot,’ they will use them.”

For voters to be able to discern which politician may be under the influence of the CCP, Chiu says, it’s important to observe what they say and the stances they take.

The intelligence reportedly said China wanted the incumbent Kennedy Stewart to lose. Stewart, who lost that election to Ken Sim, had been outspoken in support of Taiwan’s independence and condemnation of China’s human rights violations.

The Globe article also said China’s consul general had discussed supporting a candidate for council, with hopes of the candidate later moving on to provincial and federal politics.

In the aftermath of these news reports, Eby said while the federal government has most of the tools to combat foreign interference, he wants to know if there are other ways that his province could “close the gap.”

“We’re always looking for ways to make sure our elections are free and fair,” Eby said on March 17, 2023.

The Epoch Times asked the B.C. NDP and Eby, who are now campaigning ahead of the Oct. 19 provincial election, if they have any additional comments on the issue of Beijing’s interference, but didn’t hear back by publication time.

John Rustad, leader of the Conservative Party of B.C., told The Epoch Times in June that people in the Chinese community should “be able to feel safe, they should have to be able to raise their families, they should be able to integrate into their communities in the way they want to, they should receive the services they need.”

.

Attending Events

Former CSIS manager Juneau-Katsuya says one of the features of democracy is that candidates need to face re-election every few years, and this can be exploited by hostile regimes like the CCP.

“Candidates who want to be elected will seek that support in various communities. And where you’ve got money, where you’ve got concentration of certain ethnic groups, where you’ve got people with equal chances to win a position, you’re going to have a lot of people attempting to simply compromise and go and sign a deal with the devil, and that’s what’s currently happening in B.C.,” he says.

Some B.C. politicians frequently attend events featuring the Chinese Consulate and those organized by groups holding pro-Beijing positions.

Some others, even if they don’t attend regularly, raise eyebrows by attending such events due to the positions they hold.

Similar concerns were raised about the attendance of then-Minister of Small Business Mary Ng at a similar event in Toronto.

‘Infiltrating Canada’

Brian Lee Crowley, founder of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, says recent revelations at the Foreign Interference Commission, and other recently revealed intelligence, show that foreign powers are targeting Canada to “disrupt” its democracy and make Canadians lose faith in their institutions.

“We should be extremely concerned about that, not just in British Columbia, although I think British Columbia is a province whose politics have been quite deeply infected by this,” he said in an interview.

“Canadians have to be vigilant, and they have to be demanding about the connections that exist between their politicians and people who might, wittingly or unwittingly, be the instruments of foreign governments.”

Tong says over the past few decades, the diaspora communities have been witnessing extensive interference and subversion efforts by the CCP, and what has been covered in the media and the commission hearings are just the “tip of the iceberg.”

“The CCP is infiltrating Canada using the United Front Work Department,” she says. “It’s been a long time that things have been happening, but nobody really pays attention, and so it’s been normalized.”

CSIS told The Epoch Times that it has observed foreign interference activities at all levels of government across Canada and across party lines, adding that it takes all allegations of such activities very seriously.

“CSIS is committed to equipping elected officials to identify foreign interference threats and take measures to address and counter foreign interference, including by providing briefings,” CSIS spokesperson John Townsend said in an email.

.

Established by Elections B.C earlier this year, the group—the first of its kind at the provincial level in Canada—consists of representatives from provincial government, federal and provincial agencies, CSIS, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, and the RCMP.

“We work closely with partner agencies to mitigate the risk of foreign interference in BC elections,” Elections B.C. spokesperson Wesley MacInnis said in an email. “The EIWG meets on an ongoing basis to assess risks, facilitate collaboration between members, and support the development of risk-response strategies for individual agencies.”

MacInnis said while B.C. elections remain “safe and secure,” the working group was formed to mitigate any risks “in recognition that the risk environment around elections has changed in recent years.”

In response to a request for comment, Public Safety Canada said it’s not an investigative agency, and deferred the request to the police of the jurisdiction. The RCMP’s E division, which has jurisdiction in B.C., pointed to the EIWG, which the police force is a part of.

A spokesperson with the B.C. provincial government said that during elections, government communications are limited to public health and safety, and they can’t comment on other issues.

Noé Chartier, Andrew Chen, and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.

.