A group comprising an Independent MP, an investigative journalist, and senior bureaucrats named four politicians and one government advisor allegedly involved in a China-led scheme to interfere in Canadian democracy.
Although the Trudeau government continues to withhold the list of elected officials named in a controversial foreign interference report, investigative journalist Sam Cooper claims to have uncovered several names of witting or unwitting officials working in favour of China from confidential whistleblowers. Two of those named by Cooper have denied the allegations.
Though Liberal International Trade Minister Mary Ng did not respond to True North’s request to comment, she denied the allegations on X.
“It’s unfortunate that Mr. Vuong recently gave Sam Cooper another platform to make insinuations about me, which I categorically reject,” she said. “Foreign interference is a serious matter of national security, and like all my Cabinet colleagues, I have been thoroughly screened by the top security experts in Canada.”
She took shots at Cooper’s credibility, saying his “conspiracy theories” have been “pushed from the main pages of Global News” to the “only place that will publish them” on his own website.
“It is not ok for him to continue fuelling this climate of suspicion against me,” Ng said on X.
Another individual named by Cooper, a Trudeau-appointed Liberal Senator Yuen Pao Woo, questioned whether Cooper’s “evidence ” in the press conference concluded foreign interference on his part at all.
“The press conference confirms my longstanding concern about the role of second-rate journalists, phoney experts, opportunistic politicians, and rogue officials in distracting Canadians from serious foreign interference issues and whipping up a frenzy that feeds on disinformation, partisanship, and bigotry,” Woo told True North.
Cooper also named the Liberal MP for Steveston—Richmond East, Parm Bains, saying he benefited from the PRC’s alleged foreign interference, Guo Ding, a journalist and advisor to B.C. Premier David Eby, and former Conservative senator Victor Oh as being involved in foreign interference.
Neither Bains, Ding, nor Oh responded to True North’s requests for comment.
The NSICOP report suggested that at least 11 unidentified officials were wittingly or unwittingly abetting foreign entities, primarily the People’s Republic of China and India, to interfere in Canadian democracy.
Only those with security clearances areallowed to look at the list, therefore, True North was not able to independently verify whether the four individuals named by Cooper were included in the NSCIOP report.
Cooper alleged that Ng and Liberal MP for Steveston—Richmond East, Parm Bains, benefited from foreign interference from the PRC. Cooper also alleged Guo Ding, a journalist and advisor to B.C. Premier David Eby, Victor Oh, a former Conservative senator, and Trudeau-appointed Liberal B.C. senator Yuen Pao Woo were involved.
In 2023, Cooper was fired from Global News following a lawsuit over his reporting on China-led foreign interference, which was criticized as lacking in evidence.
Cooper was joined at a press conference on Monday by Independent MP Kevin Vuong, a suspected target of a foreign interference plot. Charles Burton, senior advisor to the government on foreign policy with China, and Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former chief of the Asia Pacific desk at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, were also in attendance.
He said that a 47-minute recording from a Vancouver meeting leaked to him and evidence given to him by confidential whistleblowers allegedly proved his claims about Woo, Oh, Ding and Bains and Ng.
Cooper claimed that three national security sources told him that CSIS investigations identified Ng as one of 11 Toronto-area candidates that China’s United Front interference networks clandestinely supported in the 2019 election. However, Cooper said that CSIS assessed that Ng was unwittingly implicated in the alleged interference.
Public Safety Canada, citing an Australian report, notes that Beijing uses the United Front network to “stifle criticism, infiltrate foreign political parties, diaspora communities, universities and multinational corporations.”
Cooper claimed that CSIS was more specifically concerned with Ng’s staff, who allegedly met privately with a Toronto consulate diplomat, Zo Wei, to discuss China-related issues. He said CSIS identified Wei as a confirmed intelligence actor and alleged he worked with Ng’s staffers to “provide information on meetings of elected officials and their whereabouts” and was directed to privately report to the intelligence agent on Ng.
Cooper also alleged that Ding, Oh, and Woo were all connected to the “Canada Committee 100 Society.” According to Cooper, the organization has members with direct connections to Beijing’s overseas influence arm, The United Front Work Department.
According to Cooper, many members, including journalists at the 100 Society meeting, which Woo was allegedly recorded speaking at later supported Bains, who said he would fight against a foreign influence registry and against Chiu, who later lost his seat.
Cooper played a transcribed version of the meeting during the press conference in which the Liberal Senator Woo “expressed his concerns” about Canada’s focus on the UFWD groups, saying being part of an organization that is part of the foreign influence arm of the PRC “should not be a litmus test” on an individual’s loyalty to Canada. Woo also said he was fighting very hard against such “litmus tests.”
Woo was granted intervener status in the Hogue Commission on Foreign Interference and has been criticized as a ‘mouthpiece” for China after he said Canada should be careful about criticizing China’s mass arrest and sterilization of Uyghur Muslims due to Canada’s alleged treatment of Indigenous people.
Cooper said Woo’s intervention in the Hogue Commission fulfilled his vow to fight against those who would question individuals based on their connections to the UFWD. He said Woo “repeatedly” filed submissions “undermining” Canadian intelligence and used Chinese intelligence talking points in the commission.
Cooper said Burton, who translated the briefing for him, said Woo’s briefing to the 100 Society “effectively enables the legitimacy of agencies of the Chinese Communist Party in our Country.”
Cooper also alleged that Ding, the head of the 100 Society, was “involved” in the 2022 Conservative Party Leadership Race with community leaders who were “officially connected” with the UFWD.
Conservative Senator Oh, one of the “Canada Committee 100 Society members,” was forced to retire in June 2024. Former Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said he had considered expelling Oh from the party due to suspected foreign influence, leading to his early retirement.
Oh was also found to have broken the Senate’s conflict of interest and ethics code in 2020 after accepting an all-expenses-paid trip to China in 2017.
Oh reportedly advocated on behalf of a Chinese-state-owned business and called former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu a liar after Chiu raised concerns about foreign interference in his campaign, which he lost to Liberal MP Parm Bains.
Cooper alleged one of his confidential sources in the intelligence community “repeatedly stressed” that Oh was a significant target in CSIS investigations into federal election interference.