Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre once again accused Mark Carney of benefiting from Chinese interference both during his leadership race and in the ongoing election.
“Beijing has interfered both in the Liberal leadership race—helping Mark Carney—and again in the general election to support Mr. Carney,” said Poilievre on Monday.
“I’m deeply concerned about the potential for foreign interference, especially given that Mr. Carney’s company—which he still has investments in—owes a quarter of a billion dollars to the Chinese government.”
Last week, the legacy media called out Liberal Leader Mark Carney over his denial that he met with a pro-communist China group after he snapped at a Globe and Mail journalist for inquiring about it, saying you “can’t believe everything you read” with their publication.
Robert Fife, the outlet’s Ottawa bureau chief, sat down with CBC News to discuss the fallout from the exchange Thursday, asking the panel whether “anybody has learned anything from the foreign interference inquiry or not.”
“Rather than trying to attack the media, why doesn’t he (Carney) just say ‘look, we have to do a better job of dealing with these kinds of organizations that are trying to influence politicians,” said Fife Thursday.
Carney was confronted about his recent string of connections to the CCP by a Globe and Mail reporter and asked about his meeting with the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada.
Carney, appearing visibly angry, said he’d “never heard” of the group before and that he “certainly” never had a “set up a meeting” with them.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t believe everything you read in The Globe and Mail,” he said. “Check your sources before you or your colleagues write things like that, okay? I’m a politician,” said Carney. “I go to events where there (are) thousands over the course of a day, of different people there. That’s not a meeting. If somebody happens to be in the room and takes a picture with me, that’s not a meeting.”
However, pictures proved that he had.
The JCCC website also lauded Carney, sharing a positive review of an “in-depth discussion” its members supposedly had with him.
The question was initially asked in response to Carney’s refusal to oust Liberal candidate Peter Yuen over his connections to Beijing-friendly organizations, including the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada.
Yuen was selected to replace disgraced Liberal MP Paul Chiang in Markham–Unionville after he suggested supporters turn in a Conservative opponent to the Chinese embassy in return for a bounty.
Yuen has also regularly met with the Chinese Consulate.
“We now know from the public inquiry into foreign interference that the Chinese Consulate is the key organizing body for all of these proxy groups that try to influence politicians. That was the point of our story,” said Fife, referring to the article that Carney told Canadians not to believe.
“I’m glad Mr. Carney raised this. Here’s the reason why, this same group, if you go to their website, they wrote a laudatory thing about how great Mark Carney is. How great he is and going to improve Chinese-Canadian relations,” continued Fife.
“What did we find out on Monday? The SITE committee, which looks into federal election interference said that WeChat and China have been trying to mould public opinion involving Mr. Carney. What are they moulding? Nice things about him, what a tough guy he is. How he can take on the Americans.”
Fife was referencing a report by the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force that revealed it had “detected” that a state-backed Chinese WeChat news platform has been attempting to “influence” the Chinese diaspora’s views of Carney. Attempts included “amplifying” his “experience and credentials.”
“The information operation was launched by Youli-Youmian, WeChat’s most popular news account. Intelligence reporting links Youli-Youmian to the Chinese Communist Party Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission,” said Laurie-Anne Kempton, assistant secretary for Privy Council Office communications during a press conference last week.
“The content of this information contains stories about Prime Minister and Liberal Party of Canada Leader and candidate in Nepean, Mark Carney. This content has been amplified in a coordinated and inauthentic way.”
Carney maintains that he has “absolutely no idea” why a Chinese-state media outlet was actively promoting his campaign.
As for being photographed with the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada, the Liberal Party contacted the group to have the photo and any mention of Carney removed from their website because it was “inaccurate.”
Any mention of Carney has been scrubbed from the council’s website.