China's Political Subversion Agenda : A Real and Present Danger

"Secret [for] Canadian Eyes Only." 

"Triads [covers the activities of Chinese organized crime groups including within Canada]."

"Intelligence Services of the People's Republic of China [details the methodology of Beijing's agents and their infiltration activities in Canada; and] The PRCIS and the Triads [analyzes the connection between the People's Republic of China's Intelligence Service and organized crime]."

RCMP/CSIS Joint investigation report

An early draft of this report had been leaked before now but was controversially discredited by Canada’s Security Intelligence Review Committee. Photo by Government of Canada

Evidence was found by Canada's domestic spy agency CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) and its federal police force, the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), and spelled out in detail in a secret report both agencies contributed to, of foreign agents infiltrating Canada to "influence ... important leaders" and "neutralize" any criticism of China. This is a report, recently surrendered for public scrutiny after many redactions, that had been composed a quarter-century ago. 

The report had been finalized in 1998 and is now partially declassified; a report resulting from a joint RCMP-CSIS investigation called 'Project Sidewinder' that set out to examine links between the Chinese government intelligence agencies and Chinese organized crime groups. While an early draft of the report had been leaked at one time it had been discredited by Canada's Security Intelligence Review Committee.

"They [Chinese agents] attempt to secure access to, influence with, and the support of important leaders, officials and sectors of the population, particularly with the Chinese communities."

"The PRCIS also seeks to mute criticism of the Chinese government in Canada and to identify and neutralize political forces in Canada opposed to Beijing's policies."

"Canada is seen as an excellent source of indigenous and foreign advanced technology both open and restricted [ie. proprietary, classified or embargoed], with which to expedite the modernization of China's economy."

RCMP/CSIS Joint investigation report

The report, entitled "Allegations of Co-operation Between the Triads and the Government of the People's Republic of China", describes concerns relating to Chinese political interference in Canada, concerns that have re-emerged recently through intelligence leaks alerting the public. Accusations that the current Liberal government of Justin Trudeau continued to ignore such warnings in its zeal to sign a free trade agreement with China, led finally to the launch of a public inquiry as a result of pressure exerted on the government by parliamentary opposition critics.

In the late 1990s, relations between Canada and the Chinese government were warm. Here, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen with China's Xi Jinping during a G20 summit in Bali last year. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

The report is 26 detailed pages in length, incorporating three main sections. Issues of concern were possible cooperation between Chinese criminal groups and the Chinese government; Chinese political interference in Canada; and China's intelligence services activities. The final conclusion reached by the report was that Chinese intelligence services actively attempted to recruit business and political leaders in Canada to influence Canada's political activities dating from the 1990s. 

"PRCIS front companies and Canadian companies have been used to slip PRCIS [People's Republic of China Intelligence Services] personnel into Canada in delegations."

"The thousands of Chinese students and delegates who come to Canada each year and are hampered by few restrictions in moving about the country, pose the greatest Chinese intelligence threat."

RCMP/CSIS Joint investigation report

There was also the highlighted issue of China's intelligence services actively seeking Canadian intellectual property to be handed over to Chinese organizations. Noted in the report as well was China's use of "mass line" intelligence gathering with the use of a network of informed Chinese nationals tasked to travel abroad for the express purpose of gathering useful intelligence information.

Old intelligence reports accused Beijing of using criminal triads to do their dirty work outside mainland China. In one recent example, criminal groups are suspected of beating pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, seen here in 2019. (Ming Ko/AP)

Former national security analyst Stephanie Carvin commented on China's pursuit of a similar agenda in 1999, similar to what it is pursuing at present, irrespective of different leaders of the Chinese Communist Government in the last 25 years. When the report was submitted to government 25 years ago, then-Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien dismissed allegations of political interference. It would, if given credence, interfere with his personal plans to do business in China which his series of trade missions had set the groundwork for.

In addition, the Project Sidewinder report confirmed that Chinese criminal organizations were actively working in Canada. "this country is an excellent place for them to invest in companies, launder profits derived from criminal activities, secure a portion of their assets outside Hong Kong and obtain a Canadian passport".

Media reports earlier in 2023 informed by intelligence source leaks speak of widespread efforts by the Chinese government to interfere in recent 2019 and 2021 elections in Canada. Underhanded work such as misleading social media to reflect a Chinese agenda, and WeChat posts in Chinese aimed at influencing Canada's huge Chinese diaspora communities, in a deliberate mission to have the Liberals returned to government while demonizing their opposition Conservatives. 

Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu says he was targeted for attacks by the Chinese government in the 2021 election after he proposed creating a registry of foreign agents, like some other countries have. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

"I would say what's different now is scale."

"The other thing that's really coming in since 1999, I would say is the cyber angle [China's online disinformation and computerized intelligence-gathering]."

"I don't think this was ever forgotten [keeping an intelligence services eye on China in the 1990s of subversive activities]."

"I'm just not sure the extent people were paying attention until recently."

Stephanie Carvin, associate professor, Carleton University, former national security analyst

A Chinese man cycles past a billboard in front of Beijing's Forbidden City before a 2001 visit by then-Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien. At the time, concerned U.S. officials were secretly probing Chinese operations in Canada. (Reuters)

Beijing's Espionage and Interference in Canada

"Most people in the Chinese community are thinking Chinese influence is so  huge,they can say nothing to oppose it."

"They cannot say 'no' to the Chinese influence, because our government [government of Canada] is so weak, so inactive on that foreign influence."

"I am very pessimistic. So far I have no hope."

"They [the Five Eyes intelligence allies; U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand + Canada] are going to start looking at us as a security risk. And for us, that is a real problem."

Victor Ho, former editor of Sing Tao Vancouver edition 

"Unfortunately, we're seeing countries, state actors from around the world, whether it's China or others, are continuing to play aggressive games with our institutions, with our democracies."

"We have taken significant measures to strengthen the integrity of our elections processes and our systems, and we’ll continue to invest in the fight against election interference, against foreign interference of our democracy and institutions."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

"Russia and China are not just looking at regime survival but regime expansion."

"They consider themselves to be at war with the West ... They strive to destroy the social cohesion of liberal democracies and the credibility of our own institutions to ensure our model of government is seen as a failure."

Chief of the Canadian Defence Staff, General Wayne Eyre

"CSIS [Canadian Security Intelligence Services] has raised it [the issue of foreign interference in Canada's internal affairs] repeatedly."

We have this situation where ... CSIS is warning that these activities are going on and we have no way of stopping them."

Dennis Molinaro, former national security analyst, legal studies professor, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa 

Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu says he lost his seat because of China's interference in the 2021 federal election. Photo by Jason Payne/Postmedia

 

The issue is one long acknowledged to be the reality in Canada -- as indeed it is becoming increasingly clear something similar is happening elsewhere; in the U.S., Europe, Australia -- where an intelligence alert warns of a foreign government exerting influence; in Canada several provincial cabinet ministers have been involved in actually supporting China's position in Canada. Debate ensues but it is criticism for the CSIS director who in exasperation at government inaction, stated such claims publicly.

One of the provincial cabinet ministers involved and identified publicly remains in his position, with no other action contemplated at present. This is no new revelation, it happened ten years ago. And this week another report surfaced in the media that the Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS) alerted the Prime Minister's Office recently to the presence of an extensive campaign of interference in Canadian politics by Beijing. 

Chinese diplomats had seen fit to support eleven candidates in the 2019 federal election, viewing them as having a favourable attitude toward China. Funding valued at $250,000 was slipped to their campaigns through a member of the Ontario legislature, sympathetic to China. Chinese-Canadian community activists loyal not to Beijing but to Canada, along with security experts consider the situation an echo of their own repetitive warning from the intelligence community. Despite which the alarms raised appear unlikely to generate remedial action from the federal government.

Little sign can be seen on the horizon that the federal government has any plans to institute a foreign-agent registry such as those that are in effect in the United States and Australia, much less anti-foreign influence legislation similar to Australia's. Word of all this reaching Beijing had China reacting with disapproval where a government spokesman urged Canada's prime minister to make no further comments guaranteed to harm relations between the two countries.

 

Beijing is inordinately fond of lecturing other governments when they look askance at obvious Chinese penetration of foreign governments.As well as vocal criticism of the Chinese Communist Party wagging Beijing's tail.

Chinese President Xi Jinping made it quite clear years ago that he has expectations of Chinese expatriates living abroad as citizens of other countries, to adhere to their ethnic origins and recognize a responsibility to work subversively in the interests of the Chinese Communist Party to prove their loyalty to Xi. The work performed abroad by the United Front Work Department charged with covertly extending Beijing's influence overseas is viewed by Chinese loyal to countries of residence and citizenship as threats to their well-being.

A handbook for United Front cadres that fell into the hands of Canadian intelligence touted the fact that the number of politicians of Chinese descent elected in Toronto doubled between 2003 and 2006, urging officials to "work with" them. Some Canadian politicians, a current Ontario provincial politician for example, attended a Beijing-operated workshop for diaspora leaders in China, known for their close ties to Beijing. 

Conservative Member of Parliament Kenny Chin lost his seat in last year's election. He had championed a foreign agent registry bill while in Parliament believing it was a measure that led to a flood of disinformation and smears on Chinese-language social media, a cause of his seeing a diminished vote count. 

 

According to legal studies professor Dennis Molinaro, and informed by his CSIS past, the implementation of a foreign agent registry should be a minimum  protective step Canada should commit to, and that laws should reflect the need to permit CSIS to share findings, along with legislating as a crime Canadian citizens who work covertly in the interests of another nation.

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reviews a Chinese honour guard at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, during a visit in 2016. Foreign influence in our democracy? Everything’s under control, he said this week. Photo by Mark Schiefelbein /AP

"It's very troubling that the prime minister has known about allegations about foreign interference in Canadian elections since last January and he hasn't taken any action."

"No foreign government should have any influence over our elections or our future. That should reside in the hands of Canadians."

"And so far, that has not been the case with the prime minister. He has failed to protect our democracy."

Leader, Conservative Party, Official Opposition, MP Pierre Poliviere 

Canada-Saudi Relations: Tense

"Saudi Arabia has gone after dissidents abroad ... this did not begin with MBS [Mohammed bin Salman]. That whole range of, not just assassinations and renditions, but pressure more broadly on dissidents, Saudi Arabia does that -- and it does it a lot."

"It's really difficult to say [how the former Saudi diplomat's presence in Canada impacts on Canada-Saudi relations]."

"Relations are bad. This is probably just one more hurdle, but it's not the only one."

Thomas Juneau, professor, faculty of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa

"Canada and Saudi Arabia do not have an extradition treaty, and there are currently no extradition proceedings in progress regarding Mr. al-Jabri."

"[We ar ] concerned by the detention of Saad al-Jabri's two children in Saudi Arabia." 

"For privacy reasons, we are unable to provide further details on Mr. Saad al-Jabri's status in Canada."

Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs

"In a direct communication from Prince Mohammed [bin Salman] in September 2017, Saad Aljabri was told that he would have to return to Saudi if he wanted his children [Omar and Sarah] to be allowed to travel."

"This time without the comfort of a call or even a text message [from his siblings Omar and Sarah marks the fourth Eid al-Fitre without them]."

"Wherever you are, I hope you are well ... I love you."

Khalid Aljabri, son of Saad Aljabri

Sarah Aljabri with her father, Saad Aljabri. Along with her brother Omar, Sarah has not been seen by her family since mid-March. Photograph: Supplied

"MBS [Mohammed bin Salmon] remains concerned about the potential threat that MBN [Mohammed bin Nayef] might pose to his taking over in the post-Salman era."

"Saad would be somebody who conceivably [could] be an important figure in an MBN move of any sort."

Gerald M. Feierstein, senior vice-president, Middle East Institute, Washington, D.C.

Convoluted and medieval, that as good as describes the behind-the-scenes struggle for supremacy and inheritance behind the Saudi throne. Where close family members are favoured and then fall into disfavour. Where one close family member who ascends into favour will go out of his way to discredit and finally take steps to incarcerate other family members he may view as a possible threat to his further ascendancy. It is the skulduggery and murderous intrigues within royal families that Shakespeare famously wrote of. And history is replete with them.

Saudi Arabia is mired in the past, the Saudi dynasty is jealous of itself and woe betide any members who invoke the jealous wrath and power of another. Famously, or infamously, when it became clear that the aging King Salman had turned his favour toward his youngest son, despite having groomed a nephew for the honour of succeeding him, that youngest son issued a decree that members of the royal family were to be assembled and held in house arrest for an unspecified reason, that might obviously have been connected to any adverse reactions to his anointment as his father's successor.

MBS is hyper-sensitive over any criticism or dissent aimed at  himself or the Saudi royal family. He is impulsive, impatient, vain and autocratic. Mr. Feierstein of the Middle East Institute, formerly ambassador to Yemen in the Obama administration describes Aljabri as key in his time to security and intelligence in Saudi Arabia and as such a close confidante of Mohammed bin Nayef, formerly recognized as the successor to his uncle King Salman, a situation since reversed to favour MBS.

Saad Aljabri worked closely in collaboration with the West, to identify terrorist threats, and he was involved in the modernization of Saudi intelligence, a man recognized for  his collaborative abilities in the relationship Saudi intelligence agencies enjoyed with Western intelligence until 2015, when for reasons of his own he decided to resign his post and go into self-imposed exile. The country to which he exiled himself just happened to be Canada, where he has been living for the past two-and-a-half years.

His presence in Canada has seen the Saudi government mount an aggressive campaign to force his return to Saudi Arabia. Finally, two of his children, son Omar, 21 and daughter Sarah 20, disappeared. Into the clutches of a system whose reigning Crown Prince is using a hostage situation to force the former diplomat and intelligence chief to return to Saudi Arabia. Other members of the family had managed to exit the country.

Recent years have seen Canada and Saudi Arabia, despite their brisk trade, at human rights loggerheads.

Ensaf Haidar, wife of imprisoned Saudi blogge. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)

Raif Badawi the dissident Saudi blogger, and his sister Samar Badawi, both dissidents, have languished in prison as punishment for their human rights campaigns. Raif was sentenced to a prolonged prison stay and 1,000 lashes, his sister was arrested two years ago for her public campaigning. Ensaf Haidar,Raif Badawi's wife, lives with her three children in Montreal, as Canadian citizens, endlessly campaigning for the release of her husband.

Around 2015, Mohammed bin Salmon, now de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, was immensely displeased with Aljabri who was opposed to Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, a proxy war with the Islamic Republic of Iran, contesting the Houthi Shiites backed by Iran against the internationally accepted and Saudi-linked leader of Yemen. As well, it was believed that Saad Aljabri had ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, considered a terrorist group both in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The Aljabri family believe that it was Mohammed bin Salmon's intention "to sideline" Saad Aljabri while intending to remove Mohammed bin Nayef from contention for the throne of the Royal House of Said who at that point in 2015 was considered next in line to succeed King Salman. Saad Aljabri was considered to be bin Nayef's next-in-command, making him a target for removal. And so he began his life in exile in the spring of 2017 before a Saudi government overhaul presaging the new line of succession for the Saudi throne, leaving bin Nayef since then under house arrest.

If that doesn't faithfully follow a Shakespearean dramatic narrative of royal intrigue and human nature at its most elemental in jealousy, antagonistic violence and depraved power, it's hard to imagine what does...!

China's Concerns for 'Peace' Overseas

"Greater Vancouver has many Chinese emigrants, exchange students and tourists, and incidents of injury, illness, disappearances, detention, fraud, and so forth involving Chinese citizens remain frequent."
"In order to adapt to a new era, and new higher expectations of excellence in overseas public service and effectiveness in overseas legal defence, it is necessary to innovate new approaches and elevate the effectiveness of consular protection."
"The volunteer mechanism is fully making use of the advantages of the emigrant community, developing working synergy, and helping the consulate to provide good consular services, giving overseas Chinese emigrants and Chinese citizens a feeling of safety and benefit."
China's Vancouver Consulate website

"I believe that there's more to the consulate's efforts than simply training consular volunteers, and that they may be looking to enlist Chinese citizens, and even Canadians, to promote the Communist Party's political agenda."
"Politically motivated outreach to Chinese citizens who are living short-term or studying in Canada is also questionable, especially if it encourages them to act against the interests or policies of their host country, Canada."
David Mulroney, former Canadian ambassador to China

"I have never heard of such an arrangement by any other nations. Of course, most embassies and consulates would have locally engaged staff to assist their diplomats with this kind of thing."
"[The creation of a volunteer corps does] fit into the official Chinese Communist Party rhetoric that Canada is a hostile and dangerous place for ethnic Chinese so they should identify with and seek the protection of the PRC authorities."
Charles Burton, senior fellow, Macdonald Laurier Institute

"When Canadian community groups and citizens are being recruited, trained and given tasks by the Chinese consulate, they are working on behalf of the Chinese government. They could easily become foreign agents, and their given tasks may interfere with Canada's internal matters."
"It is very important for our government, our media, and Canadian citizens to understand the potential serious consequence of this strategic move of the CCP."
Ivy Li, pro-democracy group Canadian Friends of Hong Kong

Pro-China counter-protesters, wearing red, shout down a man in a black shirt during an anti-extradition rally for Hong Kong in Vancouver on Saturday August 17, 2019.   Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS

The world's tyrants use any means at their disposal to infiltrate other nations' administrations and threaten their sovereignty. The Kremlin, famously, speaks of ethnic Russians long resident in parts of eastern Europe from the years of the Soviet Union, requiring Russia's intervention to ensure the safeguarding of their Russian heritage, language and values. So far, only Georgia and Ukraine have suffered violent incursions and revolts incited by Moscow; the rest quaver and shelter under NATO's protective canopy.

Germany's large Turkish population, a result of the availability of cheap labour brought into Germany generations ago, has seen Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan officiously treat those German Turks as though their loyalty is to him and to Turkey and not the country where they have citizenship and where later generations were born and raised. China too has reached out its octopus arms to claim concern over the well-being of Chinese Canadians, most -- other than more recent expatriates from Hong Kong and Chinese students studying in Canada -- have been resident in Canada for a century.

As it is, there are divided loyalties among the Chinese diaspora; those more recent immigrants from mainland China have a different world view from those long established in Canada who came and were used in backbreaking work on cross-country railroads, then established themselves as small independent business people, becoming fully Canadian in the process. But it is the Chinese Communist Party's infiltration through its United Front Work Department and its connection to Chinese diplomatic posts that bring disquiet to Canadian intelligence services.

In late 2016 an English-language newspaper, the China Daily, published an article announcing the inauguration of "consular liaison volunteers" to serve Chinese embassies and consulates abroad. "An increasing number of Chinese people travelling around the world for business or tourism [who] encounter problems as they go" ostensibly led to the launching of this new 'service' staffed by civilian volunteers living in the countries where Beijing has established diplomatic posts.

A photo of the volunteer group, whose recruits include some prominent Chinese-Canadian community leaders, on the consulate page. Consulate of China

Chinese living in Canada are enjoined to volunteer, to "carefully pay attention to the safety situations of their home area, strengthening communication with the consulate". As volunteers they are expected to be "excellent representatives of overseas Chinese people and encouragers of friendship between the Canadian and Chinese peoples". So now a volunteer corps exists, representing Chinese Canadians with influence through their business holdings in the community, a fledgling volunteer system speaking in Canada on behalf of the Chinese government.

According to the director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta, Gordon Houlders, China has always been interested in the Chinese diaspora, and Canada is aware of the activities by its diplomats, with Canadian authorities wary that coercion is not involved or pressure of any nature. The problem lies with intention to rally Chinese Canadians in support of PRC policies. 

"In short, contact with Chinese nationals in Canada is one thing. But where China might be engaged in efforts to shape the views of the broad Chinese-Canadian community or to push a particular point of view, that is another matter."
"...If the point of the campaign is ... focused on loyalty to a foreign state, t hat is quite distinct."

The Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver representative of over 100 Chinese associations earlier in the year took out large advertisements in Chinese-language newspapers denouncing Hong Kong protesters as "radicals", appearing to support the Chinese Communist Party position on an extradition bill that was proposed between China and semi-autonomous Hong Kong that saw the growth of mass protests in Hong Kong, calling for respect for Hong Kong's sovereignty, and calling for greater democracy in the city-state.

The United Front Work Department, allied with Chinese diplomats reminded Chinese students in Canada of their pledge of loyalty to the Chinese government, inciting them to go out and protest against the Hong Kong rebellion, and clash with Chinese Canadians who rallied in public support of the Hong Kong demonstrations. Former Ambassador Mulroney expressed his interest in whether the Vancouver Chinese consulate had consulted with Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs relating to "an activity that appears to involve recruiting people in Canada to work for a foreign state".

The current government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is prepared to bow to Chinese pressure; the prospect of greater trade opportunities for Canada with China has the final word with the Liberal Party of Canada.

Pro-China counter-protesters cast shadows on a Chinese flag as they shout at Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protesters holding a rally in Vancouver in August. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

The Sordid Saga of a Prime Minister's Culpability

"[Evidence] abundantly shows that Mr. Trudeau knowingly sought to influence Ms.Wilson-Raybould [former Attorney-General of Canada] both directly and through the actions of his agents."
"As prime minister, Mr. Trudeau was the only public office holder who, by virtue of his position, could clearly exert influence over Ms.Wilson-Raybould. The authority of the prime minister and his office was used to circumvent, undermine and ultimately attempt to discredit the decision of the director of public prosecutions as well as the authority of Ms. Wilson Raybould as the Crown's chief law officer."
"Because SNC-Lavalin overwhelmingly stood to benefit from Ms.Wilson-Raybould's intervention, I have no doubt that the result of Mr. Trudeau's influence would have furthered SNC-Lavalin's interests. The actions that sought to further these interests were improper since the actions were contrary to the constitutional principles of prosecutorial independence and the rule of law."
"During this examination, nine witnesses informed our office that they had information they believed to be relevant, but that could not be disclosed because, according to them, this information would reveal a [cabinet] confidence."
"Despite several weeks of discussions [with the Privy Council Office] the offices remained at an impasse over access to Cabinet confidences. Because of the decisions to deny our office further access to Cabinet confidences, witnesses were constrained in their ability to provide all evidence."
"I was, therefore, prevented from looking over the entire body of evidence to determine its relevance to my examination."
"[Despite these limitations, Mr. Trudeau] directly and through his senior officials, used various means to exert influence over Ms. Wilson-Raybould."
Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion

Federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion released a report Wednesday about the SNC-Lavalin affair, finding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was guilty of violating the Conflict of Interest Act. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Quebec-based SNC-Lavalin enjoys close relations with the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau, a government that was determined to ensure that the global company charged with bribing Libyan government officials in 2001 and 2011 to the tune of $48 million, facing a ten-year ban on qualifying for federal contracts on conviction would avoid a trial. SNC-Lavalin lobbied hard and successfully to have the government introduce a process called remediation agreement to circumvent a criminal trial.

Despite which the public prosecutor deigned not to offer a remediation agreement to the company and to proceed with trial, a decision that then-Attorney General and Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould decided not to overturn. That decision led to a persistent campaign from the Prime Minister's Office, the prime minister himself, and senior government officials to urge her to change her mind. To all of which overtures she firmly insisted that hers was the final word given her official capacity and justice would be done.

Time and again the Attorney General indicated that she had no intention of instructing the prosecutorial services to reverse the decision to bring SNC-Lavalin to trial on criminal charges levied against it. And that the pressure being applied to her was illegal, and must be stopped. Time and again the aggravating overtures continued through various sources, all obviously under the imprimatur of the prime minister who himself informed her that nine thousand jobs in Montreal were at stake, and an election campaign was in the offing.

Finally, Ms. Wilson-Raybould was shuffled out of the position of Minister of Justice and Attorney General and given the down-graded ministry of Veterans Affairs. An unidentified source leaked all of this background information to the press and from then on a publicly-revealed drama of political malfeasance hit headlines, day after day with each new charge, contradiction and denial. Ms. Wilson-Raybould was frozen out of Cabinet, and one of her colleagues resigned her cabinet position with Treasury Board.


As the revealing controversy simmered on with occasional flare-ups amid accusations and denials, both women were dismissed from cabinet and caucus, to sit as independents, denied the opportunity to represent the Liberal Party in the forthcoming October election. An internal Parliamentary Committee investigation, half-hearted given the majority member makeup of Liberals commenced and was summarily shut down as more embarrassing revelations ensued. Leading to the Ethics Commissioner's own investigation.

With the conclusions he reached presented publicly yesterday; unequivocal and damning, representing the second time in two years that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been found guilty of ethics violations; the first time for accepting an expenses-paid exotic Christmas holiday family trip to an island luxury getaway as guest of the Aga Khan, a lobbyist and beneficiary of government funds for his projects, clearly breaking parliamentary ethics rules.

"Even though I disagree with some of his [Dion's] conclusions, I fully accept this report and take responsibility for everything that happened. Where I disagree with the commissioner, amongst others, is where he says, and takes a strong perspective, that any contact with the [attorney general] on this issue was improper."
"We recognize that the way this happened shouldn't have happened. I take responsibility for the mistakes that I made. I think we recognize that what was done over the past year, as we tried to both defend judicial independence, of prosecutorial independence, and stand up for Canadian jobs and workers, wasn't exactly the right way to do things. And we thank the ethics commissioner for the hard work that he did in highlighting that."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks about a watchdog's report that he breached ethics rules by trying to influence a corporate legal case regarding SNC-Lavalin, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, August 14, 2019.   Andrej Ivanov / Reuters

Egotistically, patronizingly dismissive. Predictably stylistic. The accusations like water off a duck's back. It is not his place to unabashedly contradict such a finding. He 'accepts' the ultimate responsibility, but will not accept that he did anything out of the ordinary, abridging parliamentary rules, much less the basic rules of decency in lying and plotting, deceiving and playing the innocent while slandering someone who will not bend to his edicts. The royal 'we' aside, this man is shameless.

While the commission investigation was underway, Trudeau's lawyers sent a missive to Mr. Dion describing Ms. Wilson-Raybould in the most unflattering terms as difficult to work with; inherent in the message that anything that might have gone awry was her fault for being inflexible, not his for being ethically compromised. His concern for workers in Montreal failed to manifest equally with the far greater number of workers who have lost employment in Alberta resulting from Mr. Trudeau's complex machinations and hypocritical stance on the environment versus petroleum extraction.

A situation where the Canadian extraction industry is hobbled, investment has been halted, pipeline construction has been refused, to transport oil from the west to the east coast of Canada. Instead Canada continues to import oil from Saudi Arabia for domestic use, despite that Canada's proven reserves match those of the Saudis. And Canadian oil exports mostly to the United States, for lack of efficient transport, sell at below market value, cheating Alberta and Canada out of needed revenue.

"Justin Trudeau is guilty again. What we have now is a clear picture [of] who Justin Trudeau truly is, and it's not who he promised he would be. He promised he would be accountable and ethical. Instead, time and again, he has used the power of his office to enrich himself, reward his friends and punish his critics", charged the Conservative leader of the opposition, Andrew Scheer. While the RCMP has stated it is "examining this matter carefully with all available information and will take appropriate actions as required".

"There should be sanctions because there aren't any currently (for misbehaving parliamentarians. One should not ignore the dissuasive effect that sanctions can have. They help to focus the mind. They also provide Canadians with the assurance that there are consequences for breaching the act that are more serious than what has been called 'naming and shaming'", Mr. Dion once said. But under current rules there is no degree of 'punishment' that can be meted out to Mr. Trudeau, other than at the ballot box in October, and it's debatable how many voters who will 'trust' this man irrespective of anything he has done and will continue to do, would vote against his return for a second four years of misrule.

He will, as usual, wrap himself in the condescending cloak of entitlement and continue to hoist the standard of progressivism and globalism in a country he considers to be an example of post-nationalism under his knowledgeably exalted realm.

Trudeau rejects call for apology in wake of Ethics Commissioner's findings. Globe and Mail

The Canada-China 'Misunderstanding'

"[Canada] should spend less time bowing down to Canadian journalists preoccupied with human rights and get on with negotiating an important free trade agreement with China."
"In the recent two years or so, there has not been a single violent and terrorist attack and no more innocent people have been harmed [thanks to the imprisonment and re-training in Xinjiang's 'vocational education and training centres for Chinese Uyghur Muslims]."
"I want to tell  you that the Chinese nation does not have the gene of aggression. We have never launched a war of aggression against any other country and we have never occupied one inch of overseas colony in history."
"[Westerners] always believe that they are superior to any other nations. Chinese people are in the best position to judge China's development. We are confident about our own path, theory, system and culture."
"We will never change our own development path because of the different viewpoints of Western countries and several discredited articles in the West. We will stick to the path that we choose. For Western countries, the problem is how to get along with China."
"The knots [that Canada initiated to trouble its relationship with China] shall be untied by those who got them tied. [Canada should] stop the moves that undermine the interests of China."
"The reason why some people are used to arrogantly adopting double standards is due to Western egotism and white supremacy."
"What they have been doing is not showing respect for the rule of law, but mocking and trampling the rule of law."
Chinese Ambassador to Canada, Lu Shaye 

Lu Shaye, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Canada, addresses the media during a visit to Halifax on Nov. 7, 2017. Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS

"Urge China to desist from inaccurate portrayals of Canada's judicial process and treatment of Ms. Meng. As the international community looks on, urge China not to damage bilateral relationship, over a single consular case however high profile."
"Ms. Meng received consular access, due process, legal counsel and health care since day of arrest [and she continues  to be treated fairly by Canadian judicial system; we urge China to grant the same standards for Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor."
"It is important to understand that under the Canadian legal system and Constitution there can be no political interference in the judicial process."
Global Affairs briefing memorandum to Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland

China is balancing its desire to defend one of its biggest tech firms with the need to continue trade talks with the US. Photo: AFP

How it all began: the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on an extradition warrant issued by the U.S. State Department which plans to charge Ms. Meng with misrepresentation to U.S. financial institutions related to Iranian sanctions imposed by the U.S. Briefly held, Ms. Meng was given bail and has lived, since then, under bail conditions, at one, then the other of the two mansions she owns in Vancouver, awaiting extradition.

China's response was to arrest two Canadians who happened to be in China at the time; an entrepreneur and a Canadian diplomat on leave working for a private enterprise. Both have been held incommunicado, no access to lawyers, no contact with family, arrested for national security issues, later charged with espionage. Another two Canadians, charged with drug smuggling, have been sentenced to death. Trade embargoes have been imposed on Canadian food products normally -- over the past three decades -- exported to China on charges of 'contamination'.

Canada has been warned and threatened that should it decide not to contract with China's largest, most successful, communications giant, Huawei, for its 5G upgrades, there would be 'consequences'.
Canada's Cabinet ministers in the Trudeau Liberal government have attempted since December to communicate directly with their Chinese counterparts as part of normal diplomacy between countries, but each such attempt on the part of Canada has been rebuffed with silence, while the heat of criticism continues to boil over, mostly out of the mouth of China's ambassador to Canada.

He represents a country that has never purloined the territory of another country, unless one considers Tibet. That never threatens other countries, unless one considers its neighbours in the disputed South China Sea, where Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan and South Korea may have another opinion entirely on the issue despite Ambassador Lu's history lesson to Canada, that "the South China Sea islands have all along been the inherent territory of China". 

The problem that China sees in relations that have deteriorated so badly between Canada and China is that "Western countries' psychological imbalance towards China's economic and technological development comes down to the West-egotism". The West is mad with jealousy and resentment over China's success, an obvious failing of an egocentric West that finds it hard to absorb that China is able to become a world-class power second only to the United States which it is confident it will soon overtake.

It is not the United States, after all, that has developed the "One Belt, One Road" system of inter-connectedness, but China. China which has extended vast sums of credit to African countries to build their communications infrastructure; bridges, roadways, Internet connectivity, all of which will make it much, much easier for China to move its goods and services. China plans to adhere to environmental concerns by using fewer coal-fired furnaces; using those it installs in impoverished nations instead, where it will also grow food crops to import back to China.

Indebtedness for loans burdening their economies, the countries of Africa and Southwestern Asia surely do appreciate the good-heartedness of China's involvement in their internal affairs.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Papua New Guinea's Governor-General Bob Dadae, and Papua New Guinea's Chief of Defense Gilbert Toropo attend a welcome ceremony for Xi's state visit in Port Moresby on Nov. 16. (David Gray/AFP/Getty Images)

Crucifying an Honourable Man

"I am confident that at all times I acted with integrity, I acted ethically, and I acted in the best interest of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Forces, and ultimately the people of Canada."
"I'm obviously pleased with the Crown's decision to withdraw the charges against me."
"While I am relieved to be exonerated of any wrong-doing, I am disappointed it has taken this long. The alarming and protracted bias of perceived guilt across the senior levels of government has been quite damaging, and the emotional and financial impacts of this entire ordeal have taken their toll."
Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, former second-in-command of Canadian Armed Forces

"Vice-Admiral Norman, you entered a plea of not guilty."
"You are presumed to be innocent, and  you remain so. You are free to leave."
Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey, Ottawa

"No person should walk into a courtroom fighting their elected government of any sort of political factors."
"The government has been at the table. They've been at the table with seven or eight lawyers from the Justice Department. The charges were referred by the [Privy Council Office], the PCO is the holder of records ... to this day, because of the position taken by the PMO [Prime Minister's Office] and PCO."
"To say there was an interest [from political government] in this case puts it mildly; the people standing in the way of ... full disclosure was the government."
"What you don't do is, you don't put a finger and try to weigh in on the scales of justice."
Marie Heinen, Admiral Norman defence team

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman and his lawyer Marie Henein: Norman left an Ottawa courtroom free and vowing to return to duty after federal Crown prosecutors stayed their breach-of-trust case against the military's former second-in-command.  (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

"This new information definitely provided greater context to the conduct of Vice-Admiral Norman, and it revealed a number of complexities in the process that we were not aware of."
"Based on the new information we have come to the conclusion that given the particular situation involving Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, there is no reasonable prospect of conviction in this case."
Barbara Mercier, Crown prosecutor 

It is an open secret and always has been that because the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau felt embarrassed by its clumsy interference in a matter of military procurement of a naval supply ship when in 2015 the Liberal government followed the previous Conservative government by immediately taking steps to reverse all decisions made by their predecessors. a spirit of vengeful spite led the Prime Minister's Office under Trudeau's direction to find and to prosecute whoever they assumed had leaked confidential Cabinet information to a news source.

That the PCO had determined at least six people privy to what had been discussed; a second-thought on proceeding with an already-signed contract to convert a ship to supply capacity by a Montreal shipyard to contracting instead with an East coast shipyard, absorbing a $68-million penalty in the process, did not stop the wheels turning to have the RCMP look into Justin Trudeau's certainty that then-second-in-command of the Canadian military, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, had improperly given secret Cabinet data to alert the Montreal shipyard.

Information that leaked into the public realm when a news source made it public, embarrassing the government so that it had little option but to proceed with the original contract which was delivered on price and on time. What then ensued was a prolonged targeting of Vice-Admiral Norman whose home was invaded by RCMP officers who confiscated all computers, hard drives, files and other material, including personal items, to aid in their 'investigation. Norman was relieved of his position and placed on hold.

His commanding officer, Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance rather than defending his second-in-command appears to have lent himself to the removal of Norman, an act of betrayal hitherto unknown in the Canadian military command. In lock-step with the actions of the Prime Minister of Canada who forecasted a full year before Vice-Admiral Norman was formally charged, that a trial would be forthcoming. Norman declared his innocence to little avail; he was left dangling in the wind for a full year, uncertain of what was happening, distraught at his unforeseen situation.

He had the good sense to hire one of Canada's foremost lawyers in Marie Henein whose past clients have been similarly high-profile personalities, albeit not always sympathetic public figures. She set about putting government on notice that she would require files and records, including Norman's own, to be able to properly represent him in court. In response to which, military command, the PCO and the PMO did their best to obfuscate and demur, dragging their heels in producing relevant files to enable the defence.

It was patently clear over the past year in preparation for the defence of Vice-Admiral Norman that his law team was being blocked from access to significant material that would prove his innocence of the absurd charges. "He has always maintained his innocence from the beginning, and as I hope is clear in the conduct of this case, we were prepared to fight right to the end to establish it. He did nothing inappropriate, he did nothing criminal", stated Ms. Henein, after the Crown withdrew its charge.

The military, which had deigned not to pay Vice-Admiral Norman's mounting legal expenses, as is regularly done in support of their own, now announced that it was prepared to cover those expenses. A retired general who had run in the 2015 election as a Liberal notified Justin Trudeau of his intention to act as a witness on behalf of Norman. Another officer currently in the military testified that he witnessed deliberate obstruction by senior officers in providing necessary files for the Norman defence.

The entire affair of Justin Trudeau's petty vindictive interference in the Public Prosecutorial Service in the previous case of SNC Lavalin, played out like a Tin Pot Dictatorship. This Liberal government has been an absolute disgrace, an embarrassment to the people of Canada, and a hindrance to advancing Canadian interests both domestically and abroad.

A Civil Servant's Interpretation of Canadian Law

"So while I typed out notes during the phone call, I took the extraordinary and otherwise inappropriate step of making an audio recording of the conversation without so advising the Clerk."
"This is something that I have never done before this phone call and have not done since."
"It does not matter how I would look in doing that -- I would be a mockery, and that is not the problem -- [in acceding to the persistent and frequent urging of principals in the PMO and the Clerk of the Privy Council to shelve her moral principles and go astride the law to satisfy the wish for the Prime Minister to shield SNC Lavalin from criminal prosecution], the bigger problem is what it would look like down the road for the government."
"One, it has never been done before, but two, this is going to look like nothing but political interference by the prime minister, by you, by everyone else that has been involved in politically pressuring me to do this."
"This conversation, previous conversations I’ve had with the PM and people around him are entirely inappropriate. It is political interference."
Jody Wilson-Raybould, former Minister of Justice

"You are not just the attorney general, you are the minister of justice in a cabinet. I am not seeing anything inappropriate here."
"That is not my recollection of the conversation [above]. I do not have an independent recollection of the event. I did not wear a wire, record the conversation or take extemporaneous notes."
Michael Wernick, former Clerk of the Privy Council

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould take part in the grand entrance as the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation commission is released on Dec. 15, 2015. (The Canadian Press)

"[The clerk of the Privy Council Office (PCO) never briefed Justin Trudeau on his talk with ex-attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould."
"[The Prime Minister was] unaware of the full contents of this recording before today."
"[The prime minister] should have spoken directly with the former justice minister and attorney general about this matter — and wishes that she had come to him."
"[There was] clearly an erosion of trust over the past few months between PMO, the clerk of the Privy Council, and the former justice minister and attorney general."
Statement from the Prime Minister's Office

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau professed to being confused over his former Attorney-General's claims of having been relentlessly harassed by his executive assistants and advisers. They, evidently, took it upon themselves with no guidance whatever from him, much less orders, to press Jody Wilson-Rayboult to reconsider her decision not to intervene when the prosecutorial services decided not to extend a DPA agreement to SNC Lavalin over its criminal bribery (under Canadian law) of Libyan officials to secure contracts.

A Delayed Prosecution Agreement which would have resulted in the construction and engineering firm paying a fine, pledging to reform, and getting on with business rather than facing a criminal trial and being restricted from government contracts for a ten-year penalty period. The prosecution service, held to be immune from political interference had determined that SNC did not qualify under the provisions that might exempt it from a criminal trial, and the former Minister of Justice agreed. And she was not amenable to being badgered by anyone to reverse her judgement.

When Michael Wernick returned again to the subject with Wilson-Raybould he made it clear that he was intervening on the direct orders of the prime minister: "Alright...um...well I am going to have to report back before he leaves...he is in a pretty firm frame of mind about this so...I am a bit worried..." It takes no genius mind to infer from that statement that direct and immediate contact took place between himself and the prime minister and what the subject was. And the threat implicit in "Well...it is not a good idea for the Prime Minister and his Attorney General to be at loggerheads" speaks volumes of the reason for Wilson-Raybould's removal as Minister of Justice.

And certainly while Clerk of the Privy Council snapped at the Justice Committee interviewing him about the matter that he wasn't wearing a wire, that he hadn't made a recording, that he simply did not recall the type of details that in her testimony before the committee Jody Wilson-Raybould made it quite clear just how she was being pressured by all and sundry to change her judgement in favour of following the prime minister's line because "jobs were at stake", his recalcitrance to recall was laid bare by the simple reality that someone else recorded a critical conversation revealing absolute proof of malfeasance and false testimony.

And, as Wilson Raybould admitted when she realized that the fix was in and she was about to suffer the consequences: "I am waiting for big...the other shoe to drop, so I am not under any illusion how the Prime Minister has and gets things that he wants...I am just stuck doing the best job that I can..." presaging her dismissal and how wise she was in retrospect to record that damning conversation for posterity and an unfortunate legacy for this dismal failure of a Liberal government headed by a pretentious and unprepared-to-govern, egotistical dilettante.

"The prime minister stated publicly when issues about the propriety of the government's conduct in relation to the SNC matter arose that my ongoing presence in cabinet spoke for itself."
"I resigned the next day and I trust my resignation also speaks for itself."
Jody Wilson-Raybould