LIVE UPDATES: Former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole testifies at Foreign Interference Commission
Four politicians who claim they were targeted by election interference from the Chinese Communist Party are set to testify at the Foreign Interference Commission on Wednesday.
Former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole is the most high-profile of the group. He previously asserted how Canada's spy agency informed him Chinese operatives were promoting false narratives about him. The former Conservative leader attributes the interference to costing the party around eight or nine seats in the House of Commons.
O'Toole has since stepped down from his as a member of Parliament.
Another former Conservative MP, Kenny Chiu, is also set to testify on Wednesday. Current Conservative foreign affairs critic, Michael Chong, will also speak before the commission.
Rounding out the group is NDP MP Jenny Kwan.
Follow along as Sheila Gunn Reid provides live updates on the hearing on X, or on this page below:
Back at the Foreign Interference Commission today.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Conservatives Erin O'Toole, Kenney Chiu, Micheal Chong and NDP MP Jenny Kwan are expected to testify.
All say they have been targeted by China during election campaigns for advocating for human rights,
Erin O'Toole, former Conservative Leader and longtime MP for Durham.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
He was foreign affairs critic under former leader Andrew Scheer
O'Toole references the Winnipeg lab scandal—and the Trudeau government's poor handling of it—right before the 2019 election.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Two Chinese scientists, including one working on bat viruses, removed deadly pathogens and sent them to the Wuhan Institute Virology, the lab where Covid…
O'Toole says that accusations of anti-Chinese racism were used to "chill" any criticism about what happened at the Winnipeg Lab, where in 2019 two Chinese nationals were caught sending vials of Ebola and other biological agents to a Chinese military facility in Wuhan.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
O'Toole is shown a predictive model developed by the Conservatives of the prospective seat count for the 2021 election. They were shocked at some ridings which fell way outside the models.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
These were the ridings that were targeted by China.
Conservatives gave this information… pic.twitter.com/aQUoALDDay
huh, well O'Toole said the Conservative were on the "wrong side of the vaccine mandate issue" and that's "why the Liberals called the election".
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
What does that mean? He was wrong about supporting it, but some of his MPs were against it.
Is he still blaming the normals who…
document showing PRC misinfo spread on Chinese social media platforms about Kenny Chiu's foreign agent registries. pic.twitter.com/suvXvc7sdF
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
O'Toole says the Conservatives hardline foreign policy on China and human rights is what made them a target for CCP/PRC meddling.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Mentions Michael Chong's Uyghur genocide bill and Kenney Chiu's foreign agents registry.
Chiu lost his riding to CCP meddling.
CSIS briefing showed that China targeted the CPC campaign and candidates. pic.twitter.com/Gz3WlieQWU
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
O'Toole says that SITE taskforce did not take 2019 election meddling seriously enough. Campaigns' concerns were downplayed https://t.co/Se8jL1I90x
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
in the days after the election, the CPC gave information and screenshots to the SITE task force showing foreign interference.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
O'Toole said he never heard back. pic.twitter.com/DSoR9dUNqs
Michael Chong's lawyer asks about voter intimidation and coercion of international students.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
"How someone votes is completely secret. Whether you did vote is publicly available. Diaspora voters didn't want to be seen on the voters' list if that riding stayed Conservative"
O'Toole is asked if Conservatives were targeted for Indian foreign interference because of their policy positions favourable to India.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Doesn't really say but he says the Sikh community put him on blast over a united India motion. The farmers' protests in India (in the Punjab)…
O'Toole says the Indian high commissioner received an increased security detail during the Indian farmer protests. The commissioner lived next door to the opposition leader's residence, Stornoway. https://t.co/8PySxvR8CE
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
O'Toole is asked by a lawyer from the Russian Canadian Democratic Alliance about the PPC vote split. He says the vaccine mandates bled some support to PPC. O'Toole says he was pro-vaccine but against people losing their jobs.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
This is bizarre. Russian Canadian Democratic Alliance - and O'Toole is agreeing with him - that according to a consulting firm hired by the government, PPC content that was anti-lockdown or anti-vaccine mandate was being amplified by Russian-linked accounts.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
But it may have… pic.twitter.com/Mj2VQWTV0i
On 20 mins break until 11:35 eastern
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Next up at the Foreign Interference Commission, Kenny Chiu.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Conservative MP from Steveston- Richmond who lost his seat thanks to CCP meddling and threats https://t.co/kz3hV25diO
Chiu says Tiananmen Square was a "watershed moment" for him. This is when he decided he wanted to be a Canadian citizen.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
You can tell how much he loves Canada.
He did not want to "sit on the sidelines" and started his political career by getting involved in the local school…
Chiu says his riding is 50% ethnic Chinese.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Chiu says Tiananmen Square was a "watershed moment" for him. This is when he decided he wanted to be a Canadian citizen.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
You can tell how much he loves Canada.
He did not want to "sit on the sidelines" and started his political career by getting involved in the local school…
Chiu says his riding is 50% ethnic Chinese.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Chiu says that misinformation was spread about him within his riding that he was in support of "rioters" in Hong Kong.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Chiu is clear that the use of the word rioter to describe freedom protesters is a reflection of a pro-Beijing sentiment..which he does not hold.
Former CPC MP Kenny Chiu discusses the voter turnout in his riding, the implication is that the CCP had a coordinated intimidation campaign to have voters stay home in his 50% ethnic Chinese riding. pic.twitter.com/cAHLRQOncR
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
CPC MP Kenny Chiu is shown text messages in Chinese that detail CCP misinfo about his foreign agent registry proposal.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
And talks about an incident door knocking where he was told he hates Chinese people by people who had previously voted for him. pic.twitter.com/LXPP0BnCFu
Chiu is being read an article in the local English language news, which cites a Chinese WeChat post saying Chiu's foreign agency registry would censor Chinese people in Canada. pic.twitter.com/TrTOlTr2aB
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Chiu is being read Chinese-language news articles which are utter CCP lies about what his foreign agent registry would do. pic.twitter.com/xxQTITKfts
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
This is wild. Former CPC MP Kenney Chiu is being shown a Global Affairs document dated after the 2021 election which details a series of CCP misinformation attacks directed at him.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
He has never seen this document and was never told by Global Affairs about these attacks. He… pic.twitter.com/czQQAIfUFF
Former CPC MP Kenney Chiu tells the Commission he severed ties with family in Hong Kong to protect them when he entered politics.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
He says he feels betrayed by the Canadian government, that knew all about his targeting by the CCP and did nothing.
"I was drowning, and they were… pic.twitter.com/mWAKSxf9fD
Former CPC Kenny Chiu says how insulting it was to him as a Chinese Canadian, raising concerns from his Chinese Canadian constituents, to be told he was being racist against Asians by Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons. pic.twitter.com/0UwprB3nZb
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Kenny Chiu addresses the Foreign Interference Commissioner
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
"The current situation is not working" pic.twitter.com/OJC9mvKicO
And we are on break from the Foreign Interference Commission until 12:40 mountain.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Let's see what other broadcast software I can learn on the fly in the meantime.
Kenney Chiu tells a CPC lawyer that the first CSIS briefing he received about China targeting him in 2021 was in September 2023.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
He lists the "alphabet soup" agencies tasked with protecting Canadian elections, which are "well resourced" but, as it turns out, largely useless. pic.twitter.com/GIiyzU0MTb
Former CPC MP Kenny Chiu says, "I don't think it's expecting too much to get a call from one of these organizations and offer their advice about how to counter interference such as the ones that I've encountered."
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
he listed 15 agencies that are supposed to protect us from… pic.twitter.com/SULaf7UzpS
Kenny Chiu is shown the evidence of Dr. Benjamin Fung, a professor in the School of Information Studies at McGill University, who explains how CCP propaganda ends up in Chinese language media. pic.twitter.com/vTDMe6QjgT
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Kenny Chiu is asked by the lawyer for the AG why he didn't just go on WeChat and try to combat Chinese disinformation himself.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
He says it was a security risk for MPs to use it. So naturally he didn't use it as a candidate for the same reason. pic.twitter.com/0xR9VJHVDn
NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who was targeted by the CCP for electoral interference, tells the Foreign Interference Commission about being surveilled by the Chinese consulate at a freedom protest. pic.twitter.com/KQv1r6WyMT
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
NDP MP Jenny Kwan tells the commission lawyer about how she was excluded from community events by CCP proxies in Vancouver. pic.twitter.com/2khIXL74va
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
NDP MP Jenny Kwan says elderly Chinese people in her riding were fearful for their safety if CCP proxies found out how they voted. pic.twitter.com/wXq4h1JpJ6
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Conservative MP Michael Chong details a menacing email he received in 2019 from a CCP proxy spoofing a CCP email. He forwarded the email to Global Affairs, but they never followed up with him.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Only last year, the RCMP followed up with him about this email. pic.twitter.com/ZofG0EjKEh
Michael Chong says no gov agency ever told him what constituted foreign interference in 2019. pic.twitter.com/ZxjeRktNnB
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
CPC MP tells the commission of a bizarre event at a town hall in his rural riding (where his family is one of the only Asian families there).
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
Suspicious it was a CCP setup. pic.twitter.com/StUaf7bi20
Michael Chong on how he concluded that the CPC was harmed by foreign interference in the 2021 election. pic.twitter.com/a4CXUhkUy4
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
ooof, that's gonna leave a mark.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
CPC MP Michael Chong lights up the Canadian government for their lack of transparency about threats to candidates of foreign interference.
Chong says it is the Trudeau government that is fomenting anti-Asian hate while accusing others who… pic.twitter.com/JlUoqHK4AP
The federal government knew about the threats to CPC MP Michael Chong by CCP actors.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
He explains what he would have done differently to protect his personal safety if he had been told by the Canadian government that he had been a target of the CCP. pic.twitter.com/CgZzEeN6Mh
Michael Chong walks the foreign interference commission through the process of a potential election of a foreign contaminated party leader/Prime Minister, pic.twitter.com/X7LzlsmHoR
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
last clip from the day.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
CPC MP Michael Chong debunks the excuse that foreign interference is really just innocuous foreign opinions. pic.twitter.com/XCBKSNvw1j
thanks, that's all for me today. I have to get out of this office chair!
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024
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