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Something about the explanation for Liberal MP Shaun Chen’s prolonged absence from Parliament isn’t adding up.

Chen announced he was stepping down, citing significant ongoing health problems that prevented him from travelling to Ottawa as frequently as his job required. Now journalist Glen McGregor says a source close to Chen claims those health problems followed a serious single-vehicle crash on Highway 416 on October 5, 2025.

Because the keyboard commandoes are expanding their conspiracy theory to question retiring MP Shaun Chen's car accident... A source close to the MP explains he was in a single-vehicle crash on Hwy 416, heading to Ottawa, on Sunday Oct. 5. 1/ https://t.co/nWrjHh7dCG

— Glen E. McGregor (@glen_mcgregor) August 13, 2026

According to McGregor, a source told him Chen was alone in his red SUV when it flipped over, landed upside down in a ditch and was totalled. Chen reportedly suffered a serious head injury. No charges were laid.

Chen was the only passenger. His red SUV flipped over and ended up inverted in the ditch. The vehicle was totaled. Chen sustained a serious head injury. No charges were laid. Chen voted in the #HoC the following day but other Liberal MPs subbed in for him at #FEWO meetings. 2/2

— Glen E. McGregor (@glen_mcgregor) August 13, 2026

That's an extremely specific account. But where is the crash?

Former Ontario traffic reporter Chris McKee went looking. He says he checked OPP East, Ottawa Traffic, which carries official MTO accident information, and CN Ottawa Traffic. Nothing matching the description.

I was a Traffic Reporter for 5 years on over 30 radio stations across Ontario including CityNews Ottawa and now work as a news anchor. I checked OPP East, @Ottawa_Traffic which publishes every official MTO accident reported and there is zero mention of any Hwy 416 crash on Oct 5.… pic.twitter.com/CYDmLlEkJN

— Chris McKee (@mrmckee) August 14, 2026

Others searched local media, Ottawa Police and OPP East Region material without finding an obvious match either. We've looked through Ottawa Traffic reports around October 5 and 6. They document construction, disabled vehicles, lane closures and collisions. But so far, we haven't found a Highway 416 rollover involving a red SUV, a vehicle landing upside down in a ditch and a driver suffering a serious head injury.

Now, the absence of a publicly searchable traffic report doesn't prove the crash didn't happen. But asking for corroboration is well within the boundaries of journalism.

Which police service attended? Where exactly did it happen? What time? Was the SUV towed? And most importantly, what is the police occurrence number?

A rollover serious enough to total an SUV and cause a serious head injury should leave a documentary trail.

Then there's China. Chen's own office has confirmed that he travelled to China from March 14 to March 22, 2026, about five months after the alleged accident.

The best part about Shaun Chen retiring due to his inability to travel to work in Ottawa has to be when his handler points out how far Chen went out of his way to get to China

Posted March 25, 2026 https://t.co/jqInIMwXIM pic.twitter.com/uIABtcVayG

— Andy Lee (@RealAndyLeeShow) August 11, 2026

And that's where this explanation gets even harder to understand. We're told Chen's ongoing health problems made travelling to Ottawa as frequently as his parliamentary job required difficult. Yet he was apparently capable of travelling to China and appearing in promotional videos while there.

Toronto to Ottawa is roughly an hour by air. Getting to China is an intercontinental journey involving many hours in the air, plus airports and ground transportation.

So the obvious question is: If Chen's health prevented him from regularly travelling to Ottawa for work, how was he able to travel halfway around the world to China?

Maybe there's a perfectly reasonable medical explanation. Maybe occasional travel was possible while frequent commuting wasn't. Maybe Chen improved by March and subsequently deteriorated.

Fine. Then explain it.

Right now Canadians are being asked to reconcile two facts: Chen says significant health problems interfered with his ability to travel to Ottawa, while Chen's office confirms he travelled to China.

And before anyone starts shouting “medical privacy,” we're not asking for Chen's private medical chart. We're asking about an explanation Chen himself put into the public domain for why he could no longer regularly travel to Ottawa and perform his job.

The easiest way to end the speculation is transparency. Until then, we'll keep asking at WhereIsChen.com.