Beijing's Interference in Canada's Elections

"That tells you all you need to know about Chinese interference in our society."

"Make them feel important, make them feel honoured, then they'll go home and do your bidding for you."

"That's human nature."

Cheuk Kwan, Toronto Association for Democracy in China

 

"Yuen has also been photographed with a Markham community leader who attended closed-door United Front meetings in Beijing, and he has spoken at events hosted by the Toronto Chinese Freemasons—an organization that has openly advocated for the CCP’s Taiwan policy. In 2024, Yuen joined the board of NOIC Academy, a private school flagged by CSIS during Canada's foreign interference inquiry."

"In 2019, Chinese officials allegedly pressured students there to vote Liberal. Yuen was not involved then, but his decision to join the board afterward raises serious concerns."

"He is also listed as an honorary director with the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada, a group connected to United Front activities—despite Liberal leader Mark Carney denying any link to the group, which publicly endorsed him. When The Globe and Mail asked about his views on Taiwan, Uyghur genocide, and foreign influence operations, Yuen refused to answer."

"Despite Liberal claims of 'robust vetting', the CCP-linked candidate conveyor belt keeps rolling."

Rebel News

Peter Yuen, who ran as a candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in the recent provincial election, at a campaign event in Toronto on Jan. 31, 2025. Photo by Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press/File

 

Former Toronto deputy police chief Peter Yuen is the replacement for former candidate MP Paul 

Chiang who faced intense scrutiny when he suggested that his audience at a Chinese community gathering might be interested in turning over Conservative rival Joe Tay to the Chinese consulate for a bounty of $180,000 from Hong Kong police for  his arrest. Joe Tay had run afoul of Beijing for his criticism of the Chinese communist Party. Although Liberal leader Mark Carney defended Mr. Chiang, the candidate had the common good sense to resign his candidacy.

 

Paul Chiang, a former police officer, called his own comments 'deplorable' after news broke that he suggested to Chinese-language media at a news conference in January that people could hand over Joe Tay to the Chinese consulate for a reward offered by police in Hong Kong. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Unsurprisingly, his replacement as Liberal candidate for the Markham-Unionville riding last week for the April 28 election has undergone intense scrutiny, given the real concerns of Beijing's manipulative efforts to interfere in Canadian elections. As a former deputy police chief Mr. Yuen, now retired and involved in public affairs might seem like the perfect candidate. Unfortunately, the Liberal vetting system for suitability for public office, given Beijing's penchant for election interference failed once again. It has now been revealed the the Liberal party's new nominee in the Toronto-area riding had, among others, attended a massive military parade and demonstration in Beijing of martial strength at the invitation of a Chinese agency known to influence ethnic Chinese in Canada as well as other countries. 

 

Some 75 "overseas Chinese" alongside Mr. Yuen accepted that invitation, and were flown to Beijing where they were right royally put up in a hotel, to be present at a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat in the Second World War, during a period when China was militarily occupied by Imperial Japan. Mr. Yuen, according to an interview with another invitee, was among attendees who stayed at the Doubletree Hilton hotel and watched the parade taking place from bleachers in Tiananmen Square.

 

Other events were attended by Canadian delegates during the trip which included awarding of medals to elderly veterans of the war. Trips of this nature characterize a classic tactic used by Beijing to influence and stress nationalistic pride in overseas expatriate Chinese. No evidence is available that Mr. Yuen publicly supported China's interests. After all, it isn't unusual in and of itself for Canadians of ethnic origins elsewhere around the world maintain ties with their birth country, take pride in their heritage and arrange visits 'back home' for nostalgic or brief family unification reasons. 

Canadian citizen and Conservative candidate Joe Tay, originally from Hong Kong, had been charged under Beijing's National Security Law for his operation of a YouTube channel in Canada, critical of China's domination of the Hong Kong government. That his Liberal opponent had championed Beijing's efforts to coerce or tempt the man to return to China to be imprisoned or worse, exemplifies a serious problem of Chinese interference in Canada and its hounding of Chinese-Canadians. 

Mr. Yuen, in turn, chose to frequently appear at events staged by the Chinese consulate  general in Toronto, or by local Chinese-Mainland-origined groups with links to Beijing. His 2015 trip to Beijing at the government's invitation highlighted a show of celebratory military force by China where 12,000 troops, 500 pieces of military hardware; tanks and 'ship-killing' missiles, 200 helicopters, fighter jets and other aircraft flew overhead. "Military might on an unprecedented scale", reported the BBC.

 

The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, now presenting as a branch of the United Front Work Department, the branch of the Chinese Communist Party that works to extend China's influence within the Chinese diaspora and foreign political and government figures, according to Chinese-language news reports had been behind the invitation and measures to influence Chinese living in foreign countries. In 2022 a Canadian Federal Court ruled it was reasonable to say that the Overseas Chinese office was involved in espionage.

 

Liberal Leader Mark Carney, accepted the resignation of now former Liberal candidate Paul Chiang from the race after Chiang said Conservative candidate Joe Tay should be turned in to the Chinese Consulate in exchange for a bounty.  CBC

Mr. Yuen has behind him a Canadian success story: when a young boy who emigrated from Hong Kong with his family to Canada, rose through police ranks in Canada's largest city to become the first Chinese-Canadian deputy police chief, a man furthermore who won a variety of service awards. At the same time he also presented at events hosted by the Chinese consulate general or by groups with links to it. A ceremony honouring Yuen's promotion to superintendent of the Toronto Police Service took place at the consulate in 2014. 

A 2017 consulate celebration of the 68th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China saw him in attendance at that event. Following his retirement from the Police Service, he served on the board of a school catering to international students from China, some of whom had been bused to a nomination election in 2018 where MP Han Dong was chosen as the nominee for the Liberals in the Don Valley North riding.  That event was cited in a report on the federal foreign-interference inquiry a a possible example of meddling by the Chinese government.