The Liberal government appears to believe Canadians should just keep our heads down and our mouths shut when it comes to standing up to interference by the Chinese Communist Party.
It’s the kind of thing that should never happen in Canada:
The Chinese Communist Party seeking to run a candidate against a Canadian Mayor, due to his willingness to stand up to Communist China:
The mayor of Port Coquitlam says he’s unimpressed with Ottawa’s efforts to crack down on Chinese political interference amid allegations that Beijing tried to run a candidate against him.
For reference, The Bureau – the new media organization run by respected reporter Sam Cooper – published a story about Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West’s assertion that Communist China sought to unseat him:
“Mayor Brad West, arguably Beijing’s sharpest critic in Canadian politics, says he was provided evidence the Chinese Communist Party plotted to run a candidate against him in British Columbia’s 2022 municipal elections, and CSIS warned him that diplomats in China’s Vancouver Consulate were concerned West’s political trajectory could “represent a real threat to their aims and objectives.”
In an exclusive interview, the two-term Port Coquitlam mayor disclosed toThe Bureau that CSIS is aware of posts on WeChat suggesting Beijing tried to unseat him in last year’s election.
As Mayor West notes, this is yet another reason a public inquiry is needed:
While West doesn’t know how CSIS has assessed the case, he thinks Canadians need to know the details, in part to hold Ottawa’s feet to the fire as attention wanders from Beijing’s federal election interference, and the Trudeau Government remains inactive on Chinese threats.”
West has shown a strong willingness to stand up for Canadian values and speak out against the Chinese Communist Party:
“I spoke about the oppression of people in China by the Chinese Communist Party, and I spoke about the need for our elected officials in this country to serve the citizens of this country and nobody else,” West recalled, “and that the growing threat of foreign interference particularly by the Chinese Communist Party would shake the foundations of our democracy and this was something that had to be addressed.”
Breaking exclusive:
Beijing allegedly tried to recruit a candidate to unseat influential BC mayor in last election https://t.co/86vF7rBCpZ— Sam Cooper (@scoopercooper) August 23, 2023
West repeated those calls when speaking to Global News:
“Brad West, elected for a second term last October, believes Canada needs a full public inquiry, a national registry of foreign agents, and to “kick” people with confirmed involvement out of the country.
“This gets to a real fundamental question about our democracy, about Canadians being able to have confidence and trust in the people who they elect,” he told Global News on Friday.
“This idea that we’re just so weak in our response, and in our own country, we don’t have the ability to stop these activities from happening and deport the individuals who are engaged in them, is really, really poor.””
Leaving brave Canadians out to dry
As we know, the federal government has become far too meddlesome in the lives of Canadians. However, even as they seek to expand their control, they have been dangerously hands-off in an area they actually have real responsibilities to fulfill: National security.
It is the job of the federal government to ensure that our democratic institutions are protected, that Canadians are able to speak freely, and that foreign governments like Communist China are not allowed free rein to meddle in our country.
What makes this so concerning is that the Liberals appear to be willing to look the other way on China’s interference because they feel they benefit from it politically.
And in doing so, they abandon brave Canadians like Mayor West, not to mention the many Canadians of Chinese origin who are being threatened by the CCP without receiving help from the federal government that should be protecting them.
In effect, the ongoing refusal to hold a public inquiry on Communist China’s interference in our democratic institutions shows the government wants to incentivize a specific kind of behaviour in which Canadians should just keep our heads down and our mouths shut when it comes to China’s interference in our nation.
That kind of attitude from the federal government represents not only an abandonment of people like Mayor West, but an abandonment of all Canadians and an abandonment of Canadian values.
Canadians deserve far better.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
