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MP who quit Liberals over China allegations votes with Tories for public inquiry

The political fallout of the latest allegations of foreign influence involving a Toronto MP dominated debate on Parliament Hill Thursday. But it wasn’t enough to get the Liberal government to agree to opposition demands for a public inquiry into alleged Chinese interference in Canadian democracy.

Thestar.com
March 24, 2023
Alex Ballingall, Raisa Patel

The Conservatives, Bloc Quebecois and New Democrats all pressed for answers and called for a public inquiry after Don Valley North MP Han Dong tearfully resigned from the Liberal caucus Wednesday night to sit as an Independent.

On Thursday, hours after he left the Liberal caucus, Dong voted against the government to help the opposition parties pass a non-binding motion calling for an inquiry into foreign election interference.

But the government has so far resisted those calls, which emerged with renewed vigour after the latest allegation that Dong has dismissed as a false “attack” on his reputation that questioned his loyalty to Canada.

Dong was referring to a Global News report, which cited unnamed national security sources who alleged Dong secretly advised a Chinese diplomat in 2021 that Beijing should refrain from releasing two Canadians who were jailed by the authoritarian regime at the time.

The Star has been unable to verify the report, and Dong did not respond to questions from the Star on Thursday.

The imprisonment of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig was denounced widely as retaliation for the 2018 arrest of a Chinese telecom executive in Vancouver at the request of the United States. The Canadian government railed against the jailing of the “Two Michaels” and rallied international support against “hostage diplomacy” until their release in September 2021 after more than 1,000 days in Chinese detention.

In the House of Commons on Thursday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre repeatedly demanded to know when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau learned of the allegations against Dong. Conservative MPs suggested it was unlikely that security sources would leak the information to a media outlet without informing the government.

A government official confirmed to the Star that the government only found out about the allegations when Global News asked questions about them.

Describing the report as a “startling revelation,” Poilievre said it would be a “devastating scandal” if the allegations were true and Trudeau knew about them.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly fired back that Trudeau made sure the government was standing up to China over the detainment of Spavor and Kovrig.

“We will never accept any sort of premise that this government and Canadians didn’t work enough to bring them back home,” Joly said.

Even “alluding” to the contrary is “absolutely false,” she later added.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who was among the first to call for Dong to step down from the Liberal caucus, said he will bring up the prospect of a public inquiry when he meets with David Johnston, the “special rapporteur” appointed by the government to look into allegations of foreign interference.

Yet Singh -- whose party is propping up the Liberal minority government in a parliamentary co-operation deal -- also rejected any suggestion that the issue is worth triggering an election over. The Star reported this week that the Liberals allowed speculation to float about whether they would stage a confidence vote over the matter as a “test” of their relationship with the NDP.

“We don’t want an election in the context of a time when people are raising legitimate concerns about foreign interference,” said Singh, who stated this week that he still thinks the parliamentary deal is worthy of maintaining.

Meanwhile, some Liberals praised Dong’s decision to leave caucus. International Trade Minister Mary Ng told reporters Thursday that Dong made the “right decision,” given the “seriousness” of the allegations against him.

Another Liberal MP, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about internal party matters, said Thursday that Dong’s departure from caucus was likely inevitable after the latest Global News story, which “materially changed” the pressure on the government over allegations of foreign interference.

“There was some sense of closure” after Dong resigned from caucus, the MP said.

Now it would be preferable to call a public inquiry instead of allowing security sources to continue leaking sporadic information that is fuelling the political firestorm over foreign interference, the MP said.

Arguing a public inquiry might not be able to air all information on sensitive national security matters like this, the government has instead appointed Johnston to guide its response, as two closed-door investigations -- one by a special committee of MPs and senators, the other by an independent national security agency -- look into the issue.

The Liberals have also agreed to allow Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, to testify at a parliamentary committee studying foreign interference.