B.C. MPs unseated with help of Beijing influence on 2021 election, reporting alleges

Former Steveston Richmond-East MP Kenny Chiu wasn’t surprised by new reports that the 2021 election campaign that unseated him was subject to covert interference from the China’s former consul in Vancouver.

He remains concerned, however, that Canada’s lack of response to increasing evidence that Beijing seeks to influence its diaspora communities with social-media disinformation campaigns sends the message to authoritarian regimes, such as China, “that we are weak, that we will take no action to protect ourselves,” Chiu said Friday.

The Globe and Mail, citing classified Canadian Security Intelligence Service records, reported that China worked to help ensure a Liberal minority victory in the 2021 general election as well as defeat politicians considered unfriendly to Beijing.

In particular, those records noted China’s former consul general in Vancouver, Tong Xiaoling, boasted in 2021 about how she helped defeat two Conservative MPs, Chiu in Steveston Richmond-East, which was won by Liberal Candidate Parm Bains, and longtime Richmond Centre MP Alice Wong, who lost to Liberal candidate Wilson Miao.