The News Rundown

Disturbing details about China’s interference that Johnston discovered — and downplayed

The first phase of Special Rapporteur David Johnston’s investigation into China’s interference in Canada is complete and there will be no public inquiry.
Johnston has effectively said that there doesn’t need to be one because any inquiry would duplicate his work and that for something that is public, they would not be able to review the necessary secret documents.
The reaction has been swift and all the opposition parties are still calling for one but NDP leader Jagmeet Singh will not put the stability of the government at risk and force Trudeau.
Instead he has said that he will use all the tools available in Parliament.
Singh said, "I'm deeply disappointed in the rapporteur's report. We'll be taking these concerns directly to the PM and use all our tools in Parliament to get answers for Canadians."
Then later the NDP limited what David Johnston could say at committee. With this, it should be perfectly clear that the NDP and Liberals are one and the same and we are now living under a de facto coalition government where the junior partner has no cabinet representation.
The Prime Minister has aimed to make it look like he is following what Johnston said in that he has offered security clearances and classified briefs to all opposition leaders.
Only the NDP has taken him up after seeking assurances they’ll still be able to speak freely after being briefed.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Bloc Quebecois leader Yves Francois Blanchet have turned down the offer both effectively saying that it feels like a “trap” in the words of Blanchet.
The general sense is that most of the report seems to be focused on absolving the government and Liberal party.
But the first and starkest finding was that “foreign governments are undoubtedly attempting to influence candidates and voters in Canada.”
He also suggested that the instances are “less concerning than some media have suggested” and that it may come down to ineptitude rather than intent that the instances in his view are less concerning.
The report is very much one where we need to read between the lines because at the very minimum we now have confirmation of the first Global report that 11 candidates were targeted, 7 Liberal and 4 Conservative and that at the very least, China intended for funds to be sent to the candidates.
As for whether or not Justin Trudeau knew that the 2019 election was being targeted, Johnston dismissed the story because the warning did not reach the prime minister’s desk.
The report did say though that the warning was contained in an earlier draft of the memorandum, suggesting the Chinese were heavily involved in the candidate selection process.
Regarding Han Dong, Johnston said the intelligence suggested Dong was not aware of the irregularities and the prime minister was briefed but no recommendations were made to displace the candidate — a decision he concluded, with disconcerting deference, was “not an unreasonable conclusion based on the intelligence available.”
What is true though is that the agencies report that “irregularities were observed with Mr. Dong’s nomination in 2019 and there is well-grounded suspicion that the irregularities were tied to the PRC Consulate in Toronto, with whom Mr. Dong maintains relationships.”
As of this point, Han Dong is being welcomed back into the Liberal caucus.
The report continues like this where it first attempts to absolve the PMO, Justin Trudeau, or the Liberals but then says what happened.
With this, one can ask, how can Johnston say that the media has misconstrued what has happened due to a “lack of context” when at the same time there are clear cases of an orchestrated push to interfere in our elections.
The media editorial board at the Toronto Star has actually called for an inquiry saying that “Johnston’s report into foreign interference failed to provide the needed transparency.”
It’s at this point that we take a step back and ask: what the heck is going on here?
Conspicuously absent in all of this is the question of what Justin Trudeau knew, that was not answered. It’s a question that the opposition wants answered for the very fact that the Prime Minister has become very powerful over the last 30 years or so.
And with that it makes the PMO and cabinet a target for influence.
We’re left now with the very possibility that not only has China tried to target the electoral and nomination process but an idea that we postulated back in 2018 may also be true, that the interference peddled by China is wider and worse than anyone thought.
Supplementals:

News has come out this past couple weeks of funding given to two different Quebec organizations that the RCMP suspects may be hosting secret Chinese police stations.
Experts on Chinese foreign interference fear that funding may have helped pro-Beijing actors expand the Chinese Communist Party’s network in Canada, while “legitimizing” the organization police suspect may be supporting efforts to intimidate or silence critics of China’s ruling regime.
That organization is Service à la Famille Chinoise du Grand Montréal (SFCGM), a Montreal-based charity that advertises itself as a resource for Chinese immigrants to Canada that also promotes initiatives for the community’s well-being.
Financial records filed by SFCGM to the Canada Revenue Agency because of its charitable status reveal that Ottawa sent a total of $200,000 in public funds to SFCGM between 2020 and 2022 (the last reported fiscal year). Specifically, the charity reported receiving $178,450 from the federal government in 2020-2021 and $21,728 in 2021-2022.
A federal government grants and contributions database lists five contributions from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to SFCGM going back as far as 2018.
An ESDC spokesperson confirmed the department gave it a $25,000 contribution in 2020 as part of its New Horizons for Seniors program. The project aimed to train seniors in Quebec’s Chinese community to use online communication tools “in order to maintain their contact with the community and their families.”
According to McGill University professor and pro-democracy group Action Free Hong Kong Montreal spokesperson Benjamin Fung, that’s exactly the kind of program a secret Chinese police station would use to build its network and influence.
“If this is really a police station from China, they can use the funds to expand their network and their connections. This is also one way to monitor the many international Chinese students that are here,” he said in an interview.
Fung said critics of the Chinese Communist Party have known for years the regime had an “underground” influence network in Canada. He said he was the target of harassment by some Chinese students, including one he had been supervising for two years, after some pro-democracy speeches he gave during the 2019 protests in Hong Kong.
ESDC spokesperson Saskia Rodenburg said the department has no “current” contribution agreements with SFCGM, but would not say if it would consider accepting any future requests from the charity. She also declined to say if ESDC was investigating the work done by SFCGM.
Links between SFCGM and the Chinese government go back years and the organization likely received funding directly from Beijing, according to a recent report by the Toronto Star. The newspaper cited Chinese media reports in 2016 that the SFCGM was designated as an Overseas Chinese Service Centre by China’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (which became part of China’s controversial United Front Work Department in 2018). That designation generally comes with funding from the Chinese government.
This week we also learned that this was not the only Quebec based charity given federal money that the RCMP now believe are operating as secret Chinese police stations.
According to a federal government database, Centre Sino-Québec de la Rive Sud, a not-for-profit based in Montreal’s south shore, also received over $105,000 in funding between 2016 and 2022 via six grants from the Canada Summer Jobs program.
In its 2018-2019 annual report, the most recent report available via an Internet archiving service after the information was scrubbed from its website, Centre Sino-Québec said it used the funding that year to hire four students of Chinese origin to work at a summer camp for youth from low-income immigrant families. The data also shows it received over $53,000 via three contributions between 2020 and 2022 from the New Horizons for Seniors program, which funds projects geared toward seniors.
In a statement last week, RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Tasha Adams said the investigation is part of a larger probe aiming to “detect and perturb criminal activities supported by a foreign state that can threaten the safety of people living in Canada.”
Both organizations have also been designated as Overseas Chinese Service Centres by China’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, which became part of China’s controversial United Front Work Department (UFWD) in 2018. According to its last available annual report, Centre Sino-Québec reported it received the designation in 2016 directly from “Minister Yuanping Qiu of the government of the People’s Republic of China.”
In a statement, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) spokesperson Natalie Huneault said the department has no “current” contribution agreement with Centre Sino-Québec as part of the Canada Summer Jobs or New Horizons for Seniors programs.
Conservative MP Kelly McCauley said he was “stunned” that the Liberal government appears to have made no attempts to claw the money back from either organization. He also said he expects the Liberal government to be more careful with how it chooses the organizations it funds going forward and wants it to reassess how it evaluates applications for grants and contributions.
However, McCauley said: “But I have zero faith in this government acting on this, unfortunately. That’s just based on their current track record.”
Two experts on Chinese foreign interference and influence methods say the federal government’s funding may have helped pro-Beijing actors grow and spread their influence in Canada all the while legitimizing the organizations.
Dennis Molinaro, an expert on Chinese foreign interference and former national security analyst said: “If these organizations have a connection to the Chinese government, getting funding in Canada legitimizes the group, it provides it more of a foothold, it can obviously strengthen it and … give it more opportunities for influencing people. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more organizations that might have connections to UFWD or the Chinese government that are receiving government funds.”
That's the problem at hand - there could be any number of these organizations that are using our own tax dollars given to them by our own government to work against our own country and our own citizens. That is the Liberal government's real failure here - not only allowing these organizations to work against our country, but to give them the money to do it too.
The recent report from the brief investigation into foreign interference shows that the only way to get a change on this file is to change the government in charge of it. The only way that Trudeau will be held accountable is at the election polls. The media won't do it, the Liberals won't do it, Jagmeet Singh's NDP won't do it, so it's up to the citizens to make their voices heard.
Supplementals:

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/suspected-chinese-police-station-federal-funding

A Look at the NDP's Anti-Racism and Equity Platform

The final days of the Alberta election campaign have been surprisingly quiet compared to what we expect from a federal race or what we saw in 2019.
As such we’ve decided to look at what has not been talked about surprisingly in the election campaign.
Listeners might remember that almost 2 years ago in June 2021 we covered the NDP’s policy convention. At that convention we saw things like the party’s push for net-zero electricity by 2035 which we’ve already covered.
But one thing that was mentioned there and was voted on as a policy resolution that seemed fringe at the time has made its way into the party platform.
In June 2021 on episode 223 we covered an idea to enable the province to begin race based data collection.
We enter into 2023 understanding that the past in Alberta and Canada has been filled with racial injustices, thankfully not as many as other countries, but from residential schools to the Alberta eugenics program, race has been used to disastrous effects by governments.
Canada is founded as a country where everyone is welcome and everyone is welcome to practice their own culture within and aren’t expected to adopt a single identity.
It must be understood that while a comprehension of the past is necessary and that we correct those wrongs, it is also wrong today to use race as a driving point of policy in our country.
With that, the NDP has pledged to bring this policy convention commitment into government if elected on Monday.
The legislation in question would focus on anti-racism and race based data collection.
That’s point one and it should alarm everyone. Not because anti-racism is bad but because policy decisions would be driven based on race in the name of addressing racial inequalities.
Not since the Social Credit’s eugenics program has race been such a key policy plank for a party.
The NDP say they are doing this to help racialized communities but at the end of the day, the policy is using race to give an advantage to one group of people over another. Some may even call this a racist policy.
It’s at this point we must underscore the difference between equality and equity. Equality is perfect but striving for equity aims to bring one group up by favouring that group rather than treating everyone equally.
The media didn’t report on this in 2021 and it didn’t even appear in the election campaign.
The NDP also aims to diversify the public service so that it is “as diverse as the province it serves” and develop “ a modern and inclusive curriculum” and “pledge more capital for racialized entrepreneurs and enhance the federal government's current commitments.”
We would rate this very high on the NDP’s list of priorities since they also attempted to push this in the last legislative session with a Private Member’s Bill.
There needs to be more discussion on whether or not people are voting for a province governed by equity or equality and whether or not people are comfortable with race once driving policy again in Alberta.
The last media discussion of this policy was in March of 2022 when the Private Members Bill was tabled and there has been zero discussion in the election cycle.
We have full show notes on this topic and more at westerncontext.ca in this episode and on episode 223.
To the UCP’s credit they did not make the election about social issues or culture wars but it’s clear that one party wants to and isn’t hiding their intentions.
Media framing and endorsements from former PC era cabinet ministers have said that Notley is close to what a Progressive Conservative once would have been, but would the PCs have advocated for race based policy? Would they have moulded the public service to match diversity quotas? Probably not.
This underscores at its core that the NDP is a social democratic party that has had the advantage of media framing it as a centrist option when the policy platforms and what their members voted and are now on the table to all Albertans are anything but that.
We end this campaign in a quieter fashion than in the past but with a story that is as consequential as any of the stories focused on energy, affordability, and public safety.
We only wish the media was here as well.
Supplementals:

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/ndp-push-for-race-based-data-collection-in-alberta

Firing Line

There's nothing going on': No rebuilding underway nearly 2 years after Lytton, B.C. fire

It's been two years since BC experienced the heat dome weather event, in which temperatures soared in most places above 40 degrees Celsius, and where Lytton, BC set a Canadian all time record high temperature of 49.6C (121.3F for our American listeners). A day later, a wildfire swept through the town burning almost all the structures down.
In the two years since then, the rebuilding and even just debris clearing efforts have been very very slow, if non-existent. A year ago, Lytton was still full of rubble from the fire. The debris has since been cleaned up. But what little remains of the village is still behind construction fences. There are piles of dirt and holes where there used to be houses and businesses.
On the first anniversary of the fire that destroyed Lytton, the NDP predicted that the village would soon begin to re-emerge from the ashes. Premier John Horgan and Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth in a joint statement on June 30, 2022: “We know that for people waiting to get back to their properties and to rebuild their homes and lives, the recovery process can’t move fast enough.”
In a followup interview, Farnworth said that “residents are going to be able to start rebuilding in September,” 2022. He further predicted that most of the 150 homes, businesses and other buildings destroyed in the fire would be rebuilt by the time the second anniversary rolls around this June 30.
Lytton Mayor Denise O’Connor, who was elected last year on a promise to speed up reconstruction efforts, said that the province has committed more than $50 million to Lytton’s recovery, while the federal government has promised $77 million. But not a single building permit has been issued so far. While the province had promised that buildings would be rebuilt by now, they have not allowed them to even start building yet, two years later.
O’Connor, elected to council last year, said she doesn’t fully understand why progress is so slow: “People have asked, ‘Why does Monte Lake, why do they just get to go rebuild? Why does a building in downtown Vancouver burn down and they get cleaned up and start rebuilding right away?’” she said.
O’Connor said there are two matters slowing things down for Lytton; soil remediation and archeological assessments. She said the village is still waiting for the completion of the assessments the province requires for each property. Lytton was built on the site of an ancient Indigenous community, hence every building lot has been subjected to archeological assessment and investigation.
Some of the excavations have uncovered culturally significant artifacts connected to the previous Indigenous community and the assessments continue. Residents will need those assessments done in order to get a building permit.
Soil remediation work is also still underway. O'Connor said: “The properties have to be cleared free of contaminants…so there’s testing going on and soil removed from properties. Apparently, some properties have finished that process. Others, it’s still ongoing. Once archeology and the soil remediation is complete, they still need to come in and backfill,” she said, adding that she knows of only one resident who has received information about their property so far.
Council is reviewing the contracts Lytton has for these services to see if things can be sped up. In the meantime, Lytton hosted a well-attended building symposium to support displaced families. Coun. Nonie McCann said the goal was “to connect people in Lytton with resources to rebuild their homes, to find what’s out there, who is available…and primarily to answer questions.”
The big question for many displaced families is simple. When will they be able to rebuild? Mayor O'Connor doesn't know, but hopes that it will be this summer.
The failure to rebuild was underscored by BC United MLA Jackie Tegart as the spring session of the B.C. legislature wound to a close.
On May 4th she said: “My hope was that 672 days after the community of Lytton burned to the ground, I would be standing here sharing with you the exciting news of residents rebuilding, the exciting news of businesses reopening and of health services returning, of people rejoicing about coming home. Unfortunately, that is not the story of Lytton today: not a home rebuilt within the village or a business community re-established. I received word yesterday of another resident of Lytton that has passed away waiting to go home. Six hundred and seventy-two days. Surely, we can do better.”
Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma said that the government has not closed the door on providing more support if required, but as Tegart said in response, “$36 million spent already and not a shovel in the ground.”
The New Democrats have now stopped predicting when Lytton will be fully restored. Notwithstanding Farnworth’s initial vow that “we want to see Lytton rebuilt and rebuilt quickly,” the provincial bureaucracy has contributed to major delays over the two years.
It took almost four months for the province to deliver the first $1 million recovery grant to the village, as The Vancouver Sun reporter Derrick Penner discovered recently through an access-to-information request. Other delays were attributed to the destruction of village records, supply chain issues and the havoc caused on local highways and bridges by record floods in the fall of 2021.
While we would hope that the tragedy of Lytton would not repeat itself elsewhere, high temperatures might be on the way again this summer. We hope with all our hearts that another town doesn't feel the same pain that those in Lytton have had to deal with for two years of waiting for the provincial government to let them rebuild.
Supplementals:

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/vaughn-palmer-two-years-after-lytton-burned-not-a-single-building-permit-has-been-issued

Quote of the Week

“If these organizations have a connection to the Chinese government, getting funding in Canada legitimizes the group, it provides it more of a foothold, it can obviously strengthen it and … give it more opportunities for influencing people. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more organizations that might have connections to UFWD (United Front Work Department) or the Chinese government that are receiving [Canadian] government funds.” - Dennis Molinaro, an expert on Chinese foreign interference and former national security analyst on the two Quebec organizations named as possible Chinese police stations by the RCMP

Word of the Week

Secret - something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others.

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Show Data

Episode Title: Nothing Going On

Teaser: We discuss the findings of David Johnston’s report on Chinese influence, two more possible secret Chinese police stations are uncovered in Quebec, and we look at the Alberta NDP’s equity platform. Also, the village of Lytton BC has yet to be rebuilt.

Recorded Date: May 27, 2023

Release Date: May 28, 2023

Duration: 57:30

Edit Notes: None

Podcast Summary Notes

Duration: XX:XX