WITH VOTING DAY A LITTLE MORE THAN A WEEK AWAY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, A GROUP OF ACTIVISTS IS TRACKING AND LABELLING PROVINCIAL POLITICIANS BASED ON THEIR SYMPATHIES TOWARDS BEIJING.
Activists question where candidates stand
China has become part of the B.C. provincial election. With voting day a little more than a week away, a group of activists is tracking and labelling provincial politicians based on their sympathies towards Beijing.
The campaign, calling itself “No BC for Xi” lists candidates in the election — from all parties — on an online website, and labels them as to whether or not they are “CCP leaning” or “against CCP interference.” CCP refers to the Chinese Communist Party.
“Join us in demanding BC's candidates to take a stand against CCP's human rights violations and foreign infiltration into our institutions,” the website for the group says.
The group, which includes the Canada Tibet Committee, Canada Friends of Hong Kong, Alliance Canada Hong Kong, among others, asks two specific questions of the candidates: Whether they would reject gifts or donations from China, and would they oppose the Chinese “belt and road” initiative, which is a series of infrastructure projects across 70 nations creating economic corridors.
Lee Haber, one of the volunteers with No BC for Xi, and a volunteer with Alliance Canada Hong Kong, said the campaign is meant to give information to voters and raise awareness of China's activities abroad.
“The Chinese Communist Party is not just a threat to people within China,” he said. “The Chinese government looks at municipal and provincial governments as a way of spreading its influence.”
Jody Chan — an alias she uses to protect herself and other activists in Hong Kong from Chinese security laws — is a volunteer with the project, and the director of advocacy and governmental affairs at the Alliance Canada Hong Kong. In addition to larger geopolitical questions around Chinese interference abroad, she said there are groundlevel concerns in British Columbia.
Chan s a i d t here a r e people in the province who worry about contacting their MLAs, or worry about using their real names, because they're unsure where elected officials' sympathies might lie.
“Our communities are actually being actively harassed, bullied and intimidated on Canadian soil,” Chan said.
“They're worried about who to vote for ... they're worried that their MLAs aren't aware of CCP influence on Canadian soil.”
China-Canada relations have become strained in part because of the arrests of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, widely seen as retaliation for the Canadian arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, who's facing deportation to the United States.
Recent Canadian moves toward granting asylum
for Hong Kong democracy activists has further raised China's hackles. On Thursday, China's ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, said Ottawa must abandon those plans if it “really cares about the good health and safety of those 300,000 Canadian passport holders in Hong Kong,” The Canadian Press reported
“We strongly urge the Canadian side not (to) grant so-called political asylum to those violent criminals in Hong Kong,” Peiwu said.
Not all B.C. election candidates have responded to the campaign's questions. As of Thursday afternoon, 11 candidates are marked as “CCP leaning,” while 44 are marked “against CCP interference.” The remaining candidates — around 300 or so — have either declined to respond or the campaign is awaiting a response from them.
“This isn't a special interest thing for us, our communities are very motivated to campaign and speak up for politicians that are standing up against CCP influence, for our own safety,” said Chan.
There have been publ i shed reports of China openly or subtly exerting influence over Canadian institutions. This week, a school board in Coquitlam, B.C., came under scrutiny for its Chinese language and cultural program. As previously reported by the National Post, other schools and boards across Canada have ended relationships with The Confucius Institute.
“The public ... want to know which of their candidates in this election stand for Canadian values and stand for B.C. interests as opposed to those of a hostile foreign power,” said Haber.
He said the campaign is also intended to let candidates know that “we're watching” and that B.C. voters care.
“This is an issue that British Columbians especially care about since we are on the Pacific Rim and this is an issue that's not going to fly under the radar anymore,” said Haber.
“This is not just a B.C. issue,” he added. “The CCP is a threat to all of Canada and we can see cases of interference everywhere.”
Neither the New Democrats or the Liberals replied to the National Post's request for comment by press time.
THEY'RE WORRIED THAT THEIR MLAS AREN'T AWARE OF CCP INFLUENCE ON CANADIAN SOIL.