MP doesn’t believe meddling occurred
Documents reveal students bused to nomination were part of suspected Chinese interference
Toronto MP Han Dong told a public inquiry Tuesday that he urged a group of high school students — some of whom he assumed were from China — to sign up as Liberals and vote for him in a 2019 contest to represent the party in that year’s federal election.
International students being bused to the nomination to vote for Dong were part of what Canadian security officials suspected could be Chinese meddling to help him win the race, documents tabled at the ongoing inquiry revealed.
But Dong — who denies any knowledge of Chinese interference — said he doesn’t believe such meddling occurred in his 2019 nomination and is not convinced it is happening more broadly.
“I personally haven’t seen any evidence of it,” Dong told the inquiry on Tuesday.
When pressed by Gib van Ert, lawyer for Conservative MP Michael Chong, Dong conceded Chinese interference in Canadian politics “is possible.”
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has warned that foreign state interference from China and other countries is a serious concern that it has flagged for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other top government figures in recent years.
The exchange occurred during more than an hour of testimony from Dong on Tuesday at the ongoing Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference in downtown Ottawa, and marked the most detailed public comments on the allegations against him since they were first reported by Global News last year.
Dong — who tearfully resigned from the Liberal caucus in March 2023, and now sits as the Independent MP for Don Valley North — is suing Global News, alleging the broadcaster’s media reports falsely portrayed him as a “traitor” to Canada.
Citing unnamed sources, Global reported last year that Dong was a willing participant in Chinese interference.
The focus of the allegations was the nomination contest for Don Valley North in 2019, which Dong won.
On Tuesday, a document tabled at the inquiry summarizing previously secret intelligence about the nomination race — which includes a disclaimer that the information may be incomplete and unconfirmed — said “irregularities” identified in the nomination race include reports that “buses were used to bring international students to the nomination process” to support Dong.
It also said intelligence reporting suggested students were given “falsified documents” by an unnamed “proxy agent” of Chinese government officials to allow them to vote in the race.
Dong’s campaign manager, Ted Lojko, later told the commission that allegation “makes no sense whatsoever,” since it would require enough organizations to get people to sign up as members under fake documents to begin with.
The summary also suggested in- telligence reports indicated “veiled threats” came from the Chinese consulate in Toronto, that interna- tional students could lose their visas — or their families could face “consequences” back in China — if they did not support Dong in the race.
Dong told the inquiry he had no knowledge of these allegations, though he was aware that buses were used to bring voters to the nomination contest.
Dong also revealed that he ini- tially failed to inform the inquiry — during an interview with the body’s lawyers in February — that there was more than one bus rented to ferry people to the vote.
In his testimony Tuesday, Dong said he is now aware of three buses: two rented by his wife to pick up voters at seniors’ centres, and a third bus that carried high school students from the New Oriental In- ternational College.
Dong said he had visited the col- lege residence at Seneca College during the nomination campaign, and that he assumed some of them were international students from China.
Dong also said he does not know who arranged and paid for the bus that carried students to the vote.
While Canadians must be 18 to vote in an election, the Liberal par- ty allows anyone who is at least 14 with proof of a Canadian address to vote in a nomination contest.
Asked repeatedly whether he con- nected reports of suspected “irreg- ularities” in the contest with these buses, Dong said he never made that connection.
Last year, the government’s spe- cial rapporteur on foreign interfer- ence — former Governor General David Johnston — concluded there were “irregularities” in that nom- ination race, but that Dong was not aware of them.
Johnston also dismissed a sepa- rate allegation reported by Global, that Dong told a Chinese diplomat that the release of two Canadians Beijing had jailed would benefit the opposition Conservatives, as “false.”
A summary of intelligence tabled Tuesday shed light on what securi- ty officials suspected about this conversation.