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Canada has become 'playground' for foreign interference, Tory MP Chong tells inquiry

  • The Canadian Press

  • Canadian Press

  • September 18, 2024

Conservative MP Michael Chong appears as a witness at the Foreign Interference Commission in Ottawa, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA -- A Conservative MP who was targeted by Beijing told a federal inquiry today that Canada has become "a playground" for foreign interference.

Michael Chong, the Tory foreign affairs critic, said the federal government should shed its culture of secrecy and release more information about threats to better inform the public.

Chong said while the vast majority of intelligence must remain secret, keeping too much information under wraps results in leaks that undermine institutions.

In May 2023, the federal government confirmed a media report that Canada's spy service had information in 2021 that the Chinese government was looking at ways to intimidate Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong.

Global Affairs Canada said in August 2023 it believed that Chong had been the victim of a foreign smear campaign, which the department suspected was conducted by Beijing.

The department said a co-ordinated network of news accounts on the social-media app WeChat posted a large volume of false or misleading narratives about Chong from May 4 to 13 of that year.

This report by was first published Sept. 18, 2024.