Canada: Liberal MP, who threatened rival with China rendition, drops out of 2025 race

Toronto: A controversial Liberal Party MP, who threatened a rival with rendition to China, has withdrawn from the 2025 Federal election.

Paul Chiang, who represents the riding of Markham-Unionville in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), told the Canadian subsidiary of a Hong Kong outlet in January, “If you can take him to the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto, you can get the million-dollar reward.”

He was referring to Conservative Party’s Joe Tay, who was contesting the nomination for the seat but is now the candidate from another GTA riding of Don Valley North.

Hong Kong police had placed a bounty of CA$183,000 on Tay (equivalent to one million HK dollars), a critic of the Communist regime in Beijing.

Prime Minister Mark Carney was under intense pressure to drop Chiang as a candidate especially after reports emerged his remarks were being investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

However, Chiang his candidature late on Monday night. In a post on X, he wrote, “As the Prime Minister and Team Canada work to stand up to President (Donald) Trump and protect our economy, I do not want there to be distractions in this critical moment. That’s why I’m standing aside as our 2025 candidate in our community of Markham-Unionville.”

Hours earlier, Carney said while comments made by Chiang were “deplorable”, he would remain a candidate for the forthcoming Federal election.

Carney defended Chiang during a campaign stop in the town of Vaughan in Ontario. He said, “He’s apologized for his comments. He’s apologized directly to me, he’s apologized directly to the individual. He has a long record of service and he’s going to continue his candidacy.”

“He has my confidence,” he said.

That set of a firestorm of criticism from opposition parties and in the media with the newspapers Globe and Mail and Toronto Star calling for Chiang’s removal as a candidate.

In a statement, Tay said he was not accepting Chiang’s apology. “”His threatening public comments were intended to intimidate me, and they must not be tolerated,” he said.

“Suggesting that people collect a bounty from the Chinese Communist Party to deliver a political opponent to the Chinese Consulate is disgusting and must never be condoned,” he added.

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre posted on X, “With the Prime Minister’s appalling defence of a Liberal candidate who called for a Canadian to be handed over to the Chinese Communist Party for a bounty, Carney must reveal all his financial interests in China.”

The umbrella group Hong Kong Watch wrote a letter to RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme asking him to investigate Chiang for the comments.

“We believe that Mr. Chiang’s comments may cross into criminality, and must be investigated by Canadian law enforcement authorities. Mr. Chiang’s conduct would appear to fit within the parameters of counselling to commit the indictable offence of kidnapping, per section 464 of the Criminal Code,” the letter, issued jointly by 40 organisations.

Activists pointed out that China executed four Canadian citizens this year, seemingly on drug-related charges.

Chiang, who was born in Karachi in Pakistan in 1960, had apologised on Friday, saying his comments “were deplorable and a complete lapse of judgement on the seriousness of the matter.”

Chiang won the election in 2021 defeating then Conservative MP Bob Saroya, an Indo-Canadian, who had twice been elected from the riding.

Erin O’Toole, who was then Conservative Party leader, posted on Saturday on X, “This riding was one of the worst for Foreign Interference (FI) in 2021. Comments from the MP/Candidate confirm longstanding concerns about the result. PM (Justin) Trudeau ignored FI concerns. I hope PM Carney is more serious. He cannot allow this candidate to stand.”

On March 20, the Liberals revoked the candidacy of three-term Indo-Canadian MP Chandra Arya, who represented Nepean in Ontario, on the basis unspecified “new information”. A day later, the party had announced that Carney will be contesting from Nepean.

On January 28, the final report of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions stated China was “the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions” and that Beijing “views Canada as a high-priority target.”

On February 17, 2023, the Globe and Mail reported, based on intelligence documents, “China employed a sophisticated strategy to disrupt Canada’s democracy in the 2021 federal election campaign as Chinese diplomats and their proxies backed the re-election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals – but only to another minority government – and worked to defeat Conservative politicians considered to be unfriendly to Beijing.”

The inquiry report also alleged India is the “second most active country engaging in electoral foreign interference in Canada” and only China has a greater impact on the country’s democratic processes.