Carney dodges questions on China’s election interference campaign to boost him

Mark Carney said he had “absolutely no idea” why a Chinese-state media outlet was actively involved in a coordinated election interference campaign to promote him on WeChat to the Chinese diaspora.

Source: X

Liberal Leader Mark Carney said he had “absolutely no idea” why a Chinese-state media outlet was actively involved in a coordinated election interference campaign to promote him on WeChat to the Chinese diaspora in Canada. Notably, when confronted by reporters on the issue, Carney did not condemn China’s continued election interference.

During a press conference on Tuesday Carney was asked to respond to the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force findings which revealed that a Chinese government backed WeChat news platform was attempting to “influence” views on Carney.

The report found that the PRC attempted to paint Carney as a “rockstar” and highlighted his pro-China views.

When asked why he thinks the PRC is interfering in Canada to get him elected, he said he has “absolutely no idea” and that he will “leave it at that.”

This comes just a week after Carney defended his former Markham–Unionville candidate Paul Chiang for suggesting an audience member kidnap a Conservative candidate and hand him over to Chinese authorities for a hefty bounty. Carney decided to keep Chiang on, but the incumbent Liberal MP dropped out of the race after the RCMP announced it was investigating the incident.

Carney then replaced Chiang this week with former Toronto Police Service deputy chief Peter Yeun, who has been recorded singing a pro-Chinese communist ballad while in uniform. The song tells a story about maintaining loyalty to communist China while living in a foreign land.

Chinese authorities have allegedly forced minorities in China, such as Buddhist Monks and nuns, to sing the song and pledge allegiance to the CCP.

Carney said its because of his decisions during his brief time as prime minister that the SITE Task Force released the report to begin with.

“One of the steps I took as prime minister was to review all the measures, or review the measures to ensure electoral integrity, to fight against foreign interference,” Carney told reporters. “Some of that is just briefing on specific situations which obviously I can’t share, but I approved some structural changes, which included that the SITE Task Force publicly report any incidents that they became aware of in real time.”

Carney can’t share much of the information found in briefings on foreign interference due to a law former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government imposed, gagging anyone who reads an unredacted NSICOP report.

He continued, saying he felt that transparency during the election was important. The Hogue report on foreign interference recommended that the SITE Task Force disclose public briefings in real-time during an election.

He said the critical evaluation panel associated with the task force gauges the level of severity of each of the finding and did not find that the interference was sufficient to undermine the ability to conduct a “fair and free election.”

“I think it’s been a welcome development for Canadians, but also a warning to foreign actors that we are on top of these things,” Carney said while dodging a question on whether or not he was comfortable with China’s support.

Carney’s ties to China have been scrutinized, particularly last week after footage of him advising Toronto financiers to invest in China’s green energy opportunities in 2016 was released. Since then, China’s global emissions have only increased despite Carney praising the country for its forward-thinking “perspective.”

Since last week, the media has also covered his work with China and its banks during his tenure as the Governor of the Bank of England.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has claimed that Carney will “never stand up for Canada” as the communist dictatorship in China compromises him due to loans and investments from the nation to Brookfield Asset Management, a company he chaired before running for office.