Toronto mayor-elect Olivia Chow says her campaign did not ask for help from nor coordinate with two pro-CCP (Chinese Communist Party) groups that "went all out" to support her election.
Pro-Beijing groups claim credit for helping Olivia Chow win Toronto mayoralty. She says she was unaware | National Post - Tom Blackwell:
July 10, 2023 - "Two prominent community groups aligned with the Chinese government — including one that allegedly hosted a Chinese police station in Ontario — 'went all out' to support Chow’s push to be mayor, supplying numerous volunteers to the effort, a letter from one of the groups claims. A post last month on WeChat from Felicity Guo, deputy secretary general of the Canada Toronto Fuqing Business Association (CTFBA), one of the two groups, urged followers to back Chow. The message was accompanied by a photo of Guo, Chow and another woman.
"'We did not ask for or co-ordinate any volunteers from either organization,' said Shirven Rezvany, a spokesman for Chow. He also pointed to the mayor-elect’s longstanding support for opponents of the Chinese crackdown on Hong Kong, and her history of speaking out against Beijing’s human-rights abuses. Chow was supported during the campaign, in fact, by two of Toronto’s fiercest critics of the Chinese regime: Gloria Fung of Canada Hong Kong Link and Cheuk Kwan of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China....
"[I]deological differences aside, the first election of a person of colour as Toronto mayor has been hailed as a long-overdue breakthrough in one of the world’s most culturally diverse cities. But evidence that the Fuqing Business Association and the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO) worked to help get Chow elected on June 26 — even if their participation was not requested (or, arguably, needed) — raises further questions about the involvement of Beijing and its local allies in Canadian politics. Neither group responded to requests for comment.
"Jonathan Fon, a Toronto-based commentator and Beijing critic, said it’s unlikely Chow would have any motivation to promote groups aligned with the Chinese Communist Party. But 'it is a concern that those pro-Beijingers really have the capacity of mobilization among Chinese diasporas,' he said.... The groups’ participation is worrying because 'they work too close to the Chinese government,' said an immigrant from mainland China and small-business owner in the Greater Toronto Area, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution....
"A series of intelligence leaks in recent months alleges Chinese interference in Canada’s federal and provincial politics, but there is evidence that Beijing targets municipal-level politicians, as well. A leaked handbook for cadres of the United Front Work Department — a huge branch of the Chinese Communist Party at the forefront of foreign influence and interference efforts — urged officials to 'work with' several candidates of Chinese descent elected in Toronto in the early 2000s. A recent Globe and Mail report cited a Canadian Security Intelligence Service briefing that said Chinese diplomats tried to get sympathetic candidates elected in last year’s Vancouver municipal vote, in part by using diaspora groups that represented Beijing’s interests. Ken Sim, who won the Vancouver mayor’s race in a landslide, has denied that such interference played any part in his victory.
"An article on the Canadian Chinese Media News site reprinted on June 28 a letter of congratulations to Chow from the Fuqing Business Association, named after a city in China’s Fujian province. [T]he letter says the Fuqing group and the CTCCO 'went all out to actively support, and sent a large number of volunteers to participate in the campaign,' according to a translation from Chinese. In the WeChat post, first reported by the blog Found in Translation, which monitors China’s influence, the Fuqing group’s Guo says 'let’s all support' Chow so she will win.
"The association’s ties to the Chinese regime are not hidden. Its website says it was set up under the guidance of the United Front and other Chinese government agencies. The association also lists its headquarters as a commercial office space it owns in Markham, Ont., that state-media in China listed as the site of one of three Fujian 'police service stations' in Ontario. The RCMP has said it is investigating the stations, amid allegations they are being used to intimidate Chinese expatriates here.... It has defended Beijing’s crackdown on democracy protesters in Hong Kong, while working with the local consulate to promote Beijing’s stance on Tibet, trying to bring the Chinese-outreach Confucius Institute to Toronto schools, and to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Communist revolution. Beijing’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office has praised the group on its website....
"National Post reported earlier that Chow also spoke to and received a gift from the Confederation of Ontario Newcomer Organizations, another group with close ties to Beijing.... National Post has [also] reported on non-Chinese politicians’ relationships with such groups, as well. It documented, for instance, how Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was introduced by a staunchly pro-Beijing regional councillor at an event earlier this year, and sat next to one of China’s most prominent local allies at the same gathering."
Is Olivia Chow an Asset of the CCP? | Daniel Bordman | July 11, 2023:
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