It appears with the Trudeau government Canadians will never know of the ties that bind us to China and the undue influence applied by the CCP. Pictured: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo Credit: Justin Trudeau/X.
The greatest impact on the policies of the Trudeau government, unquestionably, has been the Liberals’ personal and business relationships with China’s political leadership in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the governing Liberals continue to evade inquiries and obfuscate the facts surrounding their involvement with the CCP. It appears with the Trudeau government Canadians will never know of the ties that bind us to China and the undue influence applied by the CCP.
In previous Niagara Independent columns over the last couple of years this author has referred to a top ten list of critical issues that scrupulously tie the Trudeau Liberals with the CCP – issues that have had and continue to have a significant impact on Canada’s reputation within the international community.
This includes a cover up of the virus research in the Winnipeg lab and link to the genesis of COVID-19; CCP ties to Liberal business network, anchored by Power Corporation; cover up of fraud and interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections; Beijing money flowing into the Trudeau Foundation (and Liberals’ riding associations); permitting CCP police stations and agents to operate in Canada; failure to respond to forced labour and human rights violations of the Uyghurs; “mishandling” of foreign intelligence as forwarded by CSIS (which endangered MPs and families); federal investment in China – CCP and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; avoidance of establishing a foreign agent registry; and deteriorating national defense leaving arctic territories unprotected to Chinese encroachment
Space will not allow for an examination of the full list. But here are some details of the three most significant.
It has been three months since the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) report was made public with the startling revelation: “Unfortunately, the committee has also seen troubling intelligence that some Parliamentarians are, in the words of the intelligence services, ‘semi-witting or witting’ participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics.”
This bombshell security and intelligence report shared with Canadians the facts that Trudeau, and likely his PMO staff and senior ministers, have known for years. There are MPs and Senators in parliament who have collaborated and are actively working with foreign governments, notably China and Inda — and they have committed potentially treasonous acts. When the story broke back in June, Wesley Wark, a national security expert, commented in a CBC News interview that the NSICOP report provides a glimpse of “underbelly stories” that are “nausea-inducing.”
The NSICOP report was expressly critical of the Trudeau government, which failed to appropriately respond to the concerns of foreign interference. It states, “The slow response to a known threat was a serious failure and one from which Canada may feel the consequences for years to come… The implications of this inaction include the undermining of the democratic rights and fundamental freedoms of Canadians, the integrity and credibility of Canada’s parliamentary process, and public trust in the policy decisions made by the government.”
Most troubling, this report identified a list of as few as 12 MPs who were involved in a variety of nefarious activities with foreign agents. Repeatedly, the Trudeau government has refused to release the list and, in withholding the dozen names, it has placed a cloud of suspicion over all parliamentarians.
It has become a popular game of speculation to name those who may have sold out Canada for support from Beijing’s networks. Who might be identified as a traitor when the curtain is finally pulled back and the CCP agents are exposed? Terry Glavin, veteran newsman and argumentatively the most informed Canadian journalist on CCP influence in Canada, has written that one can “full(y) expect to see the prime minister’s name at the very top of it” (the list). Glavin states, “Justin Trudeau has been a one-man Chinese influence operation for years, and he hasn’t even tried to hide it.”
As it is, Trudeau continues to rag the puck on sharing the information in his possession because, one can surmise, he and his caucus have been benefitting from the CCP for years – likely dating back before his initial election in 2015, but certainly in the elections of 2019 and 2021. But, of course, Canadians will not get the list of MPs implicated by CSIS in the potentially treasonous acts from this Liberal government.
Let’s also consider the Trudeau government’s close cooperation with China, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Trudeau and his senior ministers should be held accountable for the policy decisions that resulted in these questionable activities with the CCP: shipping Canada’s emergency store of PPEs to China in late 2019 (and concealing the fact that China did not pay for or return the PPEs); delaying a travel ban for flights from China destinations – including Wuhan – in the early months of 2020, even after US and Europe had halted China-flights; insisting Wuhan lab was not the origin of the virus – and that any criticism of China was labelled by the PM and his ministers as being racially motivated; promising in 2020 that a Canada-Sino vaccine was being developed and close to being finalized – which delayed Canada from ordering vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna; and withholding the news that the vaccine research and manufacturing deal with China had collapsed – and knowing this, still the Trudeau government delayed ordering vaccines, which cost Canadians hundreds of millions of dollars extra
The greatest COVID-related scandal that the Trudeau Liberals must account for are the activities surrounding the gain-of-function virus research that was being conducted at Canada’s Winnipeg National Microbiology Laboratory and passed along to the infamous Wuhan Institute for Virology. When will Canadians get the details of what happened with scientists Xiangguo Qiu, and Keding Cheng? It is outrageous to think that the Trudeau government maintains a code of silence on this matter – and that the legacy media dares not to pursue the story, especially when the connection between the Winnipeg and Wuhan research work has been mentioned in public inquiries in other countries, including in a U.S. congressional hearing.
Since 2015 when the Liberals took office, there has been a behind the scenes “business as usual,” “steady as she goes” approach for the many corporate and personal relationships dating back generations between senior Liberals and China’s ruling elites. The foundation of most Canadian-Chinese business relationships is Power Corporation, which has significant investments in China. These include assets bought from the China International Trust Investment Corporation, a conglomerate owned by the CCP with one of the largest pools of foreign assets in the world. The company has also held more than a quarter of the stakes in one of China’s biggest asset managers, China Asset Management Corp, which oversees hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese investments around the world.
Old-guard Quebec Liberals and the Desmarais family’s Power Corp have many incestuous relations: former prime ministers Paul Martin, Jean Chrétien and Pierre Trudeau all served within Power Corp; Jean Chrétien’s son-in-law Andre Desmarais served as President and co–CEO; Jean Chrétien has served (may still) as a Power Corp lobbyist in China; John Rae, brother of former Liberal leader Bob Rae is a long-serving senior manager; Trudeau-appointed Senator Peter Harder is one of Trudeau’s lead advisors on China, and was a Board Member of Power Financial Corp a wholly owned subsidiary of Power Corp, as well as having served as President of the Canada-China Business Council; grandson of Jean Chrétien and Paul Desmarais, Olivier Desmarais, is senior VP of Power Corp and today serves as Chairman of the Canada-China Business Council
The Trudeau Liberals’ business interests within China are not limited to Power Corp’s empire. Consider the ties with the Bartons, the former Trudeau-appointed ambassador to China and his wife’s financial interests in China. Dominic Barton lived in China for decades operating within corporate and financial circles, serving in senior managerial posts at the McKinsey consulting firm (the same company exposed for promoting Chinese street opioids worldwide). His wife, Geraldine Buckingham, was Senior Managing Director and Head of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, where she managed billions of dollars of investments in Asia-Pacific. This multimillionaire power couple has intricate business and personal relations within China and the CCP (which explains a lot about the former ambassador’s counsel to the Canadian government).
It is truly a Gordian knot that binds the Liberals with the CPP and, perhaps, one day in the future Canadians may come to learn the price we have paid for the Trudeau government’s Beijing relations.
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
