UPDATED: Joe Tay Says He Contacted RCMP for Protection, Demands Carney Fire MP Over “Bounty” Remark

Mark Carney says that Chiang has his confidence and will continue candidacy

OTTAWA, Canada — Joe Tay, the Conservative candidate in Don Valley North, issued a formal statement Monday demanding that Liberal leader Mark Carney remove MP Paul Chiang as the candidate for Markham–Unionville, citing Chiang’s threatening comments and an unsolicited attempt to contact him.

“Mark Carney must fire Paul Chiang,” Tay said in the release. “His threatening public comments were intended to intimidate me, and they must not be tolerated.”

Tay also revealed he has already engaged the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for personal protection, citing growing safety concerns — even before Chiang’s remarks became public.

“This situation has left me fearing for my safety,” he said.

Tay, a Hong Kong-Canadian democracy activist, is wanted by authorities in Hong Kong under the territory’s sweeping National Security Law. In January, Chiang told Chinese-language media that Tay could be brought to the Chinese Consulate in Toronto to collect a one-million-dollar bounty. The remarks, first reported by Ming Pao and widely condemned across party lines, are under growing scrutiny amid allegations of foreign interference in Canada’s 2025 federal election.

However, in a press conference in Toronto this morning, Carney told national campaign reporters that Paul Chiang has his confidence and will continue his candidacy, after apologizing for his comments.

Carney’s position was criticized immediately by campaign watchers including Dennis Molinaro, a former national security analyst who is authoring a book on Chinese interference and espionage in Canada.

“So Carney has announced Chiang has his full confidence because he apologized and cited his time as a police officer as a strength,” Molinaro posted on X. “It is precisely why Chiang should have known better. He also avoided naming China at one point when talking about human rights. Unbelievable.”

Tay confirmed Monday that Chiang made an unsolicited attempt to contact him over the weekend and then posted publicly that he had issued an apology.

“I want to be clear: no apology is sufficient,” Tay said. “Threats like these are the tradecraft of the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in Canada. And they are not just aimed at me — they are intended to send a chilling signal to the entire community in order to force compliance to Beijing’s political goals.”

The Bureau has contacted the RCMP for comment.This is a developing story.