MP Chong Accuses PM Trudeau of Ignoring "Existential" National Threats
Conservative MP Michael Chong sharply rebuked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday for failing to alert him that a Chinese intelligence official in Toronto was covertly collecting information on Chong and his family in China. Chong also expressed disbelief at the Trudeau administration’s claim that senior officials, including Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, had failed to read five related warnings in 2021 from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
But Chong’s broader testimony cited “gross negligence” in Ottawa by Trudeau and his senior aides, who according to Chong, have failed to harden Canada’s defences against Beijing’s interference despite repeated red alerts from CSIS.
“I think the ultimate responsibility was the Prime Minister’s,” Chong said of the government’s failure to warn him that China was covertly targeting Chong’s family. “I note that by 2018, the Prime Minister was informed several times of the existential threat that the PRC’s foreign interference threat activities presented to Parliament.”
The Hogue Commission, tasked with investigating foreign interference in Canada’s democracy, heard that Chong was personally targeted by the People’s Republic of China in 2021 for his outspoken stance on human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
After sponsoring a motion in the House of Commons recognizing the PRC’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims as genocide, Chong became a target of covert Chinese intelligence efforts. PRC officials sought to gather information on him and his family members, particularly those who might be residing in China, according to redacted intelligence reports tabled on Wednesday.
While CSIS didn’t believe Chong or his family were under immediate threat of violence, in carefully worded testimony, Chong said he gathered from classified briefs that the threats could extend into the future. CSIS also confirmed that both Michael Chong and fellow MP Kenny Chiu were of immediate interest to the PRC due to their work in Parliament, according to a new report tabled Wednesday, which categorized them as prime targets of PRC foreign interference actors, including China’s secret police, the Ministry of State Security.
However, in Chong’s case, despite the intelligence warnings shared within the Canadian government, he was not personally informed about the PRC’s targeting of his family until the day after he learned details from a Globe and Mail article in 2023.
"We have become a foreign interference playground," Chong said. "I feared for our country, that our state capacity was not able to inform me of this threat in a proper manner, rather than having to read it on the front page of the Globe and Mail."
Documents introduced Wednesday revealed that, prior to May 2021, CSIS had already shared intelligence on PRC interference aimed at Chong with senior officials, including Blair and his deputy minister, the Clerk of the Privy Council, the National Security and Intelligence Advisor, and the Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs and National Defence. Chong pointed out that at least ten individuals had received intelligence reports, yet no action was taken to inform him of the threats.
“CSIS did its job in conveying that intelligence and those intelligence products to the most senior parts, the central agencies, the senior departments responsible for security, and nothing happens,” Chong said.
Delving deeper into an expected controversy in testimony that may force Commissioner Hogue to judge between the credibility of Chong and Blair, a Commission lawyer told Chong, "we expect Minister Blair's evidence to be that he also did not see these prior intelligence products that are referenced."
Chong expressed disbelief that Trudeau’s government, which is entirely driven by issues management according to Chong, failed to absorb these alerts from CSIS sent to senior decision-makers.
“Well, to me it seems that it's either one of two things,” Chong responded. “It's inconsistent with the practice of this government or alternatively it's alarming incompetence not to be reading and actioning intelligence that is being sent up the chain to the highest levels – there were a total of five intelligence products, sent to the most senior levels of the government on five separate occasions. And for all five products to have ended up in the ether with not a single person recalling reading one of these products is astounding and makes me actually quite concerned and worried about our national security.”
Chong’s criticism extended beyond his personal experience, pointing to a broader failure of the Trudeau government to address the national security risks posed by foreign interference. He noted that CSIS had been warning the Prime Minister’s Office about China’s growing interference activities for years, and intelligence reports explicitly described the threat as “existential.”
In December 2019, the Clerk of the Privy Council sought Trudeau’s approval for a comprehensive action plan to protect Canada’s democratic institutions. However, the Prime Minister withheld approval, Chong testified.
A year later, in December 2020, the National Security and Intelligence Advisor revisited the plan, yet again, Trudeau did not authorize the necessary measures, according to Chong. Even as intelligence reports mounted, the government delayed action.
"In February 2022, the NSIA resurrected that overall action plan for a third time, just over a year later," Chong explained, "and again, no approval was granted."
With a rising voice, Chong repeatedly expressed disbelief that so many intelligence products, detailing deep threats to Canadian democracy, could be ignored by the government.
The implications of Chong’s argument is that Trudeau’s government, by not responding to critical intelligence, may embolden hostile actors to increase their activities.
This could have far-reaching effects on Canada's sovereignty, electoral integrity, and international standing.