Retired Toronto Police Executive Who Joined Chinese International School Flagged in Canada’s Election Interference Inquiry Replaces Paul Chiang as Liberal Candidate
MARKHAM — Retired Toronto Police Deputy Chief Peter Yuen, who joined the board last year of a Chinese international school in Markham flagged in testimony on foreign interference in a neighboring riding in 2019, has been named the new Liberal candidate in Markham–Unionville. He replaces Paul Chiang, who resigned last week amid an RCMP review into controversial remarks suggesting a Conservative opponent could be handed to Chinese officials for a bounty.
The appointment places Yuen—now a central figure in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s campaign—at the center of a riding already under scrutiny in Canada’s evolving foreign interference investigation.
Paul Chiang, a former Markham police officer who unseated longtime Conservative representative Bob Saroya to win Markham–Unionville for Team Trudeau in 2021, stepped down as the Liberal candidate after the RCMP confirmed it was reviewing remarks he made to Chinese-language media in January 2025. During that event, Chiang reportedly suggested that Conservative candidate Joe Tay—a Canadian citizen wanted under Hong Kong’s National Security Law—could be taken to the Chinese Consulate in Toronto to claim a bounty.
In choosing another Chinese Canadian police veteran, the Liberals appear poised to reassure diaspora voters rattled by Chiang’s exit. Yuen, who immigrated from Hong Kong in 1975 and rose to lead Toronto Police’s community outreach and diversity programs before retiring in 2022, brings deep ties to both the Hong Kong diaspora and the mainland Chinese community in Markham—connections that may stir further controversy.
Videos and a report posted on the Toronto Chinese Consulate’s website show that in 2017, Peter Yuen attended a gala hosted by the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations—an association with direct ties to the Chinese Consulate and Beijing’s United Front Work Department. During the event, which featured remarks from China’s Toronto Consul General to Yuen and other Canadian politicians, Yuen stood beside a prominent Markham community leader known for attending high-level United Front meetings in Beijing with President Xi Jinping, and sang the patriotic song My Chinese Heart.
In August 2024, Peter Yuen joined the board of NOIC Academy in Markham, an educational institution that came under scrutiny during Ottawa’s Foreign Interference Inquiry. CBC News and The Globe and Mail reported in April 2024 that testimony at the Hogue Commission—tasked with investigating foreign interference in Canada’s 2019 federal election—revealed that CSIS had flagged irregularities involving NOIC Academy students in the neighboring Don Valley North riding.
According to The Globe, allegations tied to NOIC appeared in a declassified summary of CSIS intelligence released during the inquiry. “Intelligence reported after the election indicated that veiled threats were issued by the (People’s Republic of China) Consulate to the Chinese international students,” the summary stated. The intelligence further suggested that “their student visas would be in jeopardy and that there could be consequences for their families back in the PRC” if they did not vote for a particular Don Valley North candidate.
Don Valley North, the riding that neighbors Markham–Unionville, is where Joe Tay is running for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party in this election.