Ezra Levant exposes Chinese election interference in Canada, with journalists Andy Lee and Sam Cooper revealing ties between Liberal-aligned groups—like the Canada Committee 100 Society, led by Ding Guo (advisor to BC Premier David Eby)—and United Front networks. A 2020 tape shows Senator Yuan Powu (Trudeau-appointed) warning against scrutiny, while CESIS investigated Mary Ng, a Liberal cabinet minister, and her staff’s meetings with diplomat Zhou Wei, a confirmed intelligence actor. WeChat, used by Chinese-Canadian voters, doubles as propaganda and spyware, enabling foreign manipulation. Trudeau’s diplomatic moves, including leaking intel to The Washington Post, may deflect attention from allegations bordering on treason, while Eby’s approval of attack ads via Guo-linked platforms raises conflicts of interest, underscoring the need for urgent transparency laws. [Automatically generated summary]
Today we talk to our friend Andy Lee, one of the few investigative journalists going deep on the Chinese interference scandal at Parliament.
She's going to tell us who's who in the zoo and who are the Chinese spies.
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All right, here's today's podcast.
Tonight, naming names, we'll talk about the Chinese spies in parliament, including a conservative.
It's November 1st, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
Shame on you, you censorious bug.
Mary Ng And The United Front00:08:33
There are two Canadian journalists that I think have done more than any other to move the ball forward on Chinese interference.
I want to give honorable mention to Steve Chase and Bob Feife for the Globe and Mail.
We have to give credit where it's due.
But over the last year, I think two journalists have really made a name for themselves: Sam Cooper, who's now an independent journalist, and of course, our dear friend, Andy Lee.
These two have done deep research, not just in the English language, but of course in Chinese too, where a lot of the interference can be tracked.
We're going to talk to Andy Lee today about what she has discovered.
But first, let's let Sam Cooper set the table.
I'm going to run a few minutes of this.
So tuck in and watch because this is one of Canada's leading investigative journalists doing the work that we all knew.
He was finding things we all knew in our bones, but he's proving it.
Take a listen to Sam Cooper at his recent announcement, the revelations indeed, that he made while on Parliament Hill.
So watch for a few minutes and we'll come back and we'll talk to Andy.
Take a look.
Thank you, MP Vuan.
I'm here today to highlight some of the names and entities covered in my updated book and to pose a question.
Should other Canadian journalists be examining the openly available evidence surrounding these networks?
Firstly, my book recounts reporting on a 2020 tape recording provided to me where Senator Yuan Powu is heard in a 47-minute private briefing with the Canada Committee 100 Society.
This group included Conservative Senator Victor Oh as an advisory member, along with an individual officially listed in a Chinese United Front overseas leaders group.
The Canada Committee 100 Society is led in Vancouver by Ding Guo, a journalist who is also an advisor to British Columbia Premier David Eby.
Other journalists participating in this tape-recorded meeting with Senator Wu later supported Liberal candidate Parm Baines in 2021.
Baines had told these journalists he opposed Kenny Chu's foreign agent registry bill, describing it as an exclusionary policy.
Ding Guo was also reportedly involved in the 2022 Conservative Party leadership race alongside community leaders officially connected to Beijing's overseas influence arm, the United Front.
I can provide more details later on how this should illuminate NSICOP 2024.
In the taped meeting, attendees asked Senator Wu about his stance regarding United Front Work Department community group activities in Canada.
These groups, according to CESIS, are central to targeting Canadian politicians for influence and election interference.
Senator Wu expressed his concerns about Canada's focus on United Front groups, stating, whether you belong to an organization that happens to be listed as a United Front organization should not be a litmus test, and added, I am fighting very hard against that type of litmus test.
To provide the evidence of this tape-recorded meeting, which my colleague Charles Burton, a Sinologist and Mandarin language expert, reviewed and analyzed for myself, I'll briefly play a transcript from this meeting.
You know, many organizations are listed as part of a kind of front list of organizations.
And the fact that you are simply associated with one is often used as a witness capital, which is not a good development that I think.
Mr. Burton, the scenologist and Mandarin language expert, reviewed the full tape recording and told me, quote, Senator Wu's briefing to Canada Committee 100 Society effectively enables the legitimacy of agencies of the Chinese Communist Party in our country.
This does call into question Senator Wu's intervener status in the inquiry.
Senator Wu didn't comment to me about his remarks, but said I should question the Hoague Commission, who also didn't comment.
Ding Guo has said there is nothing inappropriate with Canada Committee 100 Society activities.
Therefore, in Willful Blindness third edition update, I write, in a way, Senator Wu's intervention in the Hoag Commission seemed to fulfill his taped pledge to the United Front.
He repeatedly filed submissions undermining Canadian intelligence and using Chinese intelligence talking points.
My confidence that he appeared to act for Beijing was bolstered by information from a person I call Confidential Source One, who confirmed that Senator Wu, appointed by Justin Trudeau, was under CESIS investigation.
Confidential Source 2 also repeatedly stressed that Conservative Senator Victor Oh, an advisor to the Canada Committee 100 Society, was a significant target in CESIS's investigation into federal election interference.
In Willful Blindness, I write about investigations that began in early 2019.
I write: according to three national security sources, Liberal cabinet minister Mary Ng was identified in CESIS investigations as one of 11 Toronto area candidates clandestinely supported by Chinese consulate and United Front influence networks in the 2019 election.
CESIS assessed that Mary Ng was unwittingly implicated in this interference network.
Despite my requests, Mary Ng and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office never responded for comment.
As I write in Willful Blindness, Mary Ng was one of the key Ontario Liberal government staffers who moved to Ottawa with Trudeau alongside more high-profile advisors like Katie Telford and Gerald Butz.
Two national security sources indicated that a specific CESIS concern was Ng's staff allegedly meeting privately with a Toronto consulate diplomat to consult on China-related issues.
CSIS identified this diplomat, Zhou Wei, as a confirmed intelligence actor.
According to one source, quote, we believe Zhou Wei worked with political staffers to provide information on meetings of elected officials and their whereabouts.
We know staff have direction to report privately to the consulate on Mary Ng, end quote.
This is a critical detail hinted at in the Hoag Commission's initial report, which, for some reason, did not disclose the involvement of Mary Ng's staff with Zhou Wei or clarify what this implies about Ng's position in Trudeau's cabinet.
Thank you.
Well, there you have it, Sam Cooper.
You know what?
I let that run the full.
I mean, that was just so densely packed with info.
UN Pa Wu, really a senior hand to Justin Trudeau in the Senate, a liberal, Victor Oh, a conservative senator.
Now, his term just expired in June because he hit the mandatory retirement age.
I was going to say, I certainly hope Pierre Polyev kicks him out of the caucus.
Well, actually, just his, he aged out of the Senate on his own, but I think that, you know, it certainly seems like he was up to his eyeballs.
Chinese Canadians' Political Influence00:15:07
Let's go to our expert, Andy Lee.
Andy, tell me a little bit more about this Canada Committee 100 Society.
That's sort of a strange name.
It doesn't really tell you what it's about.
What does it mean?
What's the 100 mean?
Who is it?
It sounds like it's an operation by the Chinese intelligence side.
Yeah, well, it's a, you know, it's a non-profit.
It was founded by Dinguo, who is an acting advisor on Premier David Abbey's, you know, Canada-China Committee.
He's actually authored a book, Ding Guo, and we can put that up.
And he posed with Senator Wu.
So he wrote about how to turn Richmond into a Chinese city using the nonprofit Canada Committee 100 Society.
And I think that was back around 2018 that they were promoting this book about how they could use this society to turn Richmond into a Chinese city.
What does that mean?
It kind of is a journalist, and he works for a media outlet called Rise Media.
And Rise Media, you know, sort of came into the spotlight because Ding Guo prominently featured Parm Baines in the last election.
And Parm Baines was seen speaking out very publicly against Kenny Chu's proposed private members bill, which would have introduced foreign agent registration legislation.
So all of it always, these activities always seem to be geared towards stifling this sort of registry being put into place.
So Rise Media was one of those media outlets that was maybe linked to Beijing that, you know, publicized Parm Baines and platformed him and maybe contributed to Kenny Chu ultimately losing his seat and killing that legislation.
And so that was been noted by the commission.
So what's Rise Media?
What is it?
So Rise Media, I did some digging.
It was founded in 2015 by a company called Lahoo.ca.
So Lahoo.ca is what?
What is it, right?
Who made this media platform that we've got Dinguo using to sort of rally and put out pro-Beijing talking points and especially try to stifle any sort of foreign agent legislation?
So it's a bit unclear as to what Lahoo is.
It claims to be based in Burnaby, British Columbia.
But I found an interview with a managing editor, and her name is Shui Mingming.
And Shui Mingming very clearly starts off her interview.
And this is, you know, again, open source information.
And she says it's a media company based in China.
Where in China, we don't know.
But if she's the managing director, she would probably know where it is.
So she says it's in China.
So that's the first thing about Lahoo.ca.
And Rise Media is not the only platform that Lahoo runs.
They run many, many, many platforms.
So I wanted to know more about Lahoo CA, right?
What's the parent company?
Again, it's really obscured.
But I did find out a couple of other things.
Somebody that manages both Lahoo.ca and Rise Media is a gentleman called Ta Chu Shing.
Now, he also used to work at the Global Times.
And we know that Global Times is a subsidiary of the People's Daily Press, also both implicated in foreign interference operations and election interference.
They were flagged during the recent attacks against another outspoken MP and China critic, Michael Chong.
So he used to work at Global Times, and now he's editing and directing Lahoo.ca, who puts out Rise Media.
And we know that Global Times and the People's Daily Press is run by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
So it's sort of overwhelming all the names and the connections.
But if I were to sum it up, what you're basically saying is there is a group active at promoting Beijing's political interests.
The group is organized and run out of China.
It's using and co-opting Canadian politicians, senators, advisors, MPs, and its hand goes straight back to Beijing.
I think that's what you're saying.
Am I right?
Well, I mean, that's certainly what it seems to look like.
And I do agree with Sam when he says, you know, journalists should be looking at the open source information a lot closer and asking questions as to where these lobbies, right, and people who pair up these kind of talking points that seem to be, you know, just CCP mouthpieces, you know, where's their background?
Where's it coming from?
Again, everything points back to it being really, really closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
So, and this is, these are the questions that need to be asked.
And these are why, you know, perhaps these people do not want a foreign agent registry.
For instance, and I love to promote other people who do independent work, Rise Media's Ding Guo last year, he came out with a piece saying that pro-Beijing Chinese Canadians will punish bad politicians with their votes.
So, you know, he said, basically, we're going to punish you with our votes.
And he said something else really, really interesting too.
He made some comments as to how it could be done.
So he said there are, and this is from, I should point out, it's from a sub-stack, and it's run by a companion of mine who runs a sub-stack called Found in Translation.
So she translated this.
And so what Ding Guo said, there are many ways to participate in Canadian politics.
The first one is to participate in petitions.
And he goes on and on.
Now, a few short days after that, Senator Wu launched his petition against a foreign agent registry.
So they're basically instructing.
They're instructing Canadian politicians on what to do.
It seems like Ding Guo somewhat set the stage using his media platform to set up people and say, please sign this petition that's coming out.
So the petition dropped a few days after that article came out.
And, you know, they had been urging people to sign it.
And we know that the petition against the foreign agent registry that Senator Wu launched was highly suspect in and of itself.
This was a petition against the foreign agent registry?
Yeah, yeah.
So, you know, he launched this petition, you know, saying we have to stand against all modern day forms of exclusion and things like that.
And what they're really talking about is a foreign agent registry.
And that's what was on that recording when he was saying, we're going to try to fight back against this, right?
We don't want you guys to have to register.
And there's probably good reason for that is because all of these people who are fighting back against it might be subjected to the specifications within such an act and they might have to register.
But we know that that petition wasn't authored by Senator Wu at all.
It was put forward by somebody called Ali Wang.
Now, Ali Wang is somebody who has also bombed the Foreign Interference Commission.
She runs something called the Canadian Go To Vote Association, which is another third party that came out and fought to unseat Kenny Chu and rallied against and rallied for, sorry, Parm Baines.
And just to clarify for our viewers, Kenny Chu is a Chinese Canadian who was against Beijing's control.
So the fact that he was ethnically Chinese Canadian didn't save him because communist China found him to be an impediment to their aims.
Am I right?
Am I saying that correctly?
I believe that Kenny Chu had to go and that they were trying to kill his legislation.
And so they threw their weight behind it using maybe foreign-funded or foreign-affiliated media outlets, platforms where a lot of people don't go.
We know that British Columbia has a very large Chinese population.
And for some of them, English isn't their first language.
So what they do is they turn to foreign media.
And so what do you see on foreign media is maybe you see somebody who's saying this bill is going to be racist.
We're going to make all Chinese citizens register and things like that.
And that puts fear into these citizens and gets them to vote against the person who's putting the legislation forward.
And they use the nonprofits and NGOs, and there's so much of this, but most of them are interconnected.
I mean, Ding Guo knows Ali Wang.
They all know Senator Woo.
And they all came out with this subtle movement to try to kill a bill being put in place.
And that seems to be the, you know, the big push.
And there's no doubt that these people are affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.
You know, you and I use Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, but a lot of Chinese Canadians use an app called WeChat.
And you correct me if I'm wrong.
I have an acquaintance who that's where all her news comes from.
So she's not following Canadian press.
She's not following the CBC.
She gets her news in Canada from a Chinese government-controlled news app, which does give actual news, but it's always from the Beijing point of view.
And when it comes to election time, there's no way that any of that's being registered or monitored by Elections Canada.
What do you have to say about WeChat, which is sort of like it's not just like Twitter, there's a commerce side to it, like it's an everything app.
A lot of Chinese Canadians, their center of news and information is back in China, isn't it?
Yeah, I mean, well, this is the problem with WeChat.
And again, it's, you know, it's a resource that a lot of Chinese Canadians use, but it's also very susceptible to influence.
And it's been one of the main vehicles where we've seen people who might be backed by the Chinese Communist Party or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party or affiliated with the UNA Front Work Department push out pro-Beijing messaging that is geared towards manipulating.
And this is the really insidious part: if maybe English isn't your first language and you're looking here, you're being subtly manipulated in your own country by a foreign government.
So it's going to be very disturbing.
It's very, very disturbing when you see politicians back this, as David Ebby has done using Ding Guo as an advisor.
Because, you know, it's not really a fair playing field.
You know, it's not just that you're subject to persuasion.
It's that they're spying on you, too.
Like all the data that these apps collect on you, it's typically done for commercial purposes on Facebook, on TikTok.
If you say something near your phone, you know how you see an ad about that subject later.
You think, oh boy, they're trying to sell me.
Well, with WeChat, when the Chinese government is the one collecting everything you say, do, buy, read, click, it's a little more nefarious.
I think it's clear.
It's spyware, not just propagandaware.
It's not just broadcasting.
It's receiving info about the users, isn't it?
Yeah, I mean, we know that it collects a tremendous amount of material on its users.
You know, I use it anonymously, but I have no doubt that they probably know who I am and have all of my information.
So, yeah, but it's just kind of, you know, it's so unfortunate because it is, you know, it's a great resource and a lot of Chinese Canadians use it.
So it's really unfortunate to see politicians align themselves with people who may be lobbying for Beijing's best interest and feeding this messaging to Chinese Canadians.
And I find it very, very deplorable tactic and very, very insidious in the way that they're subtly manipulating this population and creating fear and trying to get them to vote for their preferred politician that, of course, they benefit from if they win, right?
Yeah.
Well, that's the thing.
Trudeau loves China's interference, not only electoral, which helped give him MPs, but financial.
Hey, I got one last question for you.
In the last couple of weeks, Trudeau has really ramped up his diplomatic war with India.
And there may be some reason to object to India's conduct in Canada.
I don't know the fact of it, but there are claims that India has committed extraterritorial assassinations in Canada.
They would say they would deny it.
And if pressed, they might say, well, we're harboring certain violent terrorists here.
But without getting into the substance of it, it's sort of shocking how Trudeau has declared a full diplomatic war on India and had his senior intelligence advisor leak confidential material to the Washington Post, basically to try to get not just America, but the media on side with this war against India.
I don't think the Americans have joined it.
What do you make about that?
I mean, I like, this is the first time ever that Justin Trudeau has stood up for Canadian sovereignty against foreign interference, but I don't take it at face value.
I think it was an attempt to distract from his own caucus dissension.
And I think he'd rather talk about India, which may be than talk about China.
What do you think?
Yeah, well, I mean, you know, it's the look-a-squirrel of politics.
He was set to testify, you know, at the Foreign Interference Commission.
So he had to give something to sort of distract from that and, you know, try to take away from the seriousness of what transpired under his government, which, I mean, you know, we've had some national security advisors say it's close to treason.
You know, we've got some people saying silence as complicity at this point.
So I do, and I don't want to underplay any, you know, anything that India's government might have done on Canadian soil.
And I don't advocate for that, you know, if that's what transpired.
And of course, we saw that leaking intelligence is fine if you're doing it to a United States media outlet like the Washington Post.
Apparently, then intelligence can be declassified in a heartbeat and leaked out to try to detract from what's going on in your own country.
So, you know, I think that that was the political scent that, you know, he wanted it to be.
Leaking Intelligence: A Double Standard00:02:13
And it did take a little bit of heat off him and, you know, gave them time to ramp up this security clearance thing about Pierre.
But again, that's been disproved.
He's able to declassify that intelligence and share it with us.
And CESIS, that's written into the CESIS Act that threat reduction measures can be performed under Section 12.1.
Anybody can be briefed if CESIS determines that that needs to be done using that provision in the Act.
So yeah, I mean, you know, as for Ebby and this, so I mean, we know that RISE Media used their platform and, you know, the official agent of the NDP authorized advertisements and attack ads against the BC conservatives on RISE Media.
You know, so again, a huge conflict of interest there if he's got Denguo sitting on his board of advisors, even more unsavory given the background into RISE media, some of the interference activities that they've performed in the past, which may have resulted, may have resulted in conservative Kenny Chiu losing his seat because of his private members' legislation.
But, you know, they've got a good game and nobody's going to stop them until people call them out on it.
Ding Guo put out a very clear, and I can send you this, an article as to how they can target six or seven key districts and use those Chinese voters to swing the election.
And that's all it would have taken.
I'm not going to say that that happened and that this election wasn't free and fair.
But, you know, again, I find it's a highly manipulative practice that they're using.
There's no way that David Ebbe isn't aware of it.
This has been brought up and it's not going to stop until we get some legislation, you know, asking these people respectfully.
We're not even saying that you can't do that, right?
We're not being unreasonable saying you can't perform these activities.
All we want to know is where your activities come from.
Are you affiliated with a foreign government?
And tell us about that, right?
Let's have some transparency as to who's putting out advertising and things like that and rallying and lobbying on behalf of a foreign interest in our own country.
Where Activities Come From00:00:42
Right.
And so we stick up for ourselves.
This is going to continue.
Andy, we've got to leave it there.
Great to see you again.
Andy Lee, what's the best place for people to follow your work?
Is it on Twitter?
Yeah, it's on Twitter.
So I'm the real Andy Lee show.
I also run a sub stack, which I apologize for.
I have been badly neglecting and have to catch up.
But that's called Sleeping with Giants because we're in bed with the Chinese Communist Party.
Great to see you again.
Thanks for your research.
You and Sam Cooper are really saving the day.
And hopefully others will join the battle.
Good luck, Andy.
Yeah, thank you.
Right on.
There you have it, Andy Lee.
Well, that's our show for today.
Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, see you at home.