Dear Editor,
After Richmond’s two ridings were unexpectedly flipped by the Liberal party in the 2021 election, many attributed it to the political views of Richmondites evolving.
Unfortunately, a recent Globe and Mail article on recently declassified CSIS documents reveals the true reason may be much more sinister.
It is now known from the latest CSIS reports that China employed an aggressive strategy to disrupt Canada’s democracy in the 2021 federal election, and that Richmond candidates were a large target.
Their efforts included working to ensure that the Liberal party was re-elected, influencing mainland Chinese-Canadian voters against the Conservative Party, and targeting candidates that were deemed unfriendly to Beijing — such as Richmond’s own Kenny Chiu.
Mr. Chiu was targeted after speaking out about China’s violent crackdown in Hong Kong and his 2021 private member’s bill aiming to establish a registry of foreign agents in an attempt to combat foreign interference.
Chiu was unseated in 2021 by Parm Bains, and is now widely believed to be the victim of a Beijing-led online disinformation campaign.
The CSIS documents reveal Chinese diplomats and, some members of the Chinese-language media, were told to push the unsubstantiated claim that the Conservative Party was too critical of China and that, if elected, it would follow Trump’s lead and ban Chinese students from certain universities.
As a community, we need to take seriously the threats of foreign interference in our elections.
While changes at the political level are necessary, steps taken at the community level are equally important.
Rather than attacking those who may have been inadvertent beneficiaries of misinformation campaigns, we must come together to ensure accurate information is heard louder.
Rather than allowing falsities divide our community, we must open up to dialogue, ensuring people come to their own beliefs, rather than those of foreign governments.
I believe we Canadians have what it takes to implement the municipal, provincial, federal and legal changes required to protect our elections from interference, but all changes begin at the community level.
Together, let’s ensure our elections retain their integrity for generations to come.
N.B. All claims in this letter were taken directly from the Globe and Mail article, which in turn were taken from CSIS reports.
Rob Perry
RICHMOND
