China’s ‘CEO Whisperers’: Chinese Communist Party Takes Over Canada

September 18, 2023

Robert Williams writes at the Gatestone Institute:

“I was pretty dismayed at the extent of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence in the federal Parliament. I should probably not say any more to stay on the right side of the libel laws… [W]hat are the authorities doing about this? I think that’s the real measure of China’s influence.” — Australian professor Clive Hamilton, National Post, April 15, 2019.
Despite leaked intelligence reports about Chinese interference in Canada’s last two federal elections in 2019 and 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has refused to hold a public probe into the matter.
[T]he passivity of Trudeau’s Liberal Party is “permitting China to colonize Canada.” — Tasha Kheiriddin, Canadian political columnist, National Post, August 22, 2023.
“On housing: Chinese money laundering inflated Canadian property values for decades and helped push home ownership out of reach for today’s buyers. On drug addiction: China is the main source country of fentanyl found in Canada, paving the way for thousands of overdose deaths. On the economy: China has targeted a host of Canadian industries for control, from lobsters to lithium.” — Tasha Kheiriddin, National Post, August 22, 2023.
“The CCP’s basic strategy of overseas influence and interference is to capture elites in politics, business, media, think tanks, universities, and cultural institutions…It deploys a range of techniques including flattery, financial inducement, exploitation of anti-racist and anti-American sentiment, bribery, and honey traps… Key figures in the Liberal Party have long historical ties to the CCP, not least through business connections…” — Clive Hamilton, thehub.ca, June 2, 2023.
“I’ve often said that Chinese leaders are what I call CEO whisperers, they’re very, very skillful when meeting foreigners, particularly senior foreigners. China inspires a kind of excessive affection in people and an excessive sense of wonder and a desire not to apply the usual sort of critical thinking skills, and people are seduced by it.” — Former Canadian Ambassador to China David Mulroney, thehub.ca, June 2, 2023.
China has reportedly openly been trying to influence [Canadian PM] Justin Trudeau for the past ten years. One unnamed CSIS source said that the CCP had its eyes on Justin Trudeau well before he became prime minister.
Trudeau, during his first election campaign in 2016, visited the homes of “wealthy Chinese-Canadians for private fundraising events. Some of the hosts had close connections with the CCP and had been actively promoting Beijing’s takeover of islands in the South China Sea.” — Clive Hamilton, in his book, Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World.
The influence of the CCP is so pervasive that Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, “is pulling double duty as an official adviser to the Chinese government” according to a report in the Toronto Sun.
China… is a real threat to Canada’s sovereignty. “Recent Chinese actions and announcements are pointing to Beijing’s determination to have a military capability in the region that will exceed that of Canada.” — Rob Hueber, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and associate professor of political science at the University of Calgary, Globe and Mail, August 25, 2023.
“What has not received as much attention is a research paper, published in 2021, in which Chinese scientists explain their success in developing Arctic-resilient underwater listening systems. The paper says the listening systems are for peaceful purposes, but the actual ramifications of the HABs [high-altitude balloons], buoys and research systems are inescapable. China is refining its means of monitoring the Canadian North.” — Rob Hueber, Globe and Mail, August 25, 2023.
“China will very soon enjoy a major advantage in monitoring Arctic waters, especially under the surface, and it will have confidence that Canada has little ability to see what is going on or do anything about it. Factor in the overwhelming evidence of Beijing’s efforts to target and interfere in our political system – and our reluctance or inability to respond to these actions – and the larger threat to Canada’s very sovereignty comes starkly into view.” — Rob Hueber, Globe and Mail, August 25, 2023.