'I'm a Canadian': MP named in foreign interference report speaks out, refutes claims
'I'm a Canadian': MP named in foreign interference report speaks out, refutes claims
The Liberal MP who allegedly benefitted from Chinese election interference is speaking out against the report, categorically stating the foreign government did not help him in his nomination campaign.
“To my knowledge, I was not offered, I was not told, I was not informed, nor would I accept any help from a foreign country, whether during my nomination or election campaign,” Han Dong told reporters Tuesday.
“I’m a Canadian, nominated by Liberals in Don Valley North, by Canadians to serve Canadians,” he added. “I’m just going to focus on my work.”
A report by Global News last month stated CSIS warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office shortly before the 2019 election that Dong, a Liberal candidate, was part of a Chinese foreign interference network. CTV News has not independently verified the report.
Dong, a former Ontario MPP, is now a sitting MP, elected in both 2019 and 2021 in the riding of Don Valley North. Global News reported that Dong was preferred by Beijing over another Chinese Canadian Liberal, and that he was a “witting affiliate” of Chinese influence networks.
Trudeau has since both defended Dong and refuted the claim that he was warned by CSIS to drop him as a candidate.
"Dong is an outstanding member of our team and suggestions that he is somehow not loyal to Canada should not be entertained," Trudeau said at a news conference in Mississauga, Ont., last month.
"Suggestions we've seen in the media, that CSIS would somehow say, 'No, this person can't run or that person can't run,' is not just false, it's actually damaging to people's confidence in our democratic and political institutions," he also said.
On Tuesday, Dong spoke out for the first time since the report, repeatedly calling them “unverified, anonymous allegations.” When asked whether the Chinese government had any involvement in his nomination, he replied: “absolutely not.”
“My election, my nomination, everything has followed the rules, it’s on public record and it stands the test,” he said.
The MP said he supports the prime minister’s decision to appoint a special rapporteur to assess foreign interference in elections and recommend whether there should be a public inquiry, but he would not say definitively whether he is himself in favour of such an inquiry.
“Sure, I have my personal vested interest, I want the truth to come out, in my defence,” he said.
Dong said he’s concerned about how the allegations are affecting his constituents, especially his Chinese Canadians constituents.
Dong added he has not heard from the Prime Minister’s Office, CSIS or any other law enforcement agency about the allegations.
“I’ve never received a phone call from CSIS, I’ve never been made aware if there was an investigation, whether by CSIS, RCMP or Elections Canada, pertaining to my nomination or election campaign,” he said.
Dong said he has also not reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office himself to ask about the report.
“I’m not going to,” he said. “I cannot defend myself against an unverified, anonymous source.”
But Dong said he has written a letter to the director of CSIS asking about the allegations and whether they were the result of a leak from CSIS, and that the agency “acknowledged receipt” of his letter.
A New Democrat MP is trying to convince his colleagues to change the rules that govern the House of Commons in a series of ways he says would instill 'democratic controls' on the prime minister's 'unfettered' powers.
Monday morning, the Public Service Alliance of Canada announced it had reached a 'tentative' agreement with the federal government for the 120,000 picketing Treasury Board workers who, since April 19, had been engaged in one of the largest strikes in Canadian history. Here's a rundown of the developments from Parliament Hill as they happened.
The House committee studying foreign election interference heard from top 2019 and 2021 Liberal and Conservative campaign directors on Tuesday, with party officials from both camps speaking about the need for politicians to come together to address any "legislative gaps" ahead of the next vote.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
U.S President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have announced updates on a number of cross-border issues, after a day of meetings on Parliament Hill.
Danielle Smith's win in the Alberta election hands her the most starkly divided province confronting any premier in Canada, writes commentator Don Martin.
Special rapporteur David Johnston didn't recommend public inquiry knowing it was a pathetically insufficient response for a foreign democratic assault of this magnitude, writes Don Martin in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
To frame a few new illustrations on pages tucked inside a passport as proof of a Liberal plot to purge the Canadian historical record seems like a severe stretch, writes Don Martin in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino is a bright former federal prosecutor, who was destined to be a star in Justin Trudeau's cabinet. But in an opinion column on CTVNews.ca, Don Martin argues Mendicino has taken a stunning fall from grace, stumbling badly on important issues just 18 months into the job.
It's the most peculiar of elections with the frontrunner and her main opponent being the same person, writes columnist Don Martin. 'In the looming Alberta showdown, it's Premier Danielle Smith versus her mouth.'
China's military rebuked the United States and Canada for 'deliberately provoking risk' after the countries' navies staged a rare joint sailing through the sensitive Taiwan Strait.
New study finds increase in antipsychotic drugs use in long-term care homes across Canada, despite no significant increase in behavioural symptoms – something that may expose a potential area of concern for quality of care, researchers say.
Heavy rain and some military reinforcements arrived to assist efforts on Saturday to quell the wildfires that have destroyed homes and caused the evacuation of thousands of people across Nova Scotia.
Another northern Quebec town was evacuated due to an out of control wildfire on Saturday as the federal government confirmed that Canadian Forces personnel would be deployed to help combat forest fires in the province.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says the process to sell the Ottawa Senators is moving forward as "quickly as possible," and the New York-based company overseeing the sale is advising to "expect a very good outcome in the next few weeks."
The U.S. Ambassador to Canada says America 'absolutely wants to have it both ways' when it comes to fighting climate change while pursuing fossil fuel projects.
Another northern Quebec town was evacuated due to an out of control wildfire on Saturday as the federal government confirmed that Canadian Forces personnel would be deployed to help combat forest fires in the province.
Heavy rain and some military reinforcements arrived to assist efforts on Saturday to quell the wildfires that have destroyed homes and caused the evacuation of thousands of people across Nova Scotia.
China's military rebuked the United States and Canada for 'deliberately provoking risk' after the countries' navies staged a rare joint sailing through the sensitive Taiwan Strait.
Ottawa Centre MP Yasir Naqvi submitted his paperwork on Friday to enter the Ontario Liberal leadership race, a campaign spokesperson told CTV News Ottawa.
A marine conservation charity and Inuit hunters are praising cruise operators for agreeing to avoid a Nunavut waterway where thousands of narwhal migrate each summer.
Concerns around civilian safety spiked in Ukraine on Saturday, as officials announced that an inspection had found nearly a quarter of the country's air-raid shelters locked or unusable, just days after a woman in Kyiv allegedly died waiting outside a shuttered shelter during a Russian missile barrage.
The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed again Sunday to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as she lambasted a UN Security Council meeting over the North's first, failed launch.
Hong Kong police detained eight people, including activists and artists, on the eve of the 34th anniversary of China's Tiananmen Square crackdown, a move that signals the city's shrinking freedom of expression.
Tens of thousands of people rallied in Serbia's capital on Saturday for a fifth time in a month, following two mass shootings that shook the nation, even as the country's populist president rejected any responsibility for the crisis and ignored the protesters' demands to step down.
Despite a dire warning from the United Nations chief that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees "is on the verge of financial collapse," donors at a pledging conference on Friday provided just US$107 million in new funds -- significantly less than the US$300 million it needs to keep helping millions of people.
Defence Minister Anita Anand says Canada is committed to the support of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, and is reinforcing its military presence in the region.
Jenny Kwan has been outspoken against human-rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party and often advocates for the country's Uyghur Muslim minority. The Hong Kong-born member of Parliament said in an interview with The Canadian Press that that's what made her an 'evergreen' target of the Chinese government.
New study finds increase in antipsychotic drugs use in long-term care homes across Canada, despite no significant increase in behavioural symptoms – something that may expose a potential area of concern for quality of care, researchers say.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Racial bias built into a common medical test for lung function is likely leading to fewer Black patients getting care for breathing problems, a study published Thursday suggests.
Twitter's head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, told Reuters on Thursday that she has resigned from the social media company, which has faced criticism for lax protections against harmful content since billionaire Elon Musk acquired it in October.
Deep in an open coal mine in southern Greece, researchers have discovered the antiquities-rich country's oldest archaeological site, which dates to 700,000 years ago and is associated with modern humans' hominin ancestors. The find announced Thursday would drag the dawn of Greek archaeology back by as much as a quarter of a million years, although older hominin sites have been discovered elsewhere in Europe. The oldest, in Spain, dates to more than a million years ago.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, director Christopher Nolan offers a guide to his favourite formats, explaining why it matters and even where he likes to sit so that audiences don't feel like they need a film school degree (or one in theoretical physics) before settling on a theatre.
Walt Disney's Pixar Animation Studios has eliminated 75 positions including those of two executives behind box office disappointment 'Lightyear,' sources said on Saturday, the first significant job cuts at the studio in a decade.
Air Canada says travellers should be prepared for further flight disruptions as it works to return service to normal following a technical malfunction Thursday.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says the process to sell the Ottawa Senators is moving forward as "quickly as possible," and the New York-based company overseeing the sale is advising to "expect a very good outcome in the next few weeks."
Zach Whitecloud scored from long-range with just over 13 minutes left, after Adin Hill made arguably the best save of the playoffs, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 Saturday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final.
Bianca Andreescu was eliminated from the French Open after losing to Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, in the third round on Saturday.
America apparently needs more car seats. So, when Volkswagen unveiled the ID. Buzz, a retro-styled electric van, last year, it noted that the version for the North American market would be longer and would have three rows of seats.
