Liberal candidate for Markham-Unionville Paul Chiang rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on March 22, 2024.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Mark Carney says the comments of one of his candidates were “deeply offensive,” but the Liberal Leader will not drop the incumbent MP for saying people should take a Conservative rival to the local Chinese consulate to collect a bounty on him for criticizing Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong.
Mr. Carney told reporters Monday that Paul Chiang, who is running for the Liberals in Markham-Unionville, has apologized and will continue as a candidate. He also said he spoke with Mr. Chiang over the weekend to understand his position.
“The comments were deeply offensive. This is a terrible lapse of judgment by Mr. Chiang,” Mr. Carney said. “He will continue with his candidacy, going forward, having made those apologies very clearly to the individual, to the community and moving forward to serve.”
Separately on Monday, Hong Kong Watch, a group whose patrons include Chris Patten, the last governor of the former British territory, wrote the RCMP asking the force to investigate whether Mr. Chiang’s comments were a violation of the Foreign Interference and Security of Information Act passed by Parliament last year.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney makes a campaign stop at the College of Carpenters and Allied Trades in Vaughan, Ont., on March 31.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
In defending his decision to keep the Liberal candidate, Mr. Carney pointed to Mr. Chiang’s long prepolitics career as a senior police officer.
“This is a person of integrity,” Mr. Carney said, before pointing to Mr. Chiang’s work in his community. “It’s also an individual who has family in Hong Kong. He’s under no illusions about the situation there, the situation of broader China.”
Asked why Mr. Chiang was absent from Mr. Carney’s Greater Toronto Area announcement Monday, the Liberal Leader said the Markham-Unionville candidate had “other responsibilities in his riding.”
But the Liberal Leader’s remarks are not expected to tamp down calls for Mr. Chiang’s dismissal for his remarks earlier this year about Joe Tay, now the Conservative candidate for Don Valley North.
Mr. Tay and Mr. Chiang spoke late Sunday night, but Mr. Tay said in a statement that he rejects Mr. Chiang’s apology and he should be removed.
“His threatening public comments were intended to intimidate me, and they must not be tolerated,” Mr. Tay said Monday.
Mr. Tay was born in Hong Kong but immigrated to Canada as an adult.
In December, Hong Kong police announced a bounty of HK$1-million – about $184,000 – for information leading to his arrest for allegedly violating a national-security law imposed on the former British colony by China. Mr. Tay runs a YouTube channel, HongKongerStation, that draws attention to continuing civil-rights violations in Hong Kong.
In January, Mr. Chiang reportedly told a Chinese-language media conference that people should take Mr. Tay to the People’s Republic of China consulate in Toronto and collect the reward.
“If anyone here can take him to the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto, you can get the million-dollar reward,” Mr. Chiang said, according to Ming Pao, a Chinese-language newspaper.
At the time, Mr. Tay was running for the Conservative nomination in Markham-Unionville. Mr. Chiang has represented the riding since 2021.
The Globe and Mail contacted Mr. Chiang about his comments last Thursday and he posted a public apology to social media on Friday.
Mr. Tay said no apology is sufficient and he is worried about his security.
“Threats like these are the tradecraft of the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in Canada. And they are not just aimed at me. They are intended to send a chilling signal to the entire community in order to force compliance to Beijing’s political goals,” Mr. Tay said. “This situation has left me fearing for my safety.”
In a letter to RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme, Hong Kong Watch’s interim director Ed Simpson asked the force to investigate whether Mr. Chiang violated Section 20 of the Foreign Interference and Security of Information Act, which says that “every person commits an offence who, at the direction of, for the benefit of or in association with, a foreign entity or a terrorist group, induces or attempts to induce, by intimidation, threat or violence, any person to do anything or to cause anything to be done.”
In addition, international criticism of Mr. Chiang’s conduct is growing. In a joint statement, 40 Hong Kong diaspora organizations based in Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and Germany urged Mr. Carney to remove the Liberal candidate from his election campaign roster.
“It is imperative that Canada remains a bastion of support for those fighting against authoritarianism, rather than complicit in its enforcement,” the groups said in a statement.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, speaking at a campaign stop in Saint John, accused Mr. Carney of overlooking inexcusable behaviour.
“This is not about an inappropriate or off-colour joke. These comments by this Liberal candidate may well rise to the level of criminal because they called for someone to be turned over to a hostile foreign government on a bounty.”
In his statement late Sunday night, Mr. Chiang called his remarks a terrible lapse of judgment. “I recognize the severity of the statement and I am deeply disappointed in myself.”
Speaking in Victoria on Monday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh criticized Mr. Carney’s response to Mr. Chiang’s “chilling” comments.
“And for Mark Carney to say that I’m going to accept this candidate really sends a message that that type of commentary, ultimately, is acceptable because he’s not removing him as a candidate.”