EDITORIAL: Carney’s defence of Chiang is appalling

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What hold does Liberal MP Paul Chiang have on Mark Carney and his party, given that he’s still their candidate in a Toronto-area riding after saying a Conservative rival should be seized and handed over to the Chinese consulate for a bounty? 

Carney’s refusal to dump Chiang from the Liberal ticket, instead defending the former cop as “a person of integrity,” is appalling — regardless of what Chiang meant and his pro-forma apology for what Carney and Chiang insist was a terrible “mistake.” 

Talking about snatching a Conservative political rival, Joe Tay, off the street and handing him over to Chinese authorities in Canada, while cashing in on a reward of one million Hong Kong dollars set by Beijing’s dictators isn’t a “mistake.” 

China placed a bounty on Tay’s head for operating a YouTube channel in Canada critical of Beijing while he was running for the Conservatives against Chiang in his Markham Unionville riding. Tay is now the Conservative candidate in Don Valley North. 

By referencing China’s bounty during a press conference with Chinese media in January, Chiang was playing right into the fears of Canadians of Chinese origin who publicly oppose China’s dictators and who are routinely threatened by Chinese authorities with being sent back to China for trial, or warned their relatives in Hong Kong or China will be punished if they don’t shut up. 

China — which established so-called “police stations” in Canada — has become so emboldened that it has even tried to intimidate parliamentarians, including Conservative MP Michael Chong and the NDP’s Jenny Kwan. 

Carney’s failure to do the right thing here raises legitimate concerns about whether his relationships and business dealings with China in his former role as chairman of Brookfield Asset Management are influencing his decisions. 

His refusal to act is doubly outrageous given all we now know about the Liberal party’s long-time cosy relationship with China — despite current tensions. 

That includes the fact that Canadian governments of all stripes have for decades quietly assisted Chinese authorities in hunting down so-called fugitives and criminals living in Canada, despite its kangaroo court system and use of threats, intimidation and torture to obtain confessions. 

If Carney won’t stand up to China, what hope is there that he’ll stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump?