Re: [OT] Liberal MP proposes turning in his Conservative rival to China for a bounty

On 2025-03-31 6:06 PM, moviePig wrote:

On 3/31/2025 5:25 PM, Rhino wrote:

On 2025-03-31 5:02 PM, moviePig wrote:

On 3/31/2025 2:57 PM, Rhino wrote:

On 2025-03-31 1:51 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>

A Liberal MP made a very controversial statement recently that has him
in hot water, at least with the opposition, during the current federal
election.

>

Paul Chiang, a sitting Liberal MP running for re-election, wrote a
comment in Chinese media, that his Conservative opponent, Joe Tay, a
city councillor, should be turned in to the Chinese consulate in Toronto
for a bounty. Tay is originally from Hong Kong where he ran afoul of the
local authorities for his anti-Beijing activism.

>

https://vancouversun.com/news/federal_election/transnational- repression-jenny-kwan-weighs-in-on-liberal-mps-chinese-bounty-quip

>

Liberals are apparently insisting that Chiang's remark was just a joke
but the opposition parties, Conservative and NDP alike, are calling for
Chiang to step down and get replaced by another candidate. Mark Carney,
the new Liberal leader, has the power to dump candidates but is
resisting demands to dump Chiang.

>

Given the media's love of Liberals, I'm expecting this story to die
quickly. I was surprised to learn that Chiang was a cop for 28 years.

>
Ok. I'm a defender of the use of off-color jokes and bitter sarcasm in
public speech to make a point, and condemn those who infer racist or
hate speech, taking the remarks out of context.
>
If he were contrasting Canada as a free society with China, he could
have said that he'd be subject to arrest in China, but in Canada, he's
perfectly free to run against an incumbant.
>
But a bounty? I can't imagine a scenario in which that's funny. He needs
to apologize. What a jerk.

>
Proposing to turn in Tay to the Chinese, when his native Hong Kong actually HAS a bounty on him of $153K for his pro-democracy activism is pretty damned ominous in my opinion.
>
Apparently Chiang *has* apologized and that's enough for Carney but not for the opposition parties. I'm not sure it's enough for me either. The opposition parties may well be pushing this to see if it can hurt Chiang and/or Carney. I'm concerned that Chiang may actually be serious.
>
Personally, many of us here are concerned about foreign powers manipulating our elections by helping candidates they favour and making it more difficult for candidates that they see as hostile to them. I don't want our MPs chosen by the CCP, Putin or the USA!
>
We had a major inquiry into this matter just a year or two back, although I never heard a final report. I don't know if the inquiry is still mulling things over or if the guilty parties have somehow kept it from reporting. Maybe I just missed the news when it came out.

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You're concerned he might seriously try to bounty-hunt his opponent?
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Seriously?
>
>

Probably not personally but he was proposing that others in the "community" do so and there are a LOT of Chinese-Canadians in that area. Some of them certainly have more loyalty to the CCP than Canada if their participation if pro-China demonstrations are any guide.
>
A reward of at least $183,000 gives anyone a lot of incentive to bring Mr. Tay to the Chinese consulate or one of their secret police stations.

 Then I'll concede that it seems at least in clumsy bad taste ...though I'm surprised to hear that CCP loyalists abound in North America.
 

Then you probably don't know about Chinese police stations that have been identified in a number of countries, including yours and mine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_police_overseas_service_stations
As for CCP loyalists, I recall demonstrations in Toronto in support of Hong Kong when China was threatening to deport dissidents to China proper (which has since been codified in law) which had substantial attendance by Chinese-Canadians and others. They were opposed by ethnic Chinese counter-demonstrators supporting China's suppression of Hong Kong's former freedoms. I couldn't pretend to quantify either group and I don't remember the reporters stating numbers either but there are clearly pro-China people in the Toronto area. The thought of people protesting IN FAVOUR OF repressions and crackdowns is sickening. Hong Kong has never been truly free but it had at least a semblance of it until the CCP changed things a few years back.
--
Rhino