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

On 3/31/2025 5:13 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

 On Mar 31, 2025 at 2:02:23 PM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> 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.

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

 
 Were you concerned that Sarah Palin was seriously planning to have a sniper
 shoot Democrat congressional candidates in the districts her website labeled
 with crosshairs?

 
Ummm ...no?