(Ottawa) NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is demanding that Justin Trudeau oust MP Han Dong from his group amid fresh allegations that the Liberal-elect recommended that a senior Chinese diplomat delay the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
Posted 7:38pm Updated 8:15pm
“These are extremely serious allegations. If true, Canadian security was compromised for political reasons. Prime Minister Trudeau must remove Han Dong from the caucus and these allegations must be fully investigated,” the NDP leader wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening.
Based on two confidential sources, the Global News network reported that Ontario’s representative-elect had recommended to the Chinese consul-general in Toronto that Beijing wait before releasing two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, arbitrarily detained in China.
According to the report, the MP told diplomat Han Tao in February 2021 that her release could benefit the Conservative Party of Canada, whose then-Chairman Erin O’Toole advocated a tougher crackdown on Xi Jinping’s regime.
The main person involved denied the information from Global News, which La Presse could not independently confirm. He admitted speaking to the consul while Canadian nationals languished behind bars for more than two years, but “to call for their immediate release,” he said.
“At every opportunity before they returned home, I categorically demanded their immediate release. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and an attempt to mislead you and your readers and to slander me,” Han Dong wrote in a statement provided to the English-language network.
A spokeswoman for Canadian Prime Minister Alison Murphy told Global News that they were previously unaware of the existence of the interview and that Han Dong never appeared on the file as an unofficial government negotiator (“back channel”).
Justin Trudeau’s office has not announced its intentions regarding the MP’s presence at the caucus.
“This is serious information about actions that threaten the very foundation of our Canadian democracy. The hiding places must be stopped. We must stop the cover-up,” Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre tweeted.
“If that’s true, it borders on high treason”
The two Michaels were arrested in December 2018 at the request of the United States, a few days after the arrest of the finance director of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, Meng Wanzhou.
On September 24, just days after his re-election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the two men would return to Canada after more than 1,000 days behind bars. Her release came after the British Columbia Supreme Court approved Ms. Meng’s release.
“If it’s true that Han Dong said that, he’s someone dishonorable, and then we can almost say it borders on treason,” said Guy Saint-Jacques, who was Canada’s ambassador to China from 2012 to 2016.
The allegations are piling up
This isn’t the first time Han Dong’s ties with China have made headlines. In late February, Global News reported that the Chinese Communist Party had maneuvered to favor its victory in the race for the liberal nomination in the Don Valley North race.
In Parliament on Tuesday, the MP spoke to journalists for the first time since these allegations were published. He again denied that Beijing could have played a role in his win, saying he had received “hateful” comments as well as death threats in recent weeks.
Prime Minister Trudeau has defended his MP more than once.
But the accumulation of allegations against him weighs heavily, believes Guy Saint-Jacques.
“Several questions arise about Han Dong. I think what was revealed by CSIS [Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité]It is undoubtedly true, the consulate people did what was essential for his re-election,” he stated.
“Soon we will have to buy a lie detector and connect many people in Ottawa to it,” concluded the former Ottawa envoy to Beijing.