Canada faces an unprecedented national security challenge from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and related entities that threatens its democratic institutions, economic stability, and social cohesion.
The explosive revelations came out in August, in a book entitled, “Canada Under Siege: How PEI Became a Forward Operating Base for the Chinese Communist Party.” It was co-authored by former national director of the RCMP’s proceeds of crime program Garry Clement, who conducted an investigation with CSIS intelligence officer Michel Juneau-Katsuya.
In a press conference in Ottawa on Oct. 8, Clement referred to millions of dollars in cash transactions, suspicious land transfers, and a network of corporations that resembled organized crime structures.
It seems P.E.I.’s Provincial Nominee Program was exploited by wealthy applicants linked to Beijing to gain permanent residence in exchange for investments that often never materialized. It was all part of “money laundering, corruption, and elite capture at the highest levels.”
Hundreds of thousands of dollars came in crisp hundred dollars bills on given weekends, amounting to millions of dollars over time. A monastery called Blessed Wisdom had set up a network of “corporations, land transfers, land flips, and citizens being paid under the table, cash for residences and property,” as was often done by organized crime.
Clement even called the Chinese government “the largest transnational organized crime group in the history of the world.”
Dean Baxendale, CEO of the China Democracy Fund and Optimum Publishing International, published the book, which was the result of five years of investigations.
“We followed the money, we followed the networks, and we followed the silence,” Baxendale said. “What we found were clear signs of elite capture, failed oversight, and infiltration of Canadian institutions and political parties at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels by actors aligned with the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, the Ministry of State Security. In some cases, political donations have come from members of organized crime groups in our country and have certainly influenced political decision making over the years.”
Wow. Perhaps the reason Canada seems less and less like a democracy is that it has been compromised by foreign actors. And that same compromise seems to be hindering concrete actions in response.
“We explore how a PEI hotel housed over 500 Chinese nationals, all allegedly trying to reclaim their $25,000 residency deposits, but they used a single hotel as their home address. The owner was charged by the CBSA, only to have the trial shut down by the federal government itself,” Baxendale explained.
The press conference came 476 days after Bill C-70 was passed to address foreign interference. Former MP Kevin Vuong rightfully asked why the foreign agent registry the legislation called for had not been authorized by cabinet.
“Why? What’s the reason for the delay?” Vuong asked.
Macdonald-Laurier Institute Foreign Policy Director Christopher Coates called the revelations “beyond concerning” and warned, “The failures to adequately address our national security challenges threatens Canada’s relations with allies, impacting economic security and national prosperity.”
He emphasized the need to update legal frameworks to match modern threats. “Our legal system fails to protect intelligence in ways that permit cases to be advanced through the courts,” he explained. The current legal tools were “designed for different threats and are misaligned with the digitally enabled, dynamic and diffuse networks” used by foreign actors.
Former Solicitor General of Canada and Prince Edward Island MP Wayne Easter called for a national inquiry into Beijing’s interference operations.
“The operation in Prince Edward Island is key to where things seem to be going—is that a forward operating base to move to other areas of the country?” Easter asked. “There’s only one real way to get to the bottom of what is happening, and that would be a federal public inquiry.”
Easter strongly advocated for a comprehensive federal public inquiry with broad powers. “We need a federal public inquiry that can subpoena witnesses, can trace bank accounts, can bring in people internationally, to get to the bottom of this issue.”
Baxendale called for “transparency, national scrutiny, and most of all for Canadians to wake up to the subtle siege under way.” This includes implementing a foreign influence transparency commissioner and a federal registry of beneficial owners.
No one would argue the problems are real and the solutions are just. The problem is, if the corruption runs as deeply as alleged, who will have the political will to properly respond? It will take more whistleblowers, changes in government, and an insistent public to bring accountability.
