Will Parliamentary committee investigating Indian foreign interference ask Patrick Brown about his links to China?

When Patrick Brown testifies before a Parliamentary committee investigating foreign interference, his connections to Beijing-backed individuals and groups during the 2022 Conservative Party leadership contest will be a subject of public interest.

But the motion passed by the Standing committee’s members last week only asked him to address Indian interference.

After refusing to appear following an October request by the committee, Brown is now scheduled to testify Thursday, December 5, as part of a summons to answer questions for no less than two hours before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, following evidence of India’s possible interference during the 2022 Conservative leadership campaign when he was a candidate (Brown was eventually disqualified for allegedly breaking rules regarding the payment of campaign workers and how members were supposed to be signed up; he has denied any wrongdoing).

What remains unclear, as the motion to summon him only mentions India, is whether the controversial politician will be asked about his dealings during the campaign with groups and individuals in B.C. linked to the Chinese government.

According to reporting by The Breaker News this past June, following information that had just been released by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians detailing China’s interference in the CPC race, in the spring of 2022 Brown visited Vancouver on at least two occasions. 

He travelled there to engage specific members of the Chinese community including some connected to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the Chinese consulate. At a meeting in April that year organized by a group called the Canada Committee 100 Society (CC 100), Brown met with Ding Guo, the founding president of CC 100, and Victor Oh, the recently retired former Conservative senator widely known for pushing pro-China policies. Brown had said, at the time, that Oh “was like family to me”. The controversial former senator faced widespread criticism in 2020 when he was found to have broken ethics rules, accepting free trips to China while misleading investigators about the nature of the visits.  

The publication reported that in May of 2022, Brown again travelled to Vancouver to meet with the Chinese Canadian Society for Political Engagement (CCSPE), an unregistered third-party entity that advocates for Chinese candidates through both in-person gatherings and social media platforms. Brown was photographed with Yongtao Chen, the honorary chair of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations, and Kong Qingcun, founder of the CCSPE. These organizations and their related networks have been flagged in national security assessments due to their possible involvement in covert activities and their efforts to promote political candidates viewed as friendly to the Chinese government.

Patrick Brown in a group photo during the 2022 CPC leadership campaign along with members of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations and the Chinese Canadian Society for Political Engagement.

(WECHAT)

In June of 2022, The National Post reported that Brown was supported by the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association (CCCA) after pledging that in exchange for their endorsement and efforts to sign up members for him, he would, if elected, take a softer stance on human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party and pull back from more hardline positions the Conservative Party had taken toward China on other issues, which according to the association's spokesperson, Joe Li, had led to the loss of three ridings that had been held by the Party. The organization endorsed Brown after calling for the resignation of Erin O'Toole who was the outgoing leader and had supported tougher measures against China.

Patrick Brown alongside members of the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association which endorsed his candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2022.

(Patrick Brown/X)

It was a turbulent period between the two nations. Canadian nationals Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig had recently been released from Chinese custody after three years in prison following the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Canada.

The June 3 report released by the National Security and Intelligence Committee includes intelligence information about the Chinese government’s interference in CPC leadership races. The report includes intelligence that China’s government “used clandestine networks to conduct foreign interference” in the Greater Vancouver Area and that at least one candidate (it’s not clear in which political race) was the focus of China’s efforts to “leverage its network” of groups and individuals to help the candidate (who is not named). Candidates may have been unaware that governments were working to exploit them and even funnel money to their campaigns.

Similar techniques by India’s government are also detailed in the report. Based on intelligence from 2018 to 2023, China was the biggest foreign interference threat to Canada and India posed the second most significant threat. 

While Brown is scheduled to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Thursday regarding India’s involvement in foreign interference, his connections to China in 2022 have also drawn concern.   

Charles Burton, a former diplomat in Beijing and fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute, told the Post that Brown’s actions in 2022, engaging directly with Beijing-oriented individuals and groups, did not align with Canada’s measured approach to protect the country’s national security. Burton questioned whether Brown fully comprehended the Chinese Communist Party's “United Front” strategy to influence Canadian politics through diaspora groups.

“China’s strategic intent in Canada is severely at odds with our interest,” he stated in a 2023 speech in Parliament.

“I’m concerned,” Burton said in 2022, regarding the individuals and groups Brown made deals with in Vancouver. “To what extent is he aware of China’s strategy inside Canada?”

He criticized the lack of safeguards in Canada to protect our interests in the face of significant interference by China. 

The Security and Intelligence committee has provided disturbing information about the willingness of some politicians to pursue support from diaspora communities, without realizing how they are being exploited in ways that could jeopardize national security and Canada’s more immediate economic interests.

Brown has admitted publicly for years, including during the 2022 CPC leadership campaign, that his strategy for election relies almost exclusively on convincing diaspora communities to vote for him. He said his focus was to sell thousands of party memberships in the Chinese, Muslim, Tamil, Indian, Filipino and Nepalese communities. 

He has been heavily criticized for making empty promises around religious rights, symbolic support for causes important to diaspora groups and more reckless commitments that highlight his ignorance toward national security and economic interests. In 2022 he told Arab-Canadians he would not move the Canadian embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, in support of the position backed by most Muslim residents in the area. After Jewish groups and Conservatives found out about his claims to the Arab community in Canada, he quickly flip-flopped. (Many Jewish people view Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel while many Arab-Muslims feel locating Israel-based embassies there disregards Palestinian claims to Jerusalem as their capital.) 

Brown’s promises to Chinese communities in 2022 also drew criticism, for quietly pandering to members for votes while showing little regard for carefully decided national policies aligned with Canadian values and interests.

The Security and Intelligence report revealed that some Chinese media outlets in Canada reflect the narratives of China’s state-controlled media, and that many in Canada are affiliated with the Communist government’s United Front Work Department through partnerships with the China News Service, which plays a critical role in foreign interference. 

Brown was promoted in some Chinese media outlets in 2022 when he was endorsed by the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association after telling the organization he would take a more pro-China stance, if elected. 

Lynette H. Ong, an associate professor of political science at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, discussed the operational role of the United Front group with the House of Commons standing committee. She noted that since 2015, the group's prominence and influence have been revitalized and enhanced, as its strategy involves forming alliances with political candidates viewed as the underdog to defeat stronger opponents often more aligned with Canada’s traditional policies toward China.

"The Chinese Communist Party's, the CCP's, United Front strategy is premised on the idea of uniting with lesser enemies to defeat greater ones," she said.

In 2022, Burton found content on Chinese instant messaging platform WeChat that encouraged Canadians to vote for Brown instead of Pierre Poilievre, the clear frontrunner who was described as “anti-Chinese”.

Kenny Chiu, a former Conservative MP who believes he lost his seat partly due to his criticism of China, told the Post in 2022 that Brown’s deals with groups connected to Beijing “indicates at best that he is ignorant about the infiltration and controlling of thoughts and speech that the Chinese Communists have in Canada”.

Mehmet Tohti, executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, raised concerns about the Chinese government's role in Canada, alleging that it deploys agents and surrogates to provide financial support and other resources, including trips and “honey traps” to political candidates targeted as being vulnerable to exploitation.

“[N]ot only in Brampton right now…if you travel by car to the west coast of Canada and some small towns in British Columbia and Kamloops and some other places, there are a lot of properties purchased [with support] by the Chinese government…far from public scrutiny, far from media coverage”. 

He says municipal politics which operates outside the party system that has more safeguards can be fertile ground for foreign interference.

"And also mayoral candidates… open to that kind of influence by engaging with certain individuals at the federal and provincial levels who are known for their association with the Chinese Communist Party.”

He said the Chinese government might provide trips through its networks, to be “used when the time comes" as leverage.

Brown has, perhaps unwittingly, admitted to being susceptible to this. Regarding how he paid for some of his travel to India when he was an MP and banned from officially sanctioned travel for previous unauthorized trips he took to the country, he wrote in his 2018 memoir: “I was now being placed on the official travel ban list for one year. This did not mean I wasn’t technically allowed to travel for official purposes. I was, that is, technically speaking. However, it meant that government wouldn’t pay. That wasn’t so bad, either. I mean, I knew I could get the Indian organizations (which the Indian Prime Minister, a close friend of Brown’s, had connected him to) to sponsor my flights.” 

Tohti says if Brown had been drawn in by the United Front, even unknowingly, that could pose a threat to Canadian sovereignty.

"The United Front is the arms and legs of the Chinese Communist Party. It is one organ of the Chinese Communist Party. If so, if you are engaged with the direct arms of the Chinese Communist Party, and you are, you are putting yourself in a vulnerable position.

"And you are risking your independence…your loyalty as a Canadian politician."

Mehmet Tohti, executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, says municipal politics can be fertile ground for foreign interference.

(Supplied)

He told The Pointer how pro-Chinese influencers and surrogates supported by organizations like the United Front often align with Beijing's narratives, avoiding critical issues like the Uyghur genocide. “They are playing with words and repeating the official narrative from Beijing. That is the whole intent, right.” 

He also pointed to the example of Markham, where a Shein warehouse expansion for China’s huge e-commerce platform that sells mostly fast-fashion, one of the largest distribution hubs in North America, has raised concerns about bypassing American rules aimed at preventing forced labour in China. “China is now using the warehouse in Markham for Shein as the front door here,” Tohti alleged, warning that Canada is being exploited as a “back channel” for activities associated with Chinese interests.

Opportunistic politicians like Brown, who make quick campaign deals just to get elected, often don’t contemplate how potentially damaging their behaviour is, he said.

The Pointer reached out to MPs Iqwinder Gaheer, Randeep Sarai and Jennifer O'Connell, committee members who voted last week to summon Brown to testify in Ottawa on Thursday, to find out if they will be able to question him about the deals he made with Chinese groups in Vancouver during the 2022 CPC campaign, but they did not respond ahead of publication. 

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