A member of Canada’s Parliament testified on Tuesday that high school students from China were transported by bus to vote for him in a party election that is at the center of a federal inquiry into interference in Canadian elections by China and other foreign countries.
Testifying during a public hearing in Ottawa, the Parliament member, Han Dong, a Chinese-Canadian politician formerly from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party, said that he had met and sought the support of the students from a private high school in 2019, but that he did not know who had chartered or paid for the bus on the day of the election.
A Canadian intelligence report disclosed during the hearing said there were indications that a “known proxy agent” of the Chinese Consulate had provided the students “with falsified documents to allow them to vote” even though they did not reside in Mr. Dong’s electoral district.
Noncitizens over the age of 14 can register and vote in party elections as long as they show proof they live in an electoral district.
According to the report, there were also indications that the Chinese Consulate had coerced the students to back Mr. Dong by issuing “veiled threats” related to their visas and their families back in China.
The Chinese Embassy has consistently denied interfering in Canadian politics.
Mr. Dong’s testimony was part of an ongoing federal inquiry into foreign meddling in Canada’s political system, especially the general elections of 2019 and 2021. The inquiry was called after a series of intelligence leaks to the Canadian news media indicated that the Chinese government had interfered in both elections by supporting candidates favorable to its policies and by undermining its critics.
