MPs vote to launch study into China's 'intimidation campaign' against Michael Chong
CTV
The House of Commons has unanimously agreed that a committee should strike a study into the 'intimidation campaign' allegedly orchestrated by a now-expelled Chinese diplomat against Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family.
The House of Commons has unanimously agreed that a committee should strike a study into the "intimidation campaign" allegedly orchestrated by a now-expelled Chinese diplomat against Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family.
Debate on the motion to see the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) take on this probe took priority in the House over the last few days, after House Speaker Anthony Rota found that Chong's parliamentary privileges were breached as a result of the alleged targeting. The vote was held after question period on Wednesday, and passed with all-party support.
Last week, Chong said that intelligence officials confirmed to him that he and his family had been targeted by Chinese consular official Wei Zhao in retaliation for a motion he moved in the House in February 2021 condemning Beijing's treatment of Uyghur Muslims, as first reported in the Globe and Mail.
"The Chair agrees that the matter raised by the member, that is that a foreign entity tried to intervene in the conduct of our proceedings through a retaliatory scheme targeting him and his family, squarely touches upon the privileges and immunities that underpin our collective ability to carry out our parliamentary duties unimpeded," Rota said in his Monday ruling.
The Speaker finding that the matter amounted to an attempt to interfere in parliamentary proceedings paved the way for Chong to put forward the motion asking that the case of "prima facie contempt concerning the intimidation campaign" be referred to PROC for further scrutiny.
With debate on this issue taking centre stage, numerous MPs have had the opportunity to rise in the House and put on record their own concerns about the threat Chinese-based foreign interference is posing to Canada and what more the federal government should be doing about it.
"I am very comforted by the fact that Parliament has risen to the occasion to take on its role in defending members of the House when the executive branch of government has failed. I hope when the Procedure and House Affairs Committee examines this matter they will look at the totality of evidence that got us to this place," Chong said responding to the Speaker's ruling.
