Several Toronto-area business people aligned in various ways with the Chinese government were among guests who paid close to $2,000 to attend a Liberal party fundraiser with Prime Minister Mark Carney last month. Article content
The attendees included individuals and groups that have won praise from Chinese diplomats and agencies, echoed Beijing’s talking points on contentious issues and worked with Chinese Communist Party (CPP) organizations.
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Co-hosted by local MP Michael Ma, the dinner attracted attention even before it began. Ma crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals in December 2025, then drew controversy last month by pointedly challenging parliamentary testimony about the well-documented phenomenon of forced labour in China.
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The Liberals are not alone in their interactions with pro-China figures here. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre sat next to a prominent Beijing ally at a party-organized community-outreach event in 2023, while Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown was endorsed by a Toronto group and a then-senator aligned with Beijing when he ran for the Tory leadership in 2022.
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But Fung said the recent dinner came as China-boosting forces seem to be stepping up their influence efforts. A recent letter urged Chinese Canadians to support the Liberals as they pursue “friendly cooperation between Canada and China.” It was signed by 36 groups, including two that espouse “reunification” of China and Taiwan, a key policy goal of Beijing. Most residents of Taiwan, a self-governing island that has never been part of the People’s Republic, oppose such a merger.
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Meanwhile, a new organization, Canadians United Against Modern Exclusion, has emerged to oppose government plans for a foreign-influence registry and other products of what it calls “foreign interference hysteria,” while evoking a law that excluded immigrants from China – and was repealed almost 80 years ago.
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The [Liberal] party has a fraught history with wealthy members of the Chinese-Canadian community in the Toronto and Vancouver areas. The Liberals faced a barrage of criticism when word got out in 2016 that Trudeau had held a series of fundraisers at the homes of rich donors. Some guests had business with government, others had ties to the Chinese state, prompting cash-for-access accusations.
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The Liberals eventually responded by introducing rules around fundraising events that they say are more stringent than those of any other party.
The episode was embodied by a photo taken at one of the events in a private home, depicting smiling donors hovering around the then-prime minister as he learned how to make Chinese dumplings.
Next to Trudeau in the widely distributed picture was businesswoman Jenny Qi, who has participated in events of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a Communist Party-controlled advisory body.
Qi was at last month’s event, too, a photograph in a Chinese-language article on the dinner showing her handing the current prime minister a business card.
She is head of the Canadian Confederation of Shenzhen Associations, which among other activities has hosted an “Innovation and Entrepreneurship International Competition” in Toronto designed to connect entrepreneurs here with companies in Shenzhen. The confederation promotes “peaceful reunification” of China and Taiwan, a key goal of Chinese President Xi Jinping but opposed by most Taiwanese, the group’s website says. And it is recognized by the Shenzhen section of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, a branch of the United Front Work Department, a huge agency of the CCP charged in part with extending the country’s influence worldwide. Qi has taken part in Shenzhen regional events of the party’s CPPCC.
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The fundraiser also drew former and current directors of the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO) and the National Congress of Chinese Canadians (NCCC), both groups with a long history of echoing Beijing’s position on controversial issues. The CTCCO was even praised by Beijing’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office – now part of the UFWD – for its China support.
Treating the envoys of a nation built upon dictatorship, forced labor, foreign psyops and election interference, and militaristic expansion as enemies is not “shallow”.
Ok, if you want to play that game I am openly accusing you here of directly financially supporting a nation built upon racism, wannabe fascism, election interference and militaristic expansion. We should treat you as an enemy?
You didn’t specify a nation so I’m going to assume you’re talking about the USA?
In that case:
Following the civil war, non-prisoner slavery was banned in the USA and reparations began, including the Civil Rights Act of 1873. In 1964 the USA passed a Civil Rights Act outlawing discrimination in employment, housing, and in all publicly accessible facilities on basis of Race, Color, Religion, Sex, or National Origin. It also prevents discrimination based on association with those groups as well as employment discrimination on basis of age, pregnancy, or disability (as long as the individual is still qualified to work).
The USA fought the Nazis and the Japanese Empire and won both times, they’re basically Antifa as a nation.
That’s fair, the CIA have done some wild shit in the past century as part of the ongoing cold war between USA and USSR/Russia and CCP as well as their proxies such as Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba, Indonesia, and others.
The USA haven’t claimed land since 1959 when Hawaii joined as a state. They’ve actually given up a lot of territories as places like the Philippines, Cook Islands, Guam, and the Panama Canal were decolonized.
But TBH, the current Trump admin that the Chinese Election Interference helped put in power is an adversary so if you’re from a free nation you should treat their spokespeople as enemies. Furthermore, if my ass walked into Chinese Parlaiment then those authoritarian fucks better damn well treat me as their enemy: because I absolutely am.
I’m pretty sure we’re generally on the same team, so I don’t really want to toe to toe with you, but goddamn … you’ve got some rose colored glasses on. Just as an example - for number 1, China has paper laws that protect the same marginalized groups it clearly oppresses…just like the USA. Number 2? You’re just choosing to live in the past? That America is gone, and it’s not just MAGA’s fault.
Some American oligarch coming to Canada and currying favour is just as bad, if not worse (due to current circumstances) than a Chinese party member.
That is to say shit is fucked all over, and we probably should not be doing the same thing America did (politics by fear and “othering”)
I’m glad you at least admit that the Chinese attending this Canadian political fundraiser is fucked up, thank you.
They’re not Chinese. They’re pro-Chinese Canadians. Like when pro-US, pro-UK, pro-Israel, pro-Australia Canadians attend such lobbying events. I’d be happy to make such events illegal but they’re not. Painting the pro-Chinese ones with the scare brush tho is something else, while not doing the same for the pro-Americans. Especially now.
Also assuming our Chinese pop as proportion is a tad larger than the US’es. ~4.7% to ~1.5%.
Your only defence of the horrible dictatorship is whataboutism.
Whataboutism is when double-standard is being pointed out.
Either way I don’t think you’ll find a lot of agreement here with your stance these days but feel free to share your opinions.
You bringing the USA into a discussion of Chinese proponents in Canadian Politics is not “pointing out a double standard”. Furthermore, I cited examples of how the USA isn’t nearly as reprehensible as China and your only reply was to deny any wrongdoing by China and continue to shift the discussion away from them.