Sam Cooper

Global Affairs Canada stated it “deplores the decision by Hong Kong authorities to punish people for actions that amount to nothing more than freedom of expression.”

Ottawa has “raised its strong concerns directly with both Chinese and Hong Kong authorities” and is monitoring the circumstances surrounding the detention and interrogation of family members of former Conservative election candidate Joe Tay in Hong Kong, Canada’s national intelligence agency confirmed to The Bureau today.

“Global Affairs Canada is aware of Mr. Tay’s family members being called in for questioning in Hong Kong. They are tracking the situation closely, and are in contact with Mr. Tay,” a CSIS spokesperson said.

The federal government issued a rare public rebuke, with Global Affairs Canada stating it “deplores the decision by Hong Kong authorities to punish people for actions that amount to nothing more than freedom of expression.”

“It is unacceptable that Hong Kong authorities have placed a bounty on the head of a Canadian citizen,” the CSIS statement added. “Issuing threats and intimidation against a Canadian citizen is transnational repression and will not be tolerated.”

Questioned by The Bureau on the circumstances surrounding the 2025 federal election, CSIS added that “in particular, when intelligence collected spoke to a threat to the safety of any candidate, CSIS shares this information with all relevant law enforcement partners.”

The confirmation of Hong Kong’s actions against Tay’s family follows The Bureau’s reporting that Hong Kong police detained his cousin and the man’s wife for questioning on Thursday in the Fo Tan district. The incident—deemed credible by Canadian and diplomatic sources—appears to be a targeted act of intimidation tied to Tay’s high-profile candidacy in the 2025 federal election.

Tay, 62, ran as a Conservative candidate in Don Valley North and lost by approximately 5,000 votes. He was heavily targeted by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence networks during the election, with PRC-linked WeChat accounts spreading disinformation and narratives portraying Canada as a “refuge for fugitives” if he were elected.

As The Bureau previously revealed, the RCMP advised Tay to suspend in-person campaigning in the final week due to credible threats. The SITE Task Force assessed that Tay was subject to a coordinated foreign interference campaign and broader transnational repression effort.

The rhetoric used to discredit Tay was later echoed by Liberal MP Paul Chiang, who was supported by Prime Minister Mark Carney during the campaign. Chiang’s re-election bid collapsed after The Bureau confirmed that the RCMP had opened a national security review. The RCMP told The Bureau it has opened an investigation into the matter but would not provide further details.

The detentions of Tay’s relatives occurred just 48 hours after Prime Minister Carney’s closed-door meeting in Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.

That Beijing appears determined to continue persecuting Tay’s family—even after his electoral defeat—signals a broader strategic aim and presents an early and consequential test for Carney, who campaigned on defending Canadian sovereignty while opposing Trump’s tariff regime. The timing—days after Carney’s White House meeting—suggests Beijing may be probing Ottawa’s resolve under new leadership.

In their statement, CSIS and Global Affairs Canada warned that transnational repression and foreign interference remain pervasive threats inside Canada, with CSIS and the RCMP dedicating significant resources to countering these efforts. They confirmed that during the 2025 election, the SITE Task Force monitored candidate safety, advised the government, and took active steps to mitigate threats.

CSIS also confirmed that SITE will publish a public post-election report summarizing the threat landscape, interference patterns, and actions taken during the writ period.

The Bureau has previously documented Beijing’s use of family-based intimidation as part of its global enforcement strategy. On April 10, 2025, The Bureau confirmed that the parents of Hong Kong activist Frances Hui were detained by Hong Kong national security police after Hui testified before Canada’s Parliament. Hui, now based in the United States, was previously followed and threatened by an alleged PRC agent who was later indicted—but not convicted—by U.S. authorities.

Tay’s case fits that pattern. The Bureau has learned that a report reviewed by Toronto police during the campaign included a stalking threat involving Tay’s team.

The formal charges against Tay were issued by Hong Kong police in December 2024. According to official documents reviewed by The Bureau, Tay—born 12 December 1962—was charged with incitement to secession and collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security. Authorities allege that between July 2020 and June 2024, Tay operated a platform called HongKonger Station, through which he published “numerous videos inciting secession” and “repeatedly urged foreign countries to impose sanctions” on officials in Beijing and Hong Kong.

The SITE Task Force confirmed these charges were amplified by PRC intelligence-linked media during the Canadian election in an effort to delegitimize Tay and portray his candidacy as a threat to the PRC.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to note the defendant in the Frances Hui case was not convicted.

CCSA leader Joe Li, bottom right, attends an event in Toronto with former Conservative senator Victor Oh, top right, CTCCO leader Wei Chengyi, back center, former Don Valley North Liberal MP Geng Tan, top left, and former Markham-area MP and Trudeau cabinet minister John McCallum, between Tan and Wei.

Sam Cooper

Call for Poilievre to step down follows pattern of strategic diaspora messaging amid national security scrutiny over foreign interference networks

A controversial diaspora pressure group with ties to Chinese consular circles in Toronto is demanding that Pierre Poilievre step down, following an election marked by Beijing’s attacks on Conservative candidates, and renewing the same type of challenge it posed to former leader Erin O’Toole, which first drew national security attention after the 2021 federal contest.

On May 12, the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association (CCCA), led by York Region councillor Joe Li, publicly called for Pierre Poilievre to step down following the Conservative Party’s defeat in the recent federal election. At a small press event in Markham, the group denounced Poilievre’s plan to run in an anticipated Calgary by-election—after his surprising loss of his longtime Ottawa riding—as undemocratic and fiscally wasteful. Li’s comments echoed a similar event in 2021, when he called for Erin O’Toole’s resignation after another disappointing election result.

Both campaigns unfolded amid persistent evidence of foreign interference, including disinformation and alleged intimidation operations targeting Chinese Canadian voters and Conservative candidates.

Founded in 1983 to encourage civic engagement among Chinese Canadians, the CCCA has no formal ties to the federal Conservative Party. But its political messaging—delivered through Chinese-language media and tightly networked community forums—has intersected with meetings involving Chinese officials and Toronto community leaders under national security scrutiny.

Li has often appeared alongside former Liberal MP Paul Chiang, whose election efforts were supported by the CCCA.

Li and the group’s latest demand for Poilievre’s resignation came just days after the election, with Li telling Chinese-language media that Poilievre had failed. “Don’t waste money on a by-election,” a translated report from the CCCA event says. “Respect democracy and step down, Pierre Poilievre.”

The post-election comments from the CCCA echo earlier criticism directed at O’Toole, who, like Poilievre, was portrayed in Chinese-language media as unfriendly to China—and by extension, to the Chinese Canadian community.

The CCCA’s call also drew attention for its timing, coming as Conservatives prepared for a by-election in the reliably Conservative riding of Battle River–Crowfoot. The group’s message that Poilievre’s gambit is wasteful and undemocratic demonstrates a sophistication, because these arguments are also circulating in mainstream punditry, where Poilievre is now facing internal leadership questions following his failure to defeat the widely unpopular Liberal government. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau, was notably boosted by Chinese disinformation portraying him as Canada’s best hope to resist Donald Trump’s global tariff regime—a narrative that clearly aligned with Beijing’s geopolitical interests.

Li and the CCCA, while consistently supportive of Paul Chiang, also played a visible role in discrediting Conservative candidate Joseph Tay.

Li unsuccessfully sought the Conservative nomination this year in Markham–Unionville—positioning himself against Tay.

Tay, a prominent Hong Kong activist, ultimately ran as the Conservative candidate in Don Valley North. Paul Chiang—a former York Region police officer—reportedly said during the campaign that Tay “could be handed over to the Chinese consulate,” a remark interpreted by Tay and international human rights groups as threatening. The Bureau previously confirmed that the RCMP advised Tay to suspend in-person campaigning due to credible safety concerns. Tay ultimately lost the race by about 5,000 votes.

Li’s takedown of Poilievre marks a reversal from 2023, when Poilievre reportedly reached out to Li’s group and other pro-Beijing community leaders—apparently in an effort to soften the party’s perceived stance toward China and distance himself from Erin O’Toole, his predecessor. According to the National Post, one of the organizers and the man who introduced Poilievre was Joe Li, “the regional councillor who harshly criticized the tough China policies proposed in the Conservatives’ 2021 election platform, suggesting Canada should not publicly confront Beijing on human rights.”

Quoting former CSIS China Desk officer Michel Juneau-Katsuya—who has direct experience investigating Toronto consular networks that overlap with the CCCA—the Post wrote: “You know what that means?” asked Juneau-Katsuya. “It means the Chinese have successfully scared and bullied the Conservatives.”

If this network is now targeting Poilievre on behalf of external forces—and if that effort represents a continuation of interference seen during the election campaign—there has yet to be any public confirmation.

Earlier, the SITE Task Force tracked coordinated disinformation targeting Tay, including narratives suggesting Canada would become a “refuge for fugitives” if he were elected. Paul Chiang echoed those remarks. In a statement to The Bureau yesterday, CSIS confirmed that Tay’s family members were detained in Hong Kong after the election—an act Canadian authorities assessed as transnational political pressure.

At a CCCA press conference earlier this year, which appeared closely tied to the Chiang–Tay controversy, the group accused both major parties of bypassing diaspora input and “directly appointing candidates without consulting community groups or even party members.”

Public records and Chinese-language media show CCCA members have attended events with officials from the People’s Republic of China and leaders of the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO). One of CTCCO’s honorary chairs, businessman Wei Chengyi, along with other group leaders, has been under RCMP investigation for alleged involvement in China’s overseas “police station” operations. Wei Chengyi and CTCCO have, through statements in Chinese media, denied any involvement in Chinese interference in Canada. More recently, according to a report from The Globe and Mail citing FINTRAC disclosures, TD Bank reportedly closed CTCCO’s accounts, citing concerns over money laundering and foreign interference.

Former CSIS officer Michel Juneau-Katsuya has identified Wei and CTCCO as key players in pro-Beijing propaganda efforts in Canada, including support for Confucius Institutes in Ontario schools. These institutes were designated by the U.S. State Department as arms of the Chinese state.

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole revealed in 2023 he had been briefed by CSIS on PRC attempts to attack his leadership through operations funded by the United Front Work Department. According to O’Toole, his party witnessed what appeared to be active efforts to suppress the Conservative vote in Chinese communities. The tactics included disinformation on WeChat, whisper campaigns portraying Conservative MPs as anti-China, and potential intimidation of Conservative incumbent Bob Saroya in the Markham area, according to senior party sources.

By 2025, these tactics had apparently evolved from online influence to publicly confirmed transnational coercion—reaching into diaspora communities and Canadian elections through threats, arrests, and reputational attacks, as seen in the case of Joseph Tay.

Ottawa has “raised its strong concerns directly with both Chinese and Hong Kong authorities” and is monitoring the circumstances surrounding the detention of family members of former Conservative election candidate Joe Tay in Hong Kong, CSIS confirmed to The Bureau.

“They are tracking the situation closely, and are in contact with Mr. Tay,” a spokesperson for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said.

Global Affairs Canada stated it “deplores the decision by Hong Kong authorities to punish people for actions that amount to nothing more than freedom of expression.”