Liberals Replace Candidate Embroiled in Election Interference Scandal with Board Member of School Flagged in Canada’s Election Interference Inquiry

Sam Cooper

Retired Toronto Police Deputy Chief Peter Yuen, who joined the board last year of a Chinese international school in Markham flagged in testimony on foreign interference in a neighboring riding in 2019, has been named the new Liberal candidate in Markham–Unionville. He replaces Paul Chiang, who resigned last week amid an RCMP review into controversial remarks suggesting a Conservative opponent could be handed to Chinese officials for a bounty.

The appointment places Yuen—now a central figure in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s campaign—at the center of a riding already under scrutiny in Canada’s evolving foreign interference investigation.

Paul Chiang, a former Markham police officer who unseated longtime Conservative representative Bob Saroya to win Markham–Unionville for Team Trudeau in 2021, stepped down as the Liberal candidate after the RCMP confirmed it was reviewing remarks he made to Chinese-language media in January 2025. During that event, Chiang reportedly suggested that Conservative candidate Joe Tay—a Canadian citizen wanted under Hong Kong’s National Security Law—could be taken to the Chinese Consulate in Toronto to claim a bounty.

In choosing another Chinese Canadian police veteran, the Liberals appear poised to reassure diaspora voters rattled by Chiang’s exit. Yuen, who immigrated from Hong Kong in 1975 and rose to lead Toronto Police’s community outreach and diversity programs before retiring in 2022, brings deep ties to both the Hong Kong diaspora and the mainland Chinese community in Markham—connections that may stir further controversy.

Videos and a report posted on the Toronto Chinese Consulate’s website show that in 2018, Peter Yuen attended a gala hosted by the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations—an association with direct ties to the Chinese Consulate and Beijing’s United Front Work Department. During the event, which featured remarks from China’s Toronto Consul General to Yuen and other Canadian politicians, Yuen stood beside a prominent Markham community leader known for attending high-level United Front meetings in Beijing with President Xi Jinping, and sang the patriotic song My Chinese Heart.

In August 2024, Peter Yuen joined the board of NOIC Academy in Markham, an educational institution that came under scrutiny during Ottawa’s Foreign Interference Inquiry. CBC News and The Globe and Mail reported in April 2024 that testimony at the Hogue Commission—tasked with investigating foreign interference in Canada’s 2019 federal election—revealed that CSIS had flagged irregularities involving NOIC Academy students in the neighboring Don Valley North riding.

According to The Globe, allegations tied to NOIC appeared in a declassified summary of CSIS intelligence released during the inquiry. “Intelligence reported after the election indicated that veiled threats were issued by the (People’s Republic of China) Consulate to the Chinese international students,” the summary stated. The intelligence further suggested that “their student visas would be in jeopardy and that there could be consequences for their families back in the PRC” if they did not vote for a particular Don Valley North candidate.

Don Valley North, the riding that neighbors Markham–Unionville, is where Joe Tay is running for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party in this election.

NOIC announced Yuen’s appointment in an August 2024 statement, writing: “The former Deputy Chief for the Toronto Police Service joined the management team of NOIC Academy officially just last week.” The school added: “Before Peter joined, NOIC’s Advisory Committee was composed of ‘literati’ (educators), but this time a ‘general’ was ushered in.”

The academy, which educates international students from China, further highlighted Yuen’s leadership background: “Deputy Yuen was in charge of Community Safety Command which provides proactive and reactive public safety services and programs in partnership with diverse communities and key stakeholders.”

Joe Tay, a former Hong Kong broadcaster whose independent reporting from Canada drew retaliation from Beijing, issued a statement last week rejecting Paul Chiang’s apology for the bounty remarks, calling them “the tradecraft of the Chinese Communist Party.” He added: “They are not just aimed at me; they are intended to send a chilling signal to the entire community to force compliance with Beijing’s political goals.”

His concerns were echoed by dozens of NGOs and human rights organizations, which condemned Chiang’s comments as an endorsement of transnational repression.

Even after Chiang’s resignation, Prime Minister Mark Carney faced renewed scrutiny for expressing confidence in him just hours before the RCMP announced its investigation. Carney characterized the controversy as a “teachable moment”—a stance that drew sharp criticism.

The Durham Regional Police Association—which represents officers in one of the three Ontario forces where Chiang served—issued a statement condemning Carney’s actions. “We are disappointed in the clear lack of integrity and leadership displayed by Mark Carney to stand by this candidate rather than act after such egregious actions,” the association wrote, adding that Chiang’s conduct “would be held to a higher standard for an active officer in Ontario.”

The group also rejected Carney’s defense of Chiang’s law enforcement background: “The fact that Mr. Carney used Chiang’s policing career as a shield for his actions undermines the great work our heroes in uniform do in their communities each and every day.”

Chiang’s resignation and Yuen’s sudden elevation now place the spotlight squarely on Markham–Unionville—setting the stage for one of the most closely watched races in the coming election.

Come back to The Bureau for continued reporting on Canada’s election.

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Related Topics:#MarkCarney #TheBureau feature LiberalsElectionInterferenece PaulChiang PeterYuen SamCooper

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2025 Federal Election

Poilievre to invest in recovery, cut off federal funding for opioids and defund drug dens

Published on April 7, 2025

Todayville

From Conservative Party Communications

Poilievre will Make Recovery a Reality for 50,000 Canadians

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pledged he will bring the hope that our vulnerable Canadians need by expanding drug recovery programs, creating 50,000 new opportunities for Canadians seeking freedom from addiction. At the same time, he will stop federal funding for opioids, defund federal drug dens, and ensure that any remaining sites do not operate within 500 meters of schools, daycares, playgrounds, parks and seniors’ homes, and comply with strict new oversight rules that focus on pathways to treatment.

More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to fentanyl since 2015—more Canadians than died in the Second World War. Poilievre pledged to open a path to recovery while cracking down on the radical Liberal experiment with free access to illegal drugs that has made the crisis worse and brought disorder to local communities.

Specifically, Poilievre will:

Fund treatment for 50,000 Canadians. A new Conservative government will fund treatment for 50,000 Canadians in treatment centres with a proven record of success at getting people off drugs. This includes successful models like the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, which helps people recover and reunite with their families, communities, and culture. To ensure the best outcomes, funding will follow results. Where spaces in good treatment programs exist, we will use them, and where they need to expand, these funds will allow that.
Ban drug dens from being located within 500 metres of schools, daycares, playgrounds, parks, and seniors’ homes and impose strict new oversight rules. Poilievre also pledged to crack down on the Liberals’ reckless experiments with free access to illegal drugs that allow provinces to operate drug sites with no oversight, while pausing any new federal exemptions until evidence justifies they support recovery. Existing federal sites will be required to operate away from residential communities and places where families and children frequent and will now also have to focus on connecting users with treatment, meet stricter regulatory standards or be shut down. He will also end the exemption for fly-by-night provincially-regulated sites.

“After the Lost Liberal Decade, Canada’s addiction crisis has spiralled out of control,” said Poilievre. “Families have been torn apart while children have to witness open drug use and walk through dangerous encampments to get to school. Canadians deserve better than the endless Liberal cycle of crime, despair, and death.”

Since the Liberals were first elected in 2015, our once-safe communities have become sordid and disordered, while more and more Canadians have been lost to the dangerous drugs the Liberals have flooded into our streets. In British Columbia, where the Liberals decriminalized dangerous drugs like fentanyl and meth, drug overdose deaths increased by 200 percent.

The Liberals also pursued a radical experiment of taxpayer-funded hard drugs, which are often diverted and resold to children and other vulnerable Canadians. The Vancouver Police Department has said that roughly half of all hydromorphone seizures were diverted from this hard drugs program, while the Waterloo Regional Police Service and Niagara Regional Police Service said that hydromorphone seizures had exploded by 1,090% and 1,577%, respectively.

Despite the death and despair that is now common on our streets, bizarrely Mark Carney told a room of Liberal supporters that 50,000 fentanyl deaths in Canada is not “a crisis.” He also hand-picked a Liberal candidate who said the Liberals “would be smart to lean into drug decriminalization” and another who said “legalizing all drugs would be good for Canada.”

Carney’s star candidate Gregor Robertson, an early advocate of decriminalization and so-called safe supply, wanted drug dens imposed on communities without any consultation or public safety considerations. During his disastrous tenure as Vancouver Mayor, overdoses increased by 600%.

Alberta has pioneered an approach that offers real hope by adopting a recovery-focused model of care, leading to a nearly 40 percent reduction in drug-poisoning deaths since 2023—three times the decrease seen in British Columbia. However, we must also end the Liberal drug policies that have worsened the crisis and harmed countless lives and families.

To fund this policy, a Conservative government will stop federal funding for opioids, defund federal drug dens, and sue the opioid manufacturers and consulting companies who created this crisis in the first place.

“Canadians deserve better than the Liberal cycle of crime, despair, and death,” said Poilievre. “We will treat addiction with compassion and accountability—not with more taxpayer-funded poison. We will turn hurt into hope by shutting down drug dens, restoring order in our communities, funding real recovery, and bringing our loved ones home drug-free.”

2025 Federal Election

Mark Carney Comes to B.C. and Delivers a Masterclass in Liberal Arrogance

Published on April 7, 2025

Todayville

Dan Knight

With no plan for jobs, rising tariffs, or economic growth, Carney mocks the provinces fighting to survive and promises more cash for CBC and the green grift that’s already made Canadians poorer.

https://youtu.be/vMYIva1Gho8?t=466

In this video with added commentary: Liberal leader Mark Carney campaigns in Victoria, B.C., pitching his vision for Canada as a “clean energy superpower,” while mocking Conservative premiers, Because nothing says unifying the country then taking shots at Premiere Smith for trying to protect the people in her province

Mark Carney rolled into Victoria this week with the swagger of a man who’s never missed a wine-and-cheese reception in his life and delivered what the Liberal brain trust likely considers a “bold vision” for Canada. But peel back the banker buzzwords and Churchill cosplay, and what you really got was a cringeworthy display of delusion, detachment, and recycled globalist dogma.

He opened his mouth and immediately signaled his marching orders: “clean energy.” Not once. Not twice. It was practically every other sentence. Because when you’re out of ideas, just say “green transition” on repeat and hope nobody checks the receipts.

He’s not just pushing the same failed Liberal climate ideology—he’s doubling down on it.

Carney promised to turn Canada into a “clean energy superpower”—without explaining how, exactly, we get there when his party has spent years shutting down oil and gas, blocking pipelines, and handing our resource wealth to the Americans.

This wasn’t new policy. It was the same Liberal fantasy that has already gutted Alberta, choked investment, and driven electricity prices through the roof—just ask Europe how that’s going. And when it comes to reopening auto plants or restoring manufacturing jobs? Nothing. Not a plan, not a word, not a clue.

And don’t worry—when Trump’s tariffs hit our industries, Carney says we’ll respond with “retaliatory tariffs.” Sounds tough, until you remember who actually pays those. Working Canadians. Line workers. Parts manufacturers. People trying to keep the lights on while Ottawa plays global economic chicken.

Carney’s big idea for recovery? Just keep handing money to the Liberal-connected elite.

He promised to “give back”—and by that, he means pouring another $180 million into the CBC, the same taxpayer-funded mouthpiece that’s been running interference for the Liberals for nearly a decade. This comes after ArriveCAN, the $60 million QR code boondoggle funneled through Liberal contractors, and countless other slush funds masquerading as “public service.”

While the working class is bracing for a made-in-Ottawa recession, Carney’s pledging more green slogans, more centralized control, and more taxpayer money to keep the illusion alive.

And then there’s the unity bit—because you can’t forget the performance.

Because what does he do? He mocks the very premiers who are trying to protect their provinces from economic disaster. He takes a smug swipe at Doug Ford, suggesting he’s more useful for a media hit on Fox News than an actual negotiation. And then he goes after Danielle Smith, cracking a joke—“maybe we won’t send Danielle”—while grinning at his own punchline.

But what he’s actually mocking is Smith’s attempt to negotiate directly with the United States—to defend Alberta’s energy industry and send a clear message: if you tariff Alberta oil, it’s not just Canada that suffers. It’s mutual assured destruction.

You’d think a serious leader would applaud that kind of assertiveness. But not Carney. Because in his world, provinces aren’t partners—they’re pawns.

He’s not interested in standing shoulder-to-shoulder with premiers fighting for their people. He’s interested in lecturing them, in putting them in their place, in showing that only Ottawa—and more specifically, he—has the pedigree to stand on the global stage.

And look at the bigger picture. GDP per capita—your share of national prosperity—has flatlined. The U.S. has surged ahead, while Canadians are working harder, earning less, and being told it’s all necessary for “the transition.”

And Carney isn’t here to change course. He’s here to protect the machine. The same machine that wrecked your job prospects, killed your home ownership dreams, and told your province to get back in line while Ottawa runs the show.

The Liberals know they can’t campaign on their record. So now they’re campaigning on fear. Fear of Trump. Fear of populism. Fear of anyone who doesn’t bow to the global consensus.

But Canadians don’t need more fear. They need their economy back. Their energy back. Their freedom back.

Carney isn’t offering change. He’s offering more control, more slogans, and more power for the same insiders who broke this country in the first place. He’s not here to fix anything. He’s here to manage the wreckage—so long as it keeps paying dividends to the people in boardrooms, not backyards.

But Canadians are waking up.

We’re done being told to sit down while our jobs disappear, our provinces are mocked, our industries are dismantled, and our voices are silenced. We’re done funding failure. We’re done pretending decline is progress.

It’s time to stop the decay.
It’s time to take back this country.
I’m voting blue. Are you?

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