Howard Shen, a senior Liberal organizer and former president of the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada—now under scrutiny after Prime Minister Mark Carney falsely denied meeting the group during his January leadership campaign—is seen in a pandemic-era video delivering PPE alongside Liberal MP Majid Jowhari to the council’s president, Rui Jiang, in what appears to be a Chinese Communist Party–coordinated operation.
It is one of many concrete pieces of evidence emerging from a years-long investigation by The Bureau into the JCCC’s structure and leadership, exposing a significant overlap between this pro-Beijing business group and the Liberal Party of Canada itself.
After The Bureau first revealed that Peter Yuen, Mark Carney’s handpicked Liberal candidate to replace Paul Chiang in Markham–Unionville, had ties to pro-Beijing networks in Toronto, The Globe and Mail confirmed that Yuen held the title of honorary director of the JCCC, a group with documented links to Beijing’s United Front Work Department. The Bureau’s review of the JCCC’s activities suggests it functions as an elite platform for the Chinese Communist Party’s overseas trade messaging inside Canada.
While campaigning to replace scandal-weakened Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney met with JCCC leaders during a high-profile Lunar New Year event in Toronto. The group’s website described Carney’s entry into politics as “an important turning point in the upgrading of China–Canada relations.”
But when confronted by The Globe with web posts documenting the meeting, Carney flatly denied it occurred. “I’ve never heard of this group,” he said. “Certainly didn’t have a meeting with them—I’m sorry, you can’t believe everything you read in The Globe.”
Yet internal documents, public records, Chinese-language media, and event photographs confirm that the JCCC and Liberal Party networks in the Greater Toronto Area have long shared operatives and strategic objectives—even collaborating to send PPE to United Front Work Department officials in China during the pandemic.
The Bureau, along with diaspora researchers, has assessed that the Carney meeting was significant and included JCCC leaders involved in that same United Front–coordinated PPE operation that included Liberal riding boss Howard Shen.
Perhaps most significantly, while the JCCC has listed Carney’s Markham–Unionville candidate Peter Yuen as an honorary board chair, the same riding’s senior federal executive has been Howard Shen, also the past president of the JCCC.
The Bureau has sent detailed questions to Carney, the Liberal Party of Canada, and Howard Shen. As of publication, none have responded.
Shen has fundraised for Justin Trudeau since the 2015 federal campaign in Markham, appearing with then–cabinet minister John McCallum and many Toronto-area Liberal MPs. As a riding boss, he aligned with the rise of Mary Ng, who succeeded McCallum in a 2017 by-election and was subsequently appointed to Trudeau’s cabinet.
By 2017, Shen remained a Markham-area Liberal executive while simultaneously serving as JCCC president.
That year, JCCC held the Canada–China Free Trade Agreement Forum—one of the Trudeau era’s most consequential Chinese Canadian business gatherings—advancing JCCC’s calls for deeper trade with Beijing and alignment with the Belt and Road Initiative. The forum promoted reduced reliance on the United States and featured greetings from three Liberal MPs—Mary Ng, Majid Jowhari, and Shaun Chen—alongside Chinese officials including Consul General He Wei.
Also during the pandemic, Shen and the JCCC exchanged letters with Chinese Communist Party and United Front authorities. A 2020 letter from the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the CCP, co-signed by Party Secretary Lou Qinjian and Governor Wu Zhenglong, praised the JCCC’s donations to China.
“In these difficult times, we thank the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada for their support in sending protective equipment and funds to help the people of Jiangsu,” the letter stated. “We also express our deep sympathy to overseas Chinese compatriots in Canada as the pandemic situation worsens.”
The JCCC’s reply—co-signed by president Rui Jiang and Howard Shen—acknowledged that its COVID relief effort was “organized under the guidance” of Chinese Communist Party bodies including the Jiangsu Overseas Friendship Association, United Front Work Department, and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.
“The Canadian Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada (JCCC) is one of the most influential associations in Canada,” that letter said, adding the group had “quickly raised funds and PPEs whose combined value amounts to nearly two million yuan.”
The letter was signed by Liberal riding boss Howard Shen, as “Past President of the JCCC.”
Photographs from this period show MP Jowhari assisting with PPE deliveries at a JCCC-organized event, carrying boxes from a Toronto residence to a vehicle.
In video footage dated February 17, 2020, Shen is seen passing a fluorescent-labelled PPE box from the front door of a mansion to Jowhari, who then hands it to Rui Jiang for loading into an SUV.
The sequence—featuring three figures tied to both Liberal politics and Beijing-linked organizations—visually underscores the JCCC’s declared coordination with Chinese state bodies.
In another video filmed inside the same mansion, Shen and Jowhari—wearing the same outfits—sit beneath a Chinese flag in a wood-paneled room alongside Rui Jiang, who appears in flowered slippers. MP Jowhari discusses his government’s eagerness to provide aid to China.
“Mr. Shen is the former president of our council,” Jiang tells Jowhari. Chuckling, Jowhari replies: “Howard is the president of everyone. Howard is the glue. He’s very well connected. He understands the community, and the government.”
By this point, Shen had transitioned to Vice Chair of the Markham–Thornhill Federal Liberal Association—a position he still holds.
A separate 2020 video shows Chinese Consul General Han Tao thanking Jowhari for “his support to the Chinese community, as well as to the work of the Chinese Consul General in Toronto.” These filmed moments further reinforce Shen’s dual role as a Liberal organizer and community leader acknowledged by Chinese state officials.
Corporate records reviewed by The Bureau show that in 2012, Shen and Rui Jiang were listed as directors of a similar entity: the Jiangsu International Business Association of Canada.
In perhaps the clearest example of JCCC–Liberal Party integration, in 2017—while serving as both JCCC president and Markham riding chair—Shen led the Canada–China Free Trade Forum. The event’s final report urged Ottawa to move quickly on trade with China, avoid human rights issues, and model Canada’s approach on Australia’s FTA with Beijing.
The document positioned Chinese Canadian leaders as “go-betweens” to guide Canadian officials and framed the U.S. as a liability. “Catch the China high-speed train,” the report said, calling the Belt and Road Initiative “the new global path.”
At the time, Shen’s name appeared on both Liberal electoral filings and Chinese-language United Front publications.
Further documents link Howard Shen to the Chinese Professionals Association of Canada. On February 15, 2014, Qiu Yuanping—then Deputy Secretary-General of the CCP’s International Liaison Department—met with CPAC. Around the same time, the Markham–Unionville Federal Liberal Association was formally established, and Howard Shen became a boss of the riding for the Liberals.
Shen’s ties extended beyond Liberal Party politics. In 2011, he joined the executive board of the Canada Hefei Friendship Association alongside Wei Wei, a Markham real estate developer whose luxury mansion was later raided as an underground casino.
Peter Yuen was named the Liberal candidate in Markham–Unionville in March 2025, following the resignation of incumbent MP Paul Chiang amid controversy over foreign interference. Chiang faced mounting scrutiny after The Bureau and other outlets reported on his comments suggesting that Joe Tay—a Conservative candidate and Canadian citizen facing an illegitimate national security charge in Hong Kong—could be turned over to Chinese consular officials in Toronto. The Liberal Party’s decision to tap Yuen—a longtime Toronto police official with prior affiliations to the JCCC and events linked to the United Front Work Department—has only intensified questions, especially as Prime Minister Mark Carney attempts to distance himself from the JCCC during the ongoing federal election campaign.
The Bureau will update this breaking story with any responses from Prime Minister Carney.
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