Conservatives hide from questions about hiring former Huawei exec

Remove Ads

Have you heard of the Epoch Times? They are a relatively new player in the Canadian media landscape, having increased their print and online distribution over the last half decade. In all likelihood, you have read their work — despite the Canadian government scrambling to stop them.

See, the Epoch Times is staunchly anti-Communist China, and that infuriates many pro-China institutions in Canada, including the Liberal government, radical union workers, postal workers who refuse to deliver the paper and a surprising new opponent: the Conservative opposition to Trudeau.

I am not kidding. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole handily won his post on a strong anti-China platform, but since headhunting the vice president of Huawei Canada for a top position, the Conservative Party has been compromised.

In a statement that I almost couldn’t believe, I had to read it twice, Conservative Heritage Critic Alain Rayes called for the effective cancellation of the loudest anti-China voice in North America. Here’s what he said: “How can the Minister of Canadian Heritage justify giving $455,000 to such a controversial newspaper? The fact that the federal government is giving it money while our community media are dying out is totally unacceptable.”

Rayes is supposedly a patriotic Canadian Conservative MP. Now, he didn’t question the millions of dollars that are funnelled by the feds to socialist publications like the Toronto Star — no, he is not worried about them. The only paper he decided to pick on was the only strictly anti-communist paper in the nation. It’s clear that he doesn’t really care about the money, or else he would call for the Toronto Star to get off the dole for the benefit of small-town papers. He targeted the Epoch Times for a political reason.

It must just be a coincidence, I suppose, that these completely out of character comments came less than 10 days after former Huawei VP Jake Enwright took up the job of issues manager for the Official Opposition. In other words, Beijing Jake has the responsibility of deciding what issues any particular opposition critic talks about. We knew that China has a death grip on Trudeau — somehow they have achieved an unbelievable amount of control over the Canadian government — but now their grip has been extended to the opposition as well. Beijing is framing the political debate from both sides of the aisle in Canada.

I had to ask the Conservative Party about this, so I reached out to them. They seem happy to do interviews with the far-left publication La Presse in Quebec, so surely they could answer some of my questions.

I asked very basic questions of Rayes himself; Melanie Paradis, O’Toole’s communications staffer; and I even sent an email to Enwright himself, to help him clear the air, if he wanted.

Can you guess what they said? Well, naturally they ran and hid. No answer — because they don’t care. I don’t think the Conservatives are even really trying to win the election, if I am being honest — I think they are planning for defeat. It appears that the only standing orders at CPC HQ are to not take any swipes at China, under any conditions. I wonder who it is on their team that China has in a vise grip.

Think about it — just a handful of days ago, O’Toole actually did an interview with the Epoch Times. When he was a candidate for his current job, he spoke to them frequently. Then something changed, and it all changed around the same time he hired Enwright.

Look, I don’t begrudge Enwright for acting as a hired gun for a hostile power’s intelligence wing in Canada. Maybe he needs the money more than he needs his sleep at night. But why would Erin O’Toole make such a reckless decision, putting someone like Enwright in such a powerful job?

I don’t know about you, but I think it is time that we ban Huawei and ban their agents from working in our politics. Wouldn’t you agree? We have set up a petition at BanHuawei.com that you can sign. Thousands have already done so, because enough is enough. If you want to let Erin O’Toole know that you will not support him if he keeps going down this path, sign the petition. We can’t let China own our democracy — because once that happens, there is no going back.

Remove Ads
Remove Ads

  • By Ezra Levant

BAN HUAWEI FROM CANADA

15,075 signatures
Goal: 25,000 Signatures

Add signature

Don't Get Censored

Big Tech is censoring us. Sign up so we can always stay in touch.

Remove Ads