Former military reservist sentenced for shotgun video calling Liberal MP a 'communist agent' for China

Richmond Centre Liberal MP Wilson Miao is pictured in a handout photo. (Liberal Party of Canada)

A former Canadian military reservist has been sentenced to house arrest after posting a video of himself firing a shotgun at a picture of a member of Parliament whom he accused of being a "communist agent" for China.

A British Columbia judge sentenced Peter Liu to a 60-day conditional sentence and 16 months of probation after the 30-year-old pleaded guilty to threatening to cause death or bodily harm to Wilson Miao, the Liberal MP for Richmond Centre.

Liu, who served five years as a Canadian Armed Forces reservist, posted the video to Facebook in May 2023.

The video began by showing a series of news articles accusing the Liberal MP of benefitting from Chinese interference in the 2021 federal election at the expense of the Conservative Party candidate, according to the provincial court decision.

The video then showed Liu, wearing a mask and dressed in camouflage pants, holding a campaign pamphlet of Miao, who immigrated as a child from Hong Kong, saying: "This is a communist agent" and "He will get what is coming to him," according to the decision.

Before racking a pump-action Mossberg 590 shotgun and firing into the pamphlet, Liu proclaimed the Arabic phrases "Mashallah" ("God has willed it") and "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greater"), the court heard.

A high-school friend of Liu saw the video on Facebook and recorded it before reporting it to police. The RCMP's national security enforcement team opened an investigation and arrested Liu.

Several guns, ammunition seized

Liu was born in China and also moved to Canada as a young boy, the court heard. During a search of his home, investigators seized 11 rifles that were unsafely stored, along with thousands of rounds of ammunition and multiple magazines.

Provincial court Judge Diana Vandor wrote in her decision that the main issue at sentencing was to "deter and denounce the anti-democratic and violent conduct that is at the heart of this case."

Liu had no prior criminal history, and was awarded a certificate recognizing his service to Canada on behalf of the Canadian government and the Canadian Armed Forces in June 2019.

He wrote a letter apologizing to Miao for the 2023 video, expressing "great shame and guilt," admitting his actions "were careless and dangerous, and could have jeopardized not just your personal safety, but that of the wider public."

'Threat to democracy itself'

Liu faced a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison, the judge wrote, saying his behaviour in the video met the very definition of anti-democratic violence.

"He threatened the life of a fellow human being, and that human being is a politician," the judge wrote. "It does not matter to which political party this victim belongs. His conduct amounted to a direct and literal threat to a democratically elected politician. More generally, a threat to democracy itself."

Liu's lawyer argued the Facebook video was not politically motivated and was only visible among a private group of about 30 people for one day before it would have been automatically deleted.

According to the court, the lawyer described the video as "gobbledygook" and a "poor joke," which the judge rejected outright.

"Mr. Liu shot through a political pamphlet of a Canadian politician after accusing that politician of being a communist agent, threatening that politician will get what is coming to him, and punctuating that threat by repeating phrases that are often uttered by Islamic extremists before committing acts of terrorism," the judge wrote.

"Mr. Liu's words and actions were morally reprehensible and should shock the conscience of the community," she added.

Court orders weapons ban

Under the terms of his house arrest and probation, Liu must adhere to a curfew and have no communication with Miao or his family members. He cannot be within 200 metres of the MP, and cannot possess any weapons or masks intended to disguise his face while committing an offence.

"In this political system, this country's future is decided at the ballot box instead of the barrel of a gun," the judge admonished.

"He should have known better because he has served in the Canadian military and been recognized for his service to this democracy."

In May, a federal inquiry found that while foreign interference by China did not affect the results of the 2021 general election, it is possible a "small number of ridings were affected, but this cannot be said with certainty."

The interim report concluded that foreign meddling by Beijing or others did not undermine the integrity of the election but may have undermined public confidence in the electoral system.

The Department of National Defence says Liu served as a private in the reserves in B.C. from 2014 until May 2019.