Former Richmond MP claims he was victim of Chinese election meddling

Former MP Kenny Chiu is joining the calls for a public inquiry into possible election interference.

Chiu believes he was the target of Chinese meddling during the last federal election, though he doesn’t blame his loss on foreign interference.

“I’m not a sore loser,” he said Friday. “I’ve lost before in 2015 and 2019, but this time I’ve seen signs that have suggest election interference.”

Chui says comments were first brought to his attention on the messaging platform WeChat, an app primarily used by the Chinese community.

“It was visceral, it was hate, it characterized me as a traitor, as a Chinese-hater and as someone who is anti-Chinese and … a sellout to the Chinese people,” he said.

He believes it started because he proposed a private members’ bill to create a foreign influence registry, which would work to prevent election interference.

He says the disinformation was concerning, but he never took the concerns to the RCMP.

“I don’t have the confidence that they have tools and the ability to handle it.”

Before the October election, Chiu says he was approached by CSIS, but they wouldn’t say what exactly they were investigating.

A report commissioned by the federal government earlier this spring found no evidence that meddling had an impact on the election.

"The good news is the measures we put in place, we believe, and it was confirmed by the report today, resulted in no foreign interference, or even other electoral interference such as that the result of the vote would be compromised,” Domic Leblanc, the intergovernmental affairs minister said earlier this month when the report was released.

On Thursday, the House of Commons voted in favour of a public inquiry into alleged election interference.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed former governor general David Johnston was appointed to determine if a public inquiry was necessary by mid-May. The prime minister has said he believes a public inquiry would have national security limitations.