Poilievre presses Carney’s China ties after India report

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OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told Canadians on Tuesday that they should be more worried about Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s ties to China, amidst new allegations that India meddled in his favour in the 2022 Conservative leadership race.

Poilievre dismissed the newsworthiness of a Globe and Mail article outlining the claims, but said at a housing announcement in Vaughan, Ont. that he was glad the story broke when it did, because it raised the issue of Carney’s own unsavoury foreign dealings.

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“There’s something that’s really been worrying me,” Poilievre told reporters, alluding to Carney’s China ties.

The Conservative leader said Carney has some explaining to do about a $276 million loan Brookfield Asset Management secured from the Bank of China last November, when he was pulling double duty as Brookfield’s chair and the head of predecessor Justin Trudeau’s task force on economic growth.

Poilievre alleges Carney personally flew to Beijing for “secret talks” with the deputy governor of the Bank of China, at a time when Chinese intelligence was actively targeting Canadians inside and outside the country.

This lines up with a timeline given by Chinese Ambassador to Canada Wang Di, who said last week that Carney was in Beijing in October for a financial crisis.

“What did Mr. Carney and his in his role as Trudeau economic advisor offer of China?” Poilievre asked.

Poilievre added that Carney’s refusal to disclose his remaining financial holdings with Brookfield makes the situation even more concerning.

“How do we know (Carney’s) not going to act against our interests in favour of his financial interest? Why didn’t he stand in front of a microphone and confess to Canadians that he owes the Chinese Government that kind of money?”

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This isn’t the first time Carney, a longtime fan of deepening Western economic ties with China, has come under scrutiny for cozy relations with the country’s communist regime.

Carney was also in Beijing last March, joining other U.S. business executives for an audience with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

A source with top-secret clearance told the Globe and Mail that intelligence shows Indian agents helped Poilievre’s 2022 leadership campaign raise money and get out South Asian voters, although not necessarily with the knowledge of the candidate or anyone in his inner circle.

Poilievre easily won the Conservative party leadership on the first ballot, netting more than 68 per cent of available points.

The source said that the information was never shared with Poilievre because he doesn’t have a top-secret security clearance.

Poilievre said on Thursday that he still has no plans to obtain the security clearance, telling reporters that doing so would hamper his ability to freely criticize the Liberal government.

“What I will not do is commit to the oath of secrecy that the Liberals want to oppose,” said Poilievre.

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Politicians are prohibited from publicly discussing information they learned through top-secret briefings and reports.

A Conservative party spokesperson told National Post that the Conservative campaign has two security-cleared individuals on staff who are authorized to receive reports from a government task force monitoring possible ongoing election interference.

National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com

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