Yes, I was 1 of 18 Parliamentarians Targeted by a China State-Sponsored Hacking Group

Plus, calling for a foreign agent registry, forcing Liberal ministers to appear on their soft-on-fraud records, and demanding answers about a stay of deportation for a serial lawbreaker.

I learned almost two weeks ago that I was targeted by the communist regime in Beijing for my participation in the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China or IPAC. My parliamentary email was targeted by a China-based state-sponsored hacking group called APT31, also known by its full name as Advanced Persistent Threat 31, for something called pixel reconnaissance, which is the first stage in what would be a progressively more advanced series of hacking attacks. This type of attack works by embedding a tracking a pixel in a photograph or image that is sent by email to the target, and when you open the email, loading the image of, say, a headline and image associated with the article, then various information is taken from your device and sent to APT31. In my case, this cyber hacking attack failed. While this APT31 group failed to hack my email, the Liberal government, the security agencies that answer to them, and that interact with the cyber security team on Parliament Hill also failed to tell me. This attack targeted legislators across the world and my own specifically for their participation in IPAC in 2022 and I was not made aware of it until a few days before writing this parliamentary newsletter to you.

I am both surprised I was not informed and not surprised. I am concerned and worried. If the security agencies in Canada cannot inform and protect me, an elected legislator doing my job, then how can any dissident in Canada or any Canadian with a strong opinion or views on what a foreign government is doing expect to be protected?

So, let me explain in more detail the key facts of what I know so far and what I believe should be the ideal solution.

Firstly, my participation in IPAC, while voluntary, is core to my functions as a parliamentarian interested in the People’s Republic of China, its views on its own national interests, Chinese culture, Chinese languages, the protection of Chinese-Canadians and the continued interaction I have with diaspora groups in Canada. I serve as the Immigration Shadow Minister for the Official Opposition and am Vice-Chair of the Canada-China parliamentary select committee. IPAC offers me valuable insights and information as well as a venue to advocate for issues I care deeply about and on behalf of constituents whose lives are touched directly and indirectly by what happens in the world’s other superpower. IPAC has about 200 legislators around the world from 30 countries, including parties from the political Left, Right, and Centre. In Canada, our IPAC co-chairs are a Liberal MP and a Conservative MP. This is an all-party, multi-partisan effort to work on issues concerning China that are of mutual interest. This is the stuff that we are often encouraged as parliamentarians to sit down and work on with people from different parties. We disagree on most issues but agree to work together in the name of Canada’s national interest vis-à-vis China.

Secondly, IPAC staff found out legislators participating in the organization were attacked by this hacking group in an unsealed indictment released by the U.S. Department of Justice on March 25. IPAC protested in writing directly to the U.S. Secretary of State, and the FBI, responding to this criticism, informed them that, indeed, respective governments were told in 2022 that some of their legislators had been victims of this hacking attack. The Communications and Security Establishment (the CSE, one of Canada’s surveillance agencies), in an email dated April 30, 2024, responding to media questions about whom it told of this hacking attack, said it told House of Commons and Senate officials. Neither of those officials informed me I was the target of this pixel reconnaissance hacking attack by APT31. In fact, I have emails to my parliamentary account confirming this with the Sergeant-at-Arms and the House of Commons Cyber-Security team. Furthermore, their claim that because the attack was unsuccessful, there was no need to inform me directly is bizzare. Prevention in such cases is worth pounds upon pounds more than fixing things after the fact. I searched my email using the information I obtained from IPAC, and I found the pixel reconnaissance email from an NRPO News domain name that was unread in my inbox. Had I unknowingly searched and opened that email today, I could have enabled this hacking attack with no knowledge of who was targeting me and why I was being targeted. Again, the Liberal government, the security agencies that answer to them, and the parliamentary house security team all failed to protect me and my 17 other parliamentary colleagues. To my knowledge, as reported in the Globe and Mail, only legislators in Switzerland and Lithuania were directly informed that they were targets.

Thirdly, this is not the first time the Liberal government has failed to inform parliamentarians we were targets of a foreign government’s interference in our democratic process. The leading Canadian security agency, CSIS, informed Ottawa political staff and the Prime Minister’s Office, including the Prime Minister himself, that my colleague MP Michael Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong were being targeted by the Beijing government for reprisal after his championing a parliamentary motion to condemn Beijing’s ongoing genocide of the Uyghur minority in mainland China. In May 2023, the Globe and Mail dropped this bombshell story to the public, leading to a parliamentary motion telling the Liberal government to expel People’s Republic of China diplomat Zhao Wei. Many days later, the Liberal government would comply reluctantly and order this diplomat out of the country by stripping him of his diplomatic immunity. The Liberal government keeps repeating the same mistake and their approach is negligent as well as reckless.

Fourthly, I agree with one of the Canadian co-chairs of IPAC when he says ultimately that the Liberal government is ultimately responsible for the lack of warning. It is not good enough to talk between agencies; the persons targeted need to know when they are parliamentarians with functions to fulfill. I meet with many dissidents and recent escapees from autocratic regimes – they must know and deserve to have the confidence that my devices and my emails are not just well protected so we can communicate safely but that I am fully aware of foreign governments targeting me and the work I do. I cannot prepare for what I do not know. All provincial and federal governments of whatever political stripe have a moral and ethical duty to inform legislators directly when security risks arise, whether personal or digital.

Lastly, the question now becomes what to do. My colleague and co-chair of IPAC, MP Garnett Genuis, has raised the matter directly with the Speaker of the House of Commons to accept a finding of a breach of parliamentary privilege and have the Speaker rule that a parliamentary committee should investigate why we were not told. The Speaker must rule in favour of this request on behalf of the group of MPs targeted for this pixel reconnaissance cyber attack that ultimately failed and has shaken our confidence again in the national security agencies that are supposed to serve us. On a go-forward basis, legislators should be told directly by the federal government and preferably through the Public Safety Minister’s Office when such foreign interference happens. So far, the Liberal government continues to fail Canadians and parliamentarians on national security. While news of this 2022 failed cyber attack could have been much, much worse, I remain deeply concerned that the overall weakness of the Liberal government on matters of national security will harm my work as an MP.

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Canada Needs a Foreign Agent Registry 

This past week, I stood alongside colleagues from all parties as well as civic organizations from across Canada demanding this Liberal government to establish a long overdue foreign agent influence registry in Canada.

A foreign agent influence registry would require anyone in Canada taking funds from foreign governments to register publicly or face criminal penalties. The UK established theirs in 2023, Australia in 2018, and the United States has had theirs since the 1930s. They exist in many countries and they function to increase public transparency as well as deter foreign influence campaigns by authoritarian regimes.

Canadians deserve to be protected from any hostile foreign influences that are not only seeking to interfere with our lives but even to threaten and harm us. In fact, there have been incidences where foreign states killed Canadians on our soil. 

Hostile foreign states are also meddling in our democracy, as evidenced by the recent People’s Republic of China (PRC) cyber attack on IPAC members, as mentioned before. In fact, the Foreign Interference Commission released some of their findings on Friday, where they stated they could not rule out that the PRC’s interference mat have affected results in certain ridings in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

One of the victims of Beijing’s foreign interference in the 2021 federal election, former conservative MP Kenny Chiu, first proposed the idea to establish a foreign agent influence registry while in office, and since then many civic organizations have taken up the idea.

The Liberal public safety minister has stated he agrees with our calls to establish a foreign agent influence registry – so why are he and Prime Minister dragging their feet? They first waved away the idea as unnecessary. When forced by public opinion and pressure from opposition parties they then created a national consultation process. It was really to delay with process and now that’s its done there remains no commitment and no legislation.

Unlike this NDP-Liberal government, Common Sense Conservatives will immediately implement strict measures to ensure that Canadians are protected from hostile foreign regimes who wish to interfere in our lives after the next carbon tax election.

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Liberals Stop Deportation of Serial Lawbreaker

Serial lawbreaker Zain Haq was set to be deported after being arrested at least ten times and convicted of mischief charges. However, his removal was stayed at the 11th hour, and it appears the Liberal government was likely involved in that decision. 

The 23-year-old foreign national, who arrived in Canada on a study permit, was scheduled to be deported on April 22. On April 19, he reportedly received a call from the office of Liberal MP Joyce Murray from Vancouver, telling him to “stay close to your phone.” Moments later, he received a call from a CBSA officer saying he would not be deported. 

The staying of Haq’s deportation raises questions as to how a serial lawbreaker who disregards Canada’s laws with impunity could receive such an indulgence from the Liberal government. Haq has admitted to receiving $170,000 from a foreign entity for his illegal activities and is known as a “serial blockader,” including having organized a road closure that “interfered with emergency vehicles trying to access St. Paul’s Hospital,” according to court documents. A 2023 court decision stated that Mr. Haq has shown a “disdain for the rule of law, and he has publicly encouraged others to break the law.”

Fellow Conservative colleagues and I, who sit on immigration parliamentary committee, are disturbed by these events and we want answers as to why this serial blockader is allowed to remain in Canada. This week we forced a vote on the subject and all other opposition parties including the NDP and Bloc voted with the Liberal MPs to shutdown asking questions of the immigration minister who issued the stay of deportation. We won’t stop here. Canadians deserve answers to ensure the integrity of our immigration system.

Watch me explain the issue at hand. 

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Fraud in the Broken Liberal Immigration System

At the same parliamentary committee meeting, I forced a vote to demand we conduct a parliamentary investigation into widespread immigration fraud in the labour market impact assessment process used to hire temporary foreign workers.

To briefly explain what is happening, unscrupulous immigration consultants and dishonest employers have been marketing or selling fraudulent Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) documents which is illegal. They defraud would-be employees by offering them jobs in Canada in return for kickbacks to pay for the LMIA and cover other costs. A LMIA is a government issued document for Canadian employers who are in need of hiring foreign workers, if no Canadian workers are available. The fraud is committed against Canadian workers who cannot fairly compete for the job and against foreign workers who find themselves illegally paying to obtain a job in Canada often with substandard conditions.

According to a Globe and Mail report, some LMIAs are being as sold as high as $80,000. I have also seen an example where an LMIA was purchased for $1.5 million. Prospective foreign workers often feel pressured to pay these ridiculous illegal fees because they would otherwise not qualify for immigration through other pathways. This employment fraud hurts both Canadian and temporary foreign workers, and weakens the integrity of our immigration system.

I obtained a yes vote from all parties and we will be investigating how the Liberal government could have so badly failed Canadian workers and would-be immigrants to allow such rampant fraud to be committed.

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Townhall in Calgary for Ukrainians on CUAET

Thank you to everyone who attended the immigration townhall with MP Greg McLean where we explained how Ukrainians on CUAET can apply for permanent residency in the current immigration streams. We had an incredible turnout with overflow requiring another session showing the Trudeau Liberals have broken the immigration system and hurt a lot of people. Common sense conservatives will fix the mess created by Liberal immigration ministers and restore Canada’s promise once again

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