Conservative candidate Joe Tay, who a Liberal candidate suggested be turned into the Chinese consulate to collect a bounty, said he fears for his safety and is calling on Leader Mark Carney to drop Paul Chiang from the Liberal slate.
“His threatening public comments were intended to intimidate me, and they must not be tolerated,” Tay said in a statement Monday, weighing in for the first time since the story broke before the weekend.
Carney is under increased pressure to drop Chiang, the Liberal incumbent for Markham-Unionville, after comments he made at a local Chinese-language media news conference in January about Tay resurfaced. Tay is running for the Conservatives in the GTA battleground riding of Don Valley North.
“To everyone here, you can claim the $1-million bounty if you bring him to Toronto’s Chinese consulate,” Chiang said, according to the Toronto Association for Democracy in China (TADC).
In December, Hong Kong police issued a bounty and arrest warrant for Tay — worth $1 million HK, roughly $184,000 — and other China democracy advocates. Tay is a co-founder of Canada-based NGO HongKonger Station and runs a YouTube channel that promotes democracy and free speech.
The warrants are largely seen as a way for authorities in Beijing-controlled Hong Kong to target vocal critics based abroad. At the time, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly denounced the bounties.
In his statement, Tay called Chiang’s comments “insidious” and “the tradecraft of the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in Canada.
“They are intended to send a chilling signal to the entire community in order to force compliance to Beijing’s political goals,” said the Conservative.
Tay said even before Chiang’s comments, he had been in touch with the RCMP about personal protection.
“Suggesting that people collect a bounty from the Chinese Communist Party to deliver a political opponent to the Chinese Consulate is disgusting and must never be condoned,” he wrote.
Chiang’s apology rejected
Chiang, a former police officer, issued an apology Friday, saying his comments “were deplorable and a complete lapse of judgment on the seriousness of the matter.”
Carney did not take any questions over the weekend and has not yet responded directly to the calls to dump Chiang.
A spokesperson for the Liberal campaign told CBC News on Saturday evening that Chiang “apologized and has been clear that he will stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong as they fight to safeguard their human rights and freedoms.”
Tay said Chiang made an “unsolicited attempt to contact me to discuss this matter” and apologize over the weekend.
“I want to be clear: No apology is sufficient,” said Tay.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievere, speaking on Day 8 of the election campaign, responded to a question about whether Liberal Candidate Paul Chiang should be disqualified to run as a candidate in the election after he suggested people attempt to claim a Chinese bounty on a Conservative candidate. Chiang has since apologized.
A coalition of 13 community groups representing Canadians of Hong Kong descent are also calling on Carney to revoke Chiang’s candidacy.
“The comments were widely seen as legitimizing foreign interference and potentially threatening Tay’s safety,” wrote the groups in a statement Sunday.
“They stress that intimidation or threats against political candidates will not be tolerated and reaffirm Canada’s commitment to protecting its democratic processes from foreign interference.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said it’s “incredible” that Carney would allow someone to run for his party who had called for a Canadian citizen to be handed over to a foreign government.
NDP candidate Jenny Kwan, who has been vocal about herself being a target of Chinese interference, called the comments “absolutely astounding.”
“That is intimidation at its worst, and yet he played right into it,” she told reporters Sunday while campaigning with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in Port Moody, B.C.
“In what universe is this normal?”