in World News Unelected Canada PM Mark Carney Denies Knowing Chinese-Linked Group He Took Photos With
by Frances Martel
Leftist Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney reacted with outrage on Thursday when confronted about why he had taken photos with the leaders of a Chinese influence operation in Toronto, claiming he did not know what the group was.
The Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada (JCCC), an organization promoting greater Chinese influence in the Canadian economy, boasted in early April of engaging in an “in-depth” meeting with Carney and praised him as a “financial giant,” claiming that he “praised the pioneering role of the Chinese business” in green energy, e-commerce, and other sectors.
A reporter representing the Globe and Mail newspaper asked Carney about the meeting on Thursday, leading to Carney insisting, “I’ve never heard of this group… full stop.” The JCCC published photos showing its leaders shaking hands with Carney as proof of their engagement with the prime minister.
Carney insisted in response to the photos that he meets with “hundreds and thousands” of people, arguing that he cannot be held responsible for knowing who he meets with.
The JCCC scandal is the latest in a flurry of revelations showing that Carney has, throughout his career prior to becoming prime minister, built extensive relationships with various arms of the Chinese Communist Party. Carney had never held public office or run for any political position before being appointed prime minister of the country in March, the result of his widely unpopular predecessor Justin Trudeau resigning. He served as the president of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, advised Trudeau on his disastrous Wuhan coronavirus response, and most recently worked for Brookfield Asset Management, a finance firm.
As part of his work with Brookfield, Carney visited Beijing in October when Chinese state media claimed that he advocated for “further expanding its business in Beijing.” Brookfield also recently secured a sweetheart loan from a Chinese bank worth $276 million.
The JCCC controversy is based on a post that the advocacy group published on its website in early April that appears to have been deleted after the Globe and Mail unearthed it on Thursday. It is still visible on internet archives, however.
The Chinese-text post, titled, “A Financial Giant Is in Charge of the Maple Leaf Country,” claimed that the president of the JCCC, Xu Xiaoguang, and honorary president Jiang Rui held an “in-depth meeting” with Carney in which the prime minister said it was “necessary to actively expand trade relations with countries such as South America, the United Kingdom, and the Asia-Pacific region” to “expand international market opportunities outside the United States.”