Paul Chiang, a Liberal candidate running for re-election in the greater Toronto area, is apologizing for comments made to a media outlet suggesting that his Conservative rival, a Hong Kong democracy activist whom Chinese authorities have placed a bounty on, be turned over to China.
“The comments I made were deplorable and a complete lapse of judgement on the seriousness of the matter. As a former Police Officer, I should have known better. I sincerely apologize and deeply regret my comments,” Chiang, the MP representing Markham-Unionville since 2021, said in a March 28 statement.
“I will always continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong in their fight to safeguard their human rights and freedoms.”
Chiang made the comments about Conservative candidate and Hong Kong democracy activist Joe Tay to the Chinese-language publication Ming Pao during an ethnic media conference in January, as reported by the Toronto Association for Democracy in China. At the time, Tay was running in the same riding as Chiang, Markham-Unionville, but is now running in the Don Valley North riding.
“To everyone here, you can claim the one-million-dollar bounty if you bring him to Toronto’s Chinese Consulate,” Chiang reportedly said.
Joe Tay, a singer and actor who moved from Hong Kong to Canada, is seen in a file photo. He is now vying for the Conservative Party nomination in the Ontario riding of Markham—Unionville. Courtesy of Joe Tay
Hong Kong authorities announced a HK$1 million bounty for information to help in the capture of Tay and five other democracy activists in December 2024.
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Tay, a well-known actor and singer in Hong Kong in the 1980s and ‘90s, moved with his family to Canada in 1995. He is the founder of the democracy advocacy platform HongKonger Station.
The Epoch Times reached out to Tay but didn’t immediately hear back.
Incumbent Conservative candidate Michael Chong, his party’s foreign affairs critic, called the revelation “outrageous.”
“It’s outrageous that after years of turning a blind eye to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) foreign interference, warnings from experts and a public inquiry, that the Liberals continue to play footsie with foreign interference putting the security of Canadians at risk,” Chong said on social media on March 28.
“This expression of support for the CCP’s illegal and unjust bounty on a Canadian citizen is disturbing, particularly to the countless Canadians of Chinese descent who have been targeted and harassed by the communist regime.”
Chong himself has been a target of the CCP because he has been a vocal opponent of Beijing’s rights abuses, with intelligence officials saying his family was being targeted by Beijing.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Liberal Party for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
Cheuk Kwan, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, said Chiang’s comments were “shocking.”
“Mr. Chiang openly encouraged people to assist in China interference and transnational repression,” Kwan said in a statement. “Rather than protecting Canadians, he betrayed them and jeopardized their safety.”
Chiang was an officer with the York Regional Police for 30 years, and became a Liberal MP after the last federal election in 2021. He served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of housing and diversity and inclusion from 2021 to 2023, and then as parliamentary secretary to the minister of immigration, refugees, and citizenship before Liberal Leader Mark Carney called an election on March 23.
