‘No apology is sufficient’: Liberals urged to fire Markham candidate who made ‘deplorable’ comments

Members of the Conservative Party are calling on the Liberals to drop their Markham-Unionville candidate, Paul Chiang, over “deplorable” comments he made about a Conservative candidate who’s running in a nearby riding.

During a news conference for local Chinese-language media in January, Chiang suggested that people attempt to claim a Chinese bounty on Joe Tay, the Conservative candidate for Don Valley North.

“To everyone here, you can claim the one-million-dollar bounty if you bring him to Toronto’s Chinese consulate,” Chiang said, according to the Toronto Association for Democracy in China.

In December 2024, Tay was among six overseas activists who were targeted by Hong Kong police. Officials in the region announced rewards of HK$1 million, equivalent to about C$180,000, for information leading to their arrests.

On Friday, Chiang issued an apology in a statement shared to social media.

“The comments I made were deplorable and a complete lapse of judgment on the seriousness of the matter,” Chiang wrote. “As a former Police Officer (sic), I should have known better. I sincerely apologize and deeply regret my comments.”

“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,” he added.

APOLOGY NOT ACCEPTED

That apology wasn’t enough for Joe Tay, who called for Chiang’s firing on Monday.

“Mark Carney must fire Paul Chiang as the Liberal Candidate for Markham-Unionville,” Tay wrote in a statement. “His threatening public comments were intended to intimidate me, and they must not be tolerated.”

He says Chiang made an “unsolicited” attempt to contact him amid the backlash to discuss the matter.

“I want to be clear: no apology is sufficient,” Tay explained. “Threats like these are the tradecraft of the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in Canada. And they are not just aimed at me. They are intended to send a chilling signal to the entire community in order to force compliance to Beijing’s political goals.”

Tay says the situation has left him fearing for his safety and revealed that he was previously in contact with the RCMP regarding his 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 added.

Tay’s response follows similar comments from Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre who also called for Chiang’s firing over the weekend.

“Yes, he must be disqualified,” Poilievre told reporters. “I find it incredible that Mark Carney would allow someone to run for his party that called for a Canadian citizen to be handed over to a foreign government on a bounty, a foreign government that would almost certainly execute that Canadian citizen.”

In a media statement, the Liberal party did not indicate that they plan to remove Chiang, saying he “recognized that he made a significant lapse in judgment.”

“He 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,” said the party’s statement.

Conservative candidate for Wellington-Halton Hills North, Michael Chong, also weighed into the conflict over the weekend, saying, “Paul Chiang’s support for the CCP’s illegal and unjust bounty on a Canadian citizen is shocking, particularly to the countless Canadians of Chinese descent who have been targeted and harassed by the communist regime.” 

“The CCP is a hostile regime that has interfered in our elections, kidnapped and executed Canadian citizens and remains a grave threat to Canada’s national security,” Chong added.

NDP candidate for Vancouver East Jenny Kwan called Chiang’s comments “astounding” at a press conference with party leader Jagmeet Singh on Sunday.

“He is a police officer, and he ought to know that when the CCP went out and put a bounty on anybody, including Canadians, that cannot be acceptable, that is intimidation at its worst, and yet he played right into it,” Kwan quipped. “He advocated for people to bring him to the Chinese Consulate to collect the bounty. In what universe is this normal, and especially in the face of Canada, where we are faced with foreign interference.”

Both the Tories and the NDP say the ruling Liberals haven’t taken the issue of foreign interference seriously enough.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Association for Democracy in China slammed Chiang for not standing up and said it was “puzzling” to see him openly encourage “transnational repression.” His comments also drew the ire of 40 Hong Kong diaspora organizations around the world who echoed calls for Chiang’s firing.

FORMER MP HAN DONG STEPS ASIDE

On Sunday, former Liberal MP Han Dong announced that he will not be running for re-election in Don Valley North.

Dong was elected as a Liberal MP in 2019, but left to sit as an independent in 2023 in order to clear his name over his alleged involvement in Chinese interference. He later launched a $15 million lawsuit against Global News and Corus Entertainment over their reporting of what he called “false accusations.”

In a statement posted to social media on Sunday, Dong says he was informed by the party that there will be a new candidate running for his seat in the riding.

Dong says he’s “disappointed” not to be part of this campaign and has elected not to run as an independent in order to give the Liberal party the best chance to form a government and “protect us from the threats posed by Donald Trump.”