Juno News - Chinese bounty controversy follows Paul Chiang into Markham council race

00:00:00.000 Former Liberal MP Paul Chang is seeking election in Ontario's municipal elections,

00:00:05.480 the very same Paul Chang who threatened to collect a bounty for the Chinese government

00:00:09.860 on an outspoken dissident Chinese-Canadian last year.

00:00:14.100 Chang previously represented Markham Unionville as a Liberal Party MP from 21 to 25

00:00:19.420 when Parliament dissolved, and that's when he resigned amid major controversy.

00:00:24.560 At a Chinese-language media event in January 2025,

00:00:27.520 Chang threatened to hand over Conservative candidate Zhou Tei to the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto

00:00:32.680 and collect the $1 million Hong Kong bounty, which is about $175,000 Canadian dollars.

00:00:40.180 Now, little more than a year later, Chang is quietly attempting a political comeback.

00:00:44.640 While his campaign material for the Markham campaign here in Toronto highlights his police service career

00:00:51.560 and his time as a Member of Parliament for Markham Unionville,

00:00:54.260 it fails to mention why his MP career ended during the 2025 federal campaign.

00:01:00.360 And the two men are therefore seeking the same municipal office,

00:01:04.320 bringing an extraordinary chapter from the last federal election into the local race.

00:01:09.200 Now, Tay is a Canadian citizen, former Hong Kong resident,

00:01:12.260 and pro-democracy activist who has openly criticized the Chinese Communist Party.

00:01:16.980 In December 2024, Hong Kong police issued an arrest warrant for Tay

00:01:20.960 under the territory's national security law.

00:01:24.260 May offered a bounty of HK$1 million for information leading to his arrest.

00:01:29.200 The Canadian government condemned the measure as an attempt at transnational repression.

00:01:33.940 At the time, Tay was seeking the Conservative nomination in Cheng's Markham Union Bill

00:01:38.940 writing.

00:01:39.940 During a Chinese-language media event in January 2025, Cheng suggested that someone could

00:01:44.200 take Tay to the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto and collect the bounty.

00:01:48.720 His comments did not become widely known until the federal election campaign was underway

00:01:53.720 the spring of 2025. When those comments surfaced, Chang faced a whirlwind of criticism from

00:02:00.360 opposition politicians, from national security experts and from members of Canada's Hong Kong

00:02:05.720 community. While Chang apologized and said that his remarks were quote, deplorable, he said that

00:02:11.000 his comments were made in poor judgment and that they should never have been made. Zhou Tay later

00:02:16.120 told a parliamentary committee that he and his volunteers were followed and photographed. Strange

00:02:21.560 vehicles appeared outside his home and voters in the Chinese community were warned that supporting

00:02:26.640 him could bring consequences. He said Chang's remarks placed both him and his family in danger.

00:02:33.640 Angie Te, Zhou Te's wife, told Juno News in a statement that the impact of the bounty continues

00:02:39.200 to impact them today. She said, when Paul publicly suggested handing my husband over to the

00:02:44.060 authoritarian regime, it was more than a harmless joke. Coming from a former police officer and a

00:02:49.620 sitting lawmaker, such statements are entirely unacceptable and no wife should ever accept that

00:02:55.040 excuse. She said the family's fears became more serious after Chang's comments became public.

00:03:00.680 Shortly after his comments went public, the RCMP showed up at our door to inform us that they'd

00:03:05.740 have intercepted a credible threat against Jim's life, she said. To this day, whenever we run into

00:03:11.840 him at events, I cannot stop thinking about the trauma he brought to our lives. While many were

00:03:17.160 quick to criticize Chiang. Liberal leader Mark Carney, not yet Prime Minister at the time,

00:03:23.000 initially resisted calls to remove Chiang as a candidate. Chiang stepped aside on March 31st,

00:03:29.480 2025, after the RCMP confirmed it was examining the matter following a complaint. And it's unclear

00:03:36.440 the outcome of the investigation, and it does raise questions on whether or not a candidate

00:03:41.000 under police investigation should be eligible to run for office. We did reach out to Chiang,

00:03:45.960 but he did not respond to a request for comment on his campaign.

00:03:51.000 Now, Paul Chang's return means that Markham voters will now decide

00:03:54.220 whether to send him back into an elected office, this time at the regional level.

00:04:00.080 Paul Chang and Joe Tay will be appearing on the ballot in Markham Regional Councilors Race on October 26.

Juno News - September 26, 2026

Chinese bounty controversy follows Paul Chiang into Markham council race

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