00:00:00.000Canada's election interference watchdog flagged a coordinated campaign by a Chinese state media
00:00:11.020outlet promoting coverage of Liberal leader Mark Carney. The candidate nominated by the
00:00:16.120Liberals to replace disgraced MP Paul Chang was videotaped singing an anthem glorifying
00:00:21.580communist China. A new real estate study found that most Canadians desire single detached homes
00:00:28.120and not condos when buying a new house. Hello Canada, it's Tuesday April 8th and this is the
00:00:33.920True North Daily Brief. I'm Cosmin Georgia. And I'm Jeff Knight. We've got you covered with all the
00:00:39.200news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives
00:00:44.540you won't hear anywhere else. The task force dedicated to securing Canada's elections from
00:00:53.240foreign interference announced it has detected a coordinated campaign by a Chinese Communist
00:00:58.920Party-backed news channel to promote coverage of Liberal leader Mark Carney. Amplified coverage of
00:01:05.720Carney includes posts identifying him as a quote rock star and highlighting his pro-China views.
00:01:12.600On Monday, the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force revealed it had
00:01:17.360quote detected a state-backed Chinese WeChat news platform has been attempting to quote influence
00:01:24.800the Chinese diaspora's views of Carney. Attempts include amplifying his experience and credentials.
00:01:31.680We are aware of an information operation targeting the 45th general election on the social media platform
00:01:38.880WeChat. The information operation was launched by Yoli Yomian, WeChat's most popular news account.
00:01:47.360Intelligence reporting links the Yoli Yomian account to the PRC, Chinese Communist Party,
00:01:53.120Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. The content of this information operation contains
00:01:59.680story about the Prime Minister, Liberal Party of Canada leader and candidate Indo-Pian Mark Carney.
00:02:08.320This content has been amplified in a coordinated and inauthentic way.
00:02:12.000This information operation had contrasting positive and negative narratives,
00:02:18.080first amplifying Mr. Carney's stance with the United States and then targeting his experience and credentials.
00:02:25.600The site task force assesses that the foreign state-backed information operation was intended to
00:02:30.720influence Canadian Chinese communities and look to mold perceptions about the candidate.
00:02:35.760The task force included links to Yoli Yomian, which saw the publication referring to Carney as a
00:02:43.440quote, tough Prime Minister to deal with US President Donald Trump, a quote, rock star economist,
00:02:50.560and that he plans to deepen quote, economic and trade cooperation with China as the first technocratic
00:02:57.440Prime Minister in Canadian history. According to the task force, the Chinese state influence operation
00:03:03.680first amplified Carney's quote, stance with the United States and then boosted quote, his experience and
00:03:09.600credentials. The Chinese state-backed news account Yuli Yomian has a history of targeting members of
00:03:16.480parliament in the past including Michael Chong in 2023 and more recently Chrystia Freeland during the
00:03:23.600liberal leadership race in January. WeChat is a popular Chinese language messaging platform used worldwide by over 1.3
00:03:32.400billion people. I think one of the contrasting points for Canadian voters between Mark Carney and Pierre
00:03:39.840Polyev is attitudes towards China. Now the conservatives have been uncompromising when it comes to Chinese
00:03:48.320interference. They've wanted to decouple the Canadian economy as much as possible from China. And I'd like to
00:03:55.040remind people we are currently facing multiple tariffs from China. China is in many senses of the word
00:04:01.600engaged in an economic war with Canada and Canadian industry. So for the Liberals to continuously present
00:04:10.800themselves as wanting to deepen economic ties, more trade relationships with China, having more laxed attitudes towards
00:04:20.480China, and we've seen this in the past with their refusal to actually implement a foreign agent registry. It does raise a lot of
00:04:29.040concerns, especially among Chinese diaspora dissident groups, including Hong Kong Watch, which is quoted in this article if you check out
00:04:38.160the piece on our website. But Jeff, what are some of the other concerning examples of Carney's attitude or views that he's expressed towards China?
00:04:48.640Yeah, Cosman, Mark Carney's track record on China raises some serious red flags. For one, he recently stood by former Liberal MP Paul Chang
00:04:57.120after Chang suggested kidnapping a conservative rival to claim a bounty from the Chinese government. On March 31st, Carney called it a
00:05:04.560teachable moment after Chang apologized. But his decision to keep Chang as a candidate, despite the gravity of the comment, suggests a
00:05:11.840troubling leniency towards actions that align with Chinese interests. It's a stance that makes you question how firm he'd be against
00:05:18.020Beijing in general. Then there's his time in the private sector. While chair of Brookfield Asset Management, Carney allegedly secured a
00:05:25.120$250 million loan from a Chinese state-owned bank in late 2024, just weeks after reportedly meeting with the deputy governor of the
00:05:33.520People's Bank of China. This was right after Justin Trudeau named him chair of an economic growth task force
00:05:39.360on September 9th, 2024. This is a timeline that screams potential conflict of interest. Brookfield, under Carney's
00:05:45.760watch, also held over $3 billion in investments tied to Chinese state-linked firms, including real estate and
00:05:52.480energy deals, which only deepens the concern about his financial ties to China. Carney's own words don't help his case
00:05:58.480see there. Back in 2016, while speaking at the Toronto Board of Trade, he gushed about China, saying,
00:06:04.240one of the many strengths of China is their perspective, and praised their ambitious leadership
00:06:08.960for creating profit opportunities in their so-called green capital market. It's the kind of glowing rhetoric
00:06:14.080that sounds more like a sales pitch rather than a critical assessment of a foreign regime known for
00:06:18.560its authoritarian grip. The Liberal candidate picked to replace disgraced Liberal MP Paul Chang in Markham
00:06:27.120Unionville, was videotaped singing a patriotic Chinese communist anthem, and was a board member
00:06:32.800of a private school flagged in Canada's recent foreign interference inquiry. The Liberals nominated
00:06:38.000former Toronto Police Service Deputy Chief Peter Yuen to replace Chang in his former writing after the
00:06:43.520disgraced Liberal MP, suggested supporters turn in a conservative opponent to the Chinese embassy in
00:06:48.560return for a bounty. Videos have since emerged of Yuen singing My Chinese Heart, a Chinese communist
00:06:54.800patriotic song. The song has been frequently used by the People's Republic of China to impose its
00:06:59.840nationalism onto minority communities. Buddhist monks were forced to sing the song to celebrate the
00:07:04.96070th anniversary of communist China. In the video, Yuen can be seen singing the patriotic anthem while in
00:07:11.120Yuen also joined the board of NOIC Academy in 2024, a private school flagged by Canada's independent
00:07:30.960investigation into foreign interference, the Hogue Commission. NOIC Academy was cited by intelligence
00:07:36.640reports for suspected election meddling concerns. The intelligence report suggested that the Toronto
00:07:41.760Chinese consulate pressured students by threatening their families in China if they didn't vote for
00:07:46.240preferred candidate in Don Valley North, the riding of Hong Kong dissident and conservative candidate
00:07:51.200Joe Tay. Yuen was brought in only after Chang stepped down due to public backlash when reports emerged that
00:07:57.360he had suggested to Chinese media that anyone could kidnap Tay and take him to the Chinese consulate for a bounty.
00:08:03.840Tay was born in Hong Kong, a region now under control by the CCP with increasingly limited freedoms,
00:08:09.920something that Tay has fought against publicly in the media. So Cosmin, did intelligence authorities
00:08:14.720have anything else to say about this situation? Yeah, so this all roots back to Han Dong's nomination
00:08:21.840meeting. And if you recall back in the day when the China interference allegations first came out about
00:08:27.520the 2021 and 2019 election, it was alleged that students, international students, were bussed out
00:08:35.120to Han Dong's nomination meeting with the Liberal Party and where he was nominated as the Liberal candidate.
00:08:42.240And while Dong has denied any wrongdoing or interference on his own part, there was a declassified CSIS summary
00:08:50.480that pinpointed NYC Academy suggesting and alleging that somehow international students were issued veiled threats
00:09:01.520by the Chinese government, either people tied to the Chinese consulate or the Chinese government itself
00:09:08.320to go and participate. And it's unclear. There has been no specific names or individuals named in this
00:09:17.520particular instance, but this was CSIS intelligence that was being provided to the government. And that
00:09:24.400resulted in appearance of mentions to this student issue, international student issue, in several studies,
00:09:32.000including the Hogue Commission. Among the threats that were quoted or cited by the media, including the Globe and Mail,
00:09:39.120was that students were threatened with their student visas being cancelled, or also their families in China
00:09:46.480facing discipline or consequences if they didn't do what the Chinese government said.
00:09:51.120And we know this is the modus operandi of the Chinese government. That's what they rely on
00:09:57.280to clamp down on any dissidents in the Chinese diaspora. They threatened them with, you know, diplomatic
00:10:05.120consequences like having their visa cancelled or personal consequences like seeing their family at home suffer.
00:10:11.600A new survey shows that most Canadians want single detached homes and prioritize having a backyard as
00:10:20.960a priority when considering buying a new house. A new survey by WAHI, a team of real estate experts,
00:10:27.760found that having a backyard is the single most important home feature for the majority of Canadians.
00:10:33.680The survey ranked 27 different housing attributes and amenities. The survey reads, quote,
00:10:39.920more than three quarters, 81% of Canadians say that if they were in the market for a new home to rent
00:10:45.600or own, a backyard is important. Additionally, a majority of respondents said they wanted a single
00:10:51.440family home at 61%, compared to the 24%, who said they preferred living in a condo or apartment.
00:10:58.560Another cohort of 11% said they weren't sure, while 4% were considering other options.
00:11:04.880Another highly desired feature among Canadians is a separate entrance.
00:11:08.880Meanwhile, another important feature was to have a finished basement, which they strongly preferred
00:11:14.720at 42%. This may in part be due to their desire to rent out a portion of their home to alleviate
00:11:21.120mortgage costs. 39% said that having a parking garage was a desired attribute.
00:11:27.120Jeff, we're well into the election campaign now. Both parties have presented a vision. It might not be their
00:11:34.800full policy. We haven't seen their full platforms out yet, but they've made a lot of statements and
00:11:39.440announcements related to housing. How do these policies compare when we're talking about the two
00:11:46.240leading parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals? The Conservatives under Pierre Polyev are laser
00:11:52.160focused on speeding up home building and cutting costs for buyers. They're offering a tax cut for homes under
00:11:58.1601.3 million dollars, which gives buyers a bit more breathing room. They're also tying federal funding to
00:12:03.920results. Cities have to boost home building by 15% annually or they lose cash, with penalties stacking
00:12:09.680up each year that they fall short. There's an incentive for them too. They're offering building bonuses for
00:12:14.400cities that exceed targets. To tackle delays, they're slashing six-figure salaries for bureaucrats who stall
00:12:20.000approvals, and they're mandating that the CMHC greenlights projects within 60 days or faces consequences. It's a plan that aims to get more
00:12:27.760single-family homes built faster by clearing out red tape and incentivizing construction, which aligns
00:12:33.200better with the survey's findings on what Canadians want. On the other hand, the Liberals' big policy
00:12:38.240is a tax cut for homes under 1 million dollars, lifted straight from the Conservatives, but with a lower cap
00:12:43.920so that it helps fewer buyers. Beyond that, their plan falls flat on addressing the root issues. They're not
00:12:49.600tackling the red tape or the gatekeepers blocking development, and the CMHC is still a mess, delaying approvals
00:12:55.040while handing out millions in bonuses to staff, even as housing prices soar. So instead of streamlining,
00:13:01.040they're creating a new bureaucracy called Build Canada Homes, which sounds more like government
00:13:05.760bloat to me. That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes
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