万锦市副市长陈国治对《环球邮报》 刻意、虚假、不切实际报道的回复

万锦市副市长陈国治对《环球邮报》刻意、虚假、不切实际的报道给与的回应:
《环球邮报》的记者,罗布特·法福(Robert Fife)刻意节选了我给他的声明的部分内容。他没有公布我的全部声明,尤其是这三个重要事实:

1) 下议院常务委员会在公共安全和国家安全的一个对加拿大国家安全局(CSIS)局长理查德·法登(Richard Fadden)的调查报告中指出:“ 公共安全部长要求理查德· 法登辞职”(链接:https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/40- 3/SECU/report-8/page-21#intro))。
2) 我曾与警察面谈并提供相关邪恶组织的信息,如果万一我突然失踪或者死亡,他 们可以就此彻查。

3) 在 2018 至 2019 年间,我出访海外十次。
 

《环球邮报》发来的邮件 – 星期三,2023年2月8日:
陈先生,
我想征求您对这个我将报道的事件的看法。
在 2023 年(应为 2022 年—笔者注)10 月 28 日对特鲁多总理的国家安全简报会上, 就 2019 年中国干预选举事件,CSIS (加拿大安全情报局)局长戴维·维尼奥特(David Vigneault)对您和保守党省议员柯文彬提出了质疑。戴维指出,您已经重新活跃在政坛,并告诫政府的国会议员在与您的接触中,应保持警惕。
在 2019 年的另一场总理听取的国家安全简报会上,您还因共同主持伍凤仪的竞选而被标记警示。最终,您没有做上那个职位,因为您对香港动用警力镇压亲民主抗议活动的评论使伍女士感到不安。我被告知,CSIS 的担忧还来自于您曾在 2019 年一月和四月,与中国领馆的赵巍和时任副总领事的庄耀东有过若干次会晤。
对于 CSIS 一直提出的您在国家安全问题上有潜在威胁的言论,您有什么看法? CSIS 是否对您进行过采访,让您有机会回应或者拒绝他们的质疑? 等待您的回复。

鲍勃
 

陈国治的回复 – 星期五,2023年2月10日
法福先生,
我写信希望你能抵制住盲目追求轰动效果的诱惑,也不要效仿你的某些同事们的卑劣和令人尴尬的做法—他们采纳了恶意中伤、不可靠并未经验证的消息来源,对我进行了持续、虚假、不切实际的报道和指控。正如《多伦多星报》专栏作家马丁·雷格·科恩 (Martin Regg Cohn) 在 2015年指出,“《多伦多星报》和其他众多媒体的记者们很久以前就了解到,陈是被CSIS盯上的省级官员之一,但是除了影射,并没有什么实质揭露,都是无伤大雅、无关的行为。”
我认为,在没有完全披露事实和消息来源的情况下,把我的名字放入毫无根据、诽谤性的暗示和未披露全部事实和信息来源的影射中,显然违反了新闻报道的公允和诚信原则。
你的同事在2015年发表的文章在当时及其后的影响,以及你邮件中就 CSIS 最近向特鲁多总理作的简报对我发表的声明,只会点燃仇外情绪,并对我的名誉和我家人的安全造成了持续的、无中生有、无法挽回的伤害。我们在这种“人格暗杀”的企图中经历的恐怖和威胁,让我意识到,我有必要采取极端措施。这些措施包括为了寻求帮助,我在几年前与约克地区警察局的一名高级官员的会面。我和他分享了有关邪恶组织的信息: 如果我突然失踪或死亡,这些信息将可以帮助他们进行调查。我始终将加拿大和加拿大人的利益置于首位;我引以为豪的楷模般的公共服务,有长期的真实的记录。你的同事的攻击,对我这样的人来说,格外的令人震惊和沮丧。
如你所知,在2010年,前总理哈珀任命的CSIS局长理查德·法登(Richard Fadden) 首先公开发出虚假和未经证实的指控:“我们认为,BC省有几名市政官员,至少在两个省的政府官员,至少受到某外国政府的普遍影响。”这种前所未有的鲁莽言论引起了广泛的谴责,导致下议院公共安全和国家安全常设委员会举行了两次简报会,都是针对 “加拿大安全情报局局长理查德·法登有关加拿大政要涉嫌受外国影响的言论”。 该委员会最终发布了一份报告,其中包括“公共安全部长要求理查德· 法登辞职 ..“,CSIS局长及其所领导的组织的无能,是我们自己的政府得出的结论和公开判断。
CSIS 从未就他们的虚假和未经证实的指控采访过我。然而,我知道他们对我的朋友和 熟人进行了恐吓性的采访,并让他们闭嘴。
你所说的关于我参与伍凤仪的竞选活动,也是完全错误的。

从2018年末到2019年末,为了开发一个海外项目,我往来东南亚十次。这个行程还包括多次会见东南亚和其它亚洲国家的领事官员。在这些旅行的间隙,我回到加拿大履行我的作为塞内卡学院(Seneca College)理事会成员的职责。 不知道你是否也听说,我前几天才会见了中国驻多伦多副总领事和赵巍先生。领事及领馆工作人员与加拿大人、 政治家或其他人讨论商业和贸易的会议,是领馆的惯例。
这次疫情对我来说是一个反思的时间,在看到它对万锦市的大规模的破坏,再加上许多人的支持和鼓励,我选择重新进入市政,继续为公众服务并做出表率。

附录:英文版本

Introduction
Please note that Mr. Robert Fife, Globe and Mail reporter, cherry-picked my statement to him. He failed to publish my full statement which included these three important facts:
1) That a Report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security investigation into Richard Fadden included: “That the Minister of Public Safety require Richard Fadden to resign” (https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/40- 3/SECU/report-8/page-21#intro)
2) That I met with police to provide information about malevolent organizations that they should investigate if I suddenly disappeared or died;
3) That I travelled overseas 10 times from late 2018 to late 2019.

Email from the Globe and Mail – Wednesday, February 8, 2023:
Mr. Chan
I am seeking your comment on a story that I will be writing.
In an Oct 28, 2023 national security briefing to Prime Minister Trudeau on Chinese election interference in the 2019 election, CSIS Director David Vigneault raised concerns about you and Conservative MPP Vincent Ke. The director mentioned you had returned to active politics and cautioned that government MPs should be vigilant in their dealings with you.
In 2019 at another national security briefing with the PMO, your name was also flagged with  respect to co-chairing Mary Ng’s election campaign. In the end, you did not take up that role
as Ms. Ng was uncomfortable with your comments on Hong Kong police crackdown on pro- democracy protests.
I am told that CSIS’s concerns involve meetings you had with Wei Zhao from the Chinese consulate and Vice Consul-General Yaodong Zhuang going back to January and April 2019.
Do you have any comment on the fact that CSIS continues to raise alleged national security concerns about you?
Has CSIS interviewed you so you could have a chance to respond or refute their suspicions? I look forward to your response.
Feel free to call me at 613-302-2246 if you prefer to discuss the matter.
Regards-Bob

My response – Friday, February 10, 2023:
Dear Mr. Fife,

I am writing in the hope that you will resist both the siren call of sensationalism and the temptation to follow the despicable and embarrassing example of your colleagues who have chosen to collude with malicious, unreliable, and unvetted sources to justify their continuous reporting of false and unsubstantiated allegations about me. As noted by Toronto Star columnist Martin Regg Cohn in 2015, “Journalists at the Toronto Star and various other media learned long ago that Chan was one of those provincial politicians being eyeballed by CSIS, but there was nothing to disclose beyond innuendo — innocuous and innocent activities.” I believe any linking of my name to baseless, slanderous insinuations and innuendo without the full disclosure of the facts and sources is a clear violation of journalistic balance and integrity.
 
The effect of your colleagues’ publications in 2015 and in the years since, and your own statement to me about a recent briefing by CSIS to Prime Minister Trudeau, serves only to ignite xenophia and cause continued, unwarranted, and irreparable damage to my reputation and the safety of my family. The terror and threats we experienced from the attempts at character assassination made it necessary for me to take extreme measures. Those measures included a meeting a few years ago with a senior York Regional Police official to seek help and with whom I shared information about malevolent organizations to aid their investigation if I suddenly disappeared or died. Your colleagues’ attacks were especially egregious and disheartening for someone like myself who has always put the interests of Canada and Canadians first and foremost, and who has a long, true record of exemplary public service.
 

As you know, in 2010, former Prime Minister Harper-appointed CSIS Director Richard Fadden first publicly blurted out false and unsubstantiated allegations, stating, “There are several municipal politicians in British Columbia and in at least two provinces there are ministers of the Crown who we think are under at least the general influence of a foreign  government.” This reckless and unprecedented behaviour elicited widespread condemnation that resulted in a House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security holding two briefing sessions regarding “CANADIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE DIRECTOR RICHARD FADDEN’S REMARKS REGARDING ALLEGED FOREIGN INFLUENCE OF CANADIAN POLITICIANS”. The Committee issued a report that included, “That the Minister of Public Safety require Richard Fadden to resign . . . “, a conclusion by our own government that was a public judgement on the incompetency of the CSIS Director and his organization.
CSIS has never interviewed me regarding their false and unsubstantiated allegations. However, I am aware that they have conducted intimidating interviews with my friends and acquaintances and then instructed them to keep their mouths shut.
Your statement to me regarding Mary Ng’s campaign is utterly false.
From late 2018 to late 2019, I travelled ten times to Southeast Asia to develop an overseas project. This travel included multiple meetings with numerous consular officials of Southeast Asian and Asian countries. In between those trips, I returned to Canada to fulfil my responsibilities as a member of the Board of Governors for Seneca College. Just in case you were not aware, I met a few days ago with the Deputy Consul-General from China in Toronto and Mr. Wei Zhao. Meetings to discuss business and trade between Consular officials and Canadians, politicians or otherwise, are a common practice.

The pandemic was a time of reflection for me and, after observing its widespread destruction to Markham, coupled with support and encouragement from many people, I chose to re-enter politics municipally to continue my public service and record of positive contributions.
 
Michael Chan