Justin Trudeau says he didn’t know Tory MP’s family was allegedly targeted by Beijing

OTTAWA-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday he only found out two days ago that a Conservative MP's family was being targeted by the Chinese government, despite Canada's spy agency allegedly having a report on the subject that dates back two years.

Trudeau said the information never made its way to his desk, and he's now issued instructions to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to ensure that never happens again-an edict that didn't seem to pass muster with Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong.

The Globe and Mail reported Monday that security officials believed in 2021 that Beijing had targeted Chong's relatives as part of a campaign to influence Canadian politics.

The Star has not confirmed the report, but Chong himself did in the House of Commons on Tuesday, saying that a Chinese diplomat in Canada was involved in conducting these intimidation operations."

Trudeau said Wednesday he knew that after Chong was sanctioned by China in 2021, CSIS was giving the MP what Trudeau called defensive" briefings.

Chong had attracted Beijing's ire for his strong support of the rights of China's minority Uyghur population.

The prime minister said he asked about those briefings after Monday's report, and why information about threats to Chong's family were never disclosed.

Trudeau suggested CSIS's threshold to reveal the details hadn't been met, and said that needs to change.

Going forward, we're making it very, very clear to CSIS and all our intelligence officials that when there are concerns that talk specifically about any MP, particularly about their family, those need to be elevated even if CSIS doesn't feel that it's a sufficient level of concern for them to take more direct action," Trudeau said.

We still need to know about it at the upper government levels."

Trudeau said the new instructions are effective immediately.

Speaking to reporters after Trudeau's acknowledgment, Chong said the fact the government knew for two years that he and his family were targets and did nothing remains inexcusable.

Chong said he still wants to know when the public safety minister became aware of the issue, noting there was a directive issued to CSIS in 2019 that it had a duty to report anything of interest to the minister.

If ministers of the Crown and their offices were completely unaware of this, this shows an appalling breakdown in leadership on part of the prime minister," Chong said.

The prime minister and the prime minister alone is responsible for the machinery of government and for the prime minister not to know about this, not to be interested in this, I think calls into question the (Prime Minister's Office's) handle on the machinery of government."

Chong did not disclose any details of the alleged intimidation operations," but he grew emotional as he noted he hasn't spoken to his family in China in years, having decided to cut them off to protect them when tensions between China and Hong Kong began to ratchet up years ago.

Chong's father was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada in 1952. Chong has spoken in the past of trading letters with cousins there as a child.

The position I find myself in is the same position that Canadians across the country have had to face for years," he said, and that's why this government's inaction on this file is so inexplicable and appalling."

Wednesday's developments came a day after Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino repeatedly dodged questions about what the government knew and when about the potential risks to Chong's family, and why Chong himself was never told.

The Globe and Mail reported that Chinese government officials sought information on Chong's relatives, which CSIS suspected was a way to deter" Canadian politicians from criticizing Beijing.

Chong said the Chinese diplomat that he referred to remains in Canada, and ought to be expelled immediately.

A person in Canada is targeting me and my family with the approval of the government of Canada," he said.

This individual needs to be declared persona non grata immediately."

With files from Alex Ballingall

Stephanie Levitz is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @StephanieLevitz