Sen. Woo downplays evidence that China targeted MPs Chong, Kwan – National [Video]

An independent senator is calling evidence the Chinese government “targeted” MPs Michael Chong and Jenny Kwan “cavalier and flimsy,” downplaying Beijing’s efforts to collect “human intelligence” on Canadian parliamentarians.

Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, whom the Liberals appointed to the Senate in 2016, has been a vocal critic of the federal government’s response to Chinese interference operations and skeptical of allegations that Beijing is meddling in Canadian affairs, was denied standing during the second phase of the federal inquiry into foreign interference after participating in the first round.

Standing would’ve allowed Woo to participate in the second round of testimony, and the senator requested the commission cover his legal costs. Both requests were denied.

But Woo still offered some closing thoughts as Justice Marie-Josée Hogue and her team prepare their final report on foreign interference in the last two federal elections. Woo’s written submission, published by the inquiry last week, suggested Chong and Kwan inflated claims that the Chinese …