Remember CSIS warning Vancouver's Mayor about foreign meddling? Now a Chinese Canadian leader claims Stewart spreading conspiracy theories to divide the Chinese community

A few weeks ago, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) warned Vancouver’s mayor on foreign election interference (https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/csis-officials-briefed-vancouver-mayor-on-foreign-election-interference). With the civic election looming, Guo Ding, a Chinese Canadian community leader posted an article claiming Kennedy Stewart is spreading conspiracy theories to divide the Chinese Canadian community.

The translated version of his post (Translation by Google Translate and DeepL Translator, with minor edits) please find below:

Headline: Breaking: Municipal election in the Greater Vancouver should be based on political achievements, not conspiracy theories. How should the Chinese Canadians vote?

Author: Guo Ding (丁果)
Publication date: July 20, 2022
Platform: the WeChat channel “Rise Opinions (高度见闻)”

Original post link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HZtGDmXkhsZcr4H_ZviYZw

Three months after today, on October 15, it will be the voting day of the B.C. municipal elections.

Except for Surrey, where there are a lot of election topics, this municipal election in the Greater Vancouver area is characterized by the fact that although the topic is cold, it is very demonic, and there is a severe tendency to use ideology and specious smear to kidnap the election and divide the community. 

The turnout rate in the Chinese community is never high. What’s more, there were many different opinions within the community. Some friends seem to be at odds with each other, but in fact, they are "on the same path" as they all focus on the issue of "Asian positioning", instead of the on the truly important issues we are facing such as safety issues, drug overdose, Chinatown issues, soaring property taxes, and environmental issues. On these issues, we should voice our opinions and make suggestions to make our cities safer, healthier, more inclusive, and more fair and just.

For example, it is surprising that a major international tourism city like Vancouver has been experiencing constant "random assaults" in the streets, which makes it impossible to guarantee  the freedom of Vancouver citizens to walk safely on the streets. It is also surprising that this safety issue that could put the performance of the police and the municipal government in question is not a focal topic issue at the civic election. Instead, the baseless "issue" of Beijing's interference in the Vancouver civic election has become the subject of statements by various forces.

But what goes beyond imagination is that that there is only one certain mayor that utilizes his conversation with the CSIS as a method to seek electoral benefits by implicitly smearing and discredit his political rivals by painting them "red". Anyone with an elementary school education would understand that if foreign powers are interfering in elections by manipulating Chinese Canadian voters, it would be impossible to do it in only one city in Greater Vancouver, and the CSIS’s warning would not be delivered to only one mayoral candidates. Why didn't other mayoral candidates take this matter public and target their political opponents, but only the mayor of one city did so? Isn't his behavior playing into conspiracy theories?

Municipal politics, unlike federal politics, is not about Canada's foreign affairs, but more about the more down-to-earth issues of its citizens such as food, drink, and sleep. The simple question is, would a foreign power interfere with a city's election and work its way to "encircle the center" and eventually paint the entire Canada “red”? I have trouble imagining such a scenario. For me, municipal elections are about curbing crime, maintaining safety, environmental protection, property taxes, garbage collection, sewerage regulation, urban planning, affordable housing, etc. Voters need to focus on these local matters and should not let the person who has been in power for four years get away with accountability by trumping up non-existing issues to red-smear his competitors. 

In terms of ideology, Vancouver and Burnaby are both have left-wing mayors, but there is a world of difference between the two cities in terms of governing effectiveness. Mike Hurley, mayor of Burnaby, campaigns by his political performance, not by touting the CSIS conversation, establishing friendly relations with a certain foreign city, or refusing to meet with foreign envoys from a certain country to divert the focus of the municipal election, confuse voters, and divide the Chinese Canadian community.

Malcolm Brodie, Mayor of Richmond, in line with his consistent attitude of supporting the Chinese Canadian community, is not afraid of a few people smearing him “red”. He is doing what a mayor should do in the community, attending activities of positive significance in the Chinese Canadian community, conveying a positive attitude of respect for the Chinese Canadian community, encouraging unity and tolerance in the Chinese Canadian community, rather than deliberately dividing the community and using one section of the community against another. The quality of the mayor is obvious.

Therefore, I believe the Chinese Canadian voters should focus on the performance of the candidates, their election platform, and the quality of them. We should not be misled by conspiracy theories that are detrimental to our city and our people.

About the author: who is Guo Ding (丁果)?

• Guo Ding is the producer of OMNI BC Mandarin News, a program under Rogers Communications.
  (See details: https://www.omnitv.ca/bc/cmn/bios/guo-ding-2/） 

• Guo Ding is a productive commentator whose work has been published on multiple Chinese-language publications in Canada. His English articles have been published on Georgia Strait. Guo Ding is also the author or co-author of several books, including “Canada's Chinese Gene”. 

• Guo Ding is one of the members of the B. C. premier’s Chinese-Canadian Community Advisory Committee.
  (See details: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0002-000269)

• Guo Ding is the founding president of Canada Committee 100 Society (CCS100, 加拿大华裔百人会), a non-profit organization. In December 2021, Canada Committee 100 Society received $20,000 from the B.C. government to host 10 public engagement sessions for Chinese-speaking communities to provide their thoughts on race-based data collection.
  (See details: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021AG0182-002361）