Independent MP Han Dong said Sunday morning he will not seek re-election in Don Valley North — a decision that comes one day after the Liberals announced they’re running a candidate in the suburban Toronto riding.
“After speaking with my family, team and supporters, I have decided not to participate in this election to give [the Liberal Party of Canada] the best chance to form a government and protect us from the threats posed by Donald Trump,” Dong said in a statement posted to social media.
Dong left the Liberal caucus in March 2023 to sit as an Independent.
He said he was still looking to clear his name after Global News published a report that cited unidentified sources suggesting Dong privately advised a senior Chinese diplomat to hold off on freeing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadians who at the time were detained in China.
He has denied the allegations against him and filed a lawsuit against Global, its parent company Corus and several journalists just weeks after the story ran.
In his statement, Dong said he is “disappointed not to be part of this important campaign” and that he continues his fight in court.
“It has been a privilege to serve the residents of DVN and a humbling experience to work with and learn from so many hardworking leaders, volunteers of community organizations and public institutions,” Dong said.
In June 2024, an Ontario Superior Court judge found no documented evidence to support allegations made against Dong in the Global News articles.
The judge made the comments as he rejected an application from Corus Entertainment to throw out Dong’s lawsuit against the news service, saying it is in the public interest to hear the case.
“The matter of Mr. Dong’s communications with the Chinese are worthy of the freedom of expression of an open court system,” Justice Paul Perell said in his judgment.
Perell found the reporter who wrote the story did not see a transcript of the conversation derived from the confidential sources about the conversation between Dong and the diplomat, and did not keep all of the notes that were used as part of the reporting process.
The ruling said the notes the reporter did keep, based on conversations with sources, do not contain any reference to Dong advising a Chinese diplomat to “delay” or “hold off” on releasing the two men.
In her final report on foreign interference released earlier this year, Justice Marie-Josée Hogue wrote that she found no evidence of “traitors” in Parliament.
In their nomination notice, the Liberal Party announced Maggie Chi will run for the party in Don Valley North. Chi previously ran for the Ontario Liberal nomination for Scarborough North in 2022.
GTA Liberal candidate under fire
Meanwhile, a Liberal candidate running for re-election in a battleground Greater Toronto Area riding is apologizing after suggesting people attempt to claim a Chinese bounty on the Don Valley North Conservative candidate.
Paul Chiang — the Liberal candidate for Markham-Unionville — suggested during a local Chinese-language media news conference in January that people should claim the bounty on Joe Tay.
“To everyone here, you can claim the one-million-dollar bounty if you bring him to Toronto’s Chinese consulate,” Chiang said, according to the Toronto Association for Democracy in China (TADC).
Chiang hasn’t denied making the comments and issued an apology in a social media post Friday.
“The comments I made were deplorable and a complete lapse of judgment on the seriousness of the matter,” Chiang, a former police officer, wrote on X.
“I sincerely apologize and deeply regret my comments.”
In December, Hong Kong police put out a bounty and arrest warrant for Tay — worth $1 million HK, roughly $184,000 — and other China democracy advocates. Tay is a co-founder of Canada-based NGO HongKonger Station.
The warrants are largely seen as the Hong Kong government targeting vocal critics based abroad. At the time, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly denounced the bounties.
Several Conservatives, including leader Pierre Poilievre, have called on the Liberals to drop Chiang.
“If Mark Carney would allow his Liberal MP to make a comment like this, when would he ever protect Canada or Canadians against foreign hostility?” Poilievre said at a campaign event in Toronto’s suburban North York district on Sunday.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, speaking in Port Moody, B.C., on Day 8 of the election campaign, is asked about Liberal candidate Paul Chiang’s comments suggesting people attempt to claim a Chinese bounty on Conservative Joe Tay.
NDP candidate Jenny Kwan, who’s been outspoken on the issue of foreign interference in Canada, lambasted Chiang at a party campaign event in Port Moody, B.C., on Sunday.
“In what universe is this normal?” Kwan said. “We need to stand together to fight against [transnational repression] and not peddle it, as the way as it is being done from the Liberal candidate.”
A spokesperson for the Liberal campaign told CBC News on Saturday evening that Chiang “apologized and has been clear that he will stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong as they fight to safeguard their human rights and freedoms.”
