Michael Ma faces protests, questions over China affinities after crossing floor to Liberals

The surprise defection of former Conservative MP Michael Ma to the Liberals has prompted allegations of an overly close orientation to Chinese-government views, as well as protests outside his office and a petition urging him to resign.

A small group of demonstrators marched back and forth outside of Ma’s office in Markham, north of Toronto, on Sunday carrying signs that accused him of being a traitor to the voters who elected him and a “puppet” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Questions raised about his approach to China include an endorsement of his candidacy in April’s federal election by a pro-Beijing community leader. Critics also raise his previous, senior position with the Hong Kong hospital authority, and his appearance in August at a dinner celebrating the Chinese Freemasons Society, a group accused of being a proxy of sorts for the Chinese government.

Two of the speakers at that event, including China’s vice-consul in Toronto, used the forum to promote the idea of what Beijing calls “reunification” of mainland China and Taiwan. Annexing Taiwan is a major goal of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has not ruled out using military force to achieve it. The overwhelming majority of people reject the notion in Taiwan, a democratic, self-governed enclave that has never been part of communist China.

At the event, Ma simply brought greetings from Parliament and praised the Freemasons group, known as Hongmen in Chinese, but said nothing to indicate he supports unifying Taiwan and the mainland.

Still, Gloria Fung, a prominent critic of the Chinese government, said there was enough worrisome about Ma’s record regarding Beijing that she warned a Conservative organizer to carefully vet him as a candidate early this year.

“For him to be the CIO of the (Hong Kong) Hospital Authority, it really shows his alignment with the Chinese government policy toward Hong Kong,” charged Fung, president of the group Canada-Hong Kong Link. Ma became an executive after the Chinese communist government took control of Hong Kong institutions, and Fung argues that high-ranking officials were then expected to be loyal to the government.

Joe Tay, the former Conservative candidate who’s wanted by Hong Kong authorities for his criticism of communist rule, said Ma should at least resign if he’s unhappy with the Conservatives, and run again to let the riding’s voters decide if they want him as their Liberal MP.

Tay said he and his wife met with Ma and his wife before the federal election. Tay said Ma “casually mentioned” that he had done IT work for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a major tool to extend the country’s global influence. The National Post could not confirm Tay’s account.

“When you connect all these dots together, people have these kinds of worries,” Tay said.

At a news conference for Chinese-language reporters in March, Ma was accompanied by Ben Leung, whose Canada Hong  Kong Alliance has often sided with the Chinese government, including by voicing support for Hong Kong’s national security law. The NSL has been widely condemned in the West as a means of suppressing freedom and dissent in the enclave.

For him to be the CIO of the (Hong Kong) Hospital Authority, it really shows his alignment with the Chinese government policy toward Hong Kong

But Cheuk Kwan, another stiff critic of the Chinese government, downplayed Ma’s interactions with pro-Beijing figures, saying he simply did what most politicians tend to do in ridings with a large percentage of immigrants from mainland China.

“I think him being in these dinners and perhaps even meeting with the (Chinese vice) consulate general is par for the course,” said the co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China

Neither Ma nor the Liberal party responded to requests for comment by deadline.

In a statement after he announced his decision to switch parties last week, the MP said he had listened carefully to constituents and decided that he should reject opposing the government and support what he called Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “steady, practical approach.”

Ma’s decision to cross the floor to the Liberals had has moved Carney’s government to within one seat of a majority in the House of Commons, which could have national implications.

But there seemed to be almost as much upheaval at the level of Ma’s suburban riding, where Chinese-Canadians make up about 65 per cent of the population, and where a drama around Tay and alleged China interference played out recently.

In the cramped corridor outside his constituency office in Markham on Sunday, demonstrators marched with signs that urged Ma to step down, said he had “betrayed the voters of Markham-Unionville,” and accused him of being a Beijing “puppet.” Some of the placards were left attached to his office door.

A petition on Change.org targeted at voters in the riding urged Ma to quit, and called for legislation that would require a byelection whenever an MP wants to change parties. It had gathered 37,000 signatures by Monday afternoon, although it was unclear how many of the signatories were residents of Ma’s Markham—Unionville constituency.

Ma was originally supposed to run in the Toronto riding of Don Valley North, but the Conservative party switched him to Markham—Unionville and replaced him in Don Valley North with Tay.

Tay, a Hong Kong native and Canadian citizen, faces national-security charges in Hong Kong and a $180,000 bounty over his internet channel, which was critical of the region’s administration by Beijing. The Liberal incumbent in Markham—Unionville withdrew in the early weeks of this year’s federal election under pressure after encouraging people to turn Tay into the Chinese consulate and collect the bounty. The Liberals’ second candidate, Peter Yuen, was then criticized for ties to groups aligned with Beijing, including attending events with the Chinese Freemasons.

Ma immigrated from Hong Kong himself at age 12, before tragedy struck and his father was killed by a motorist while crossing a street in Vancouver, leaving his mother to raise seven children, according to his former campaign website. He obtained computer-science and MBA degrees and held various computer-related executive roles at the Royal Bank and TD, Sun Life, Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and, most recently, LifeLabs.

He served in the early 2010s as CIO of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, which he described as a “non-civil service” job.

Fung said the CCP by then had started to tighten its grip on the city’s administration and legal system. Lawyers, for instance, were required to sign a pledge of allegiance to the Communist Party in 2012.

A few months after being elected, Ma attended the Chinese Freemasons event in Toronto. An official with the group said it opposed foreign forces interfering in China’s internal affairs and “fully supports” the “unity of the country,” alluding to Taiwan, according to Chinese-language CCNews. Chinese vice-consul Cheng Hongbo in turn praised the Freemasons for their “unremitting efforts” in the cause of China-Taiwan “complete reunification.” The group has also sided with Beijing on other political issues, such as opposing the 2019 protests against a law that would allow extradition of people from Hong Kong to mainland China.

But Kwan said, unlike some other organizations that have more aggressively backed Beijing’s agenda in Canada, the Freemasons are a relatively “low-level” group. Hongmen once supported Sun Yat Sen in his fight to topple China’s last, Qing dynasty, then the Kuomintang who fought the Communists in the Chinese civil war. More recently, he charged, they have come under the sway of Beijing’s current rulers.

National Post

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