1 day Ago By Ari Yanover
OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Mark Carney said he accepted embattled Toronto candidate Paul Chiang’s resignation Monday night, but would not say if the controversy was a “teachable moment” for him as a novice politician. Carney had previously used the term “teachable moment” in explaining why he had decided to keep Chiang as a candidate, despite his suggestion to Chinese media that people in his riding turn over a rival Conservative candidate to Chinese authorities. Carney amounted his candidate’s unfortunate comments to a lesson which underscored “the respect with which we treat human rights in this country.
” He nonetheless stood by his candidate, running for re-election in Markham–Unionville, citing his nearly three decades of service as a police officer in the community. “He’s made his apology. He’s made it to the public, he’s made it to the individual concerned, he’s made it directly to me, and he’s going to continue with his candidacy.
” “He has my confidence.” By Monday evening, the RCMP told the National Post that it was probing Chiang’s comments . This came after pro-democracy group Hong Kong Watch urged the federal police to launch an investigation to see if the candidate has breached any laws.
“The RCMP is looking into the matter, however no specific details can be provided at this time,” said RCMP spokeswoman Kristine Kelly in a statement. Chiang put out a statement hours later, announcing that he was stepping down because he did not want to derail the Liberal campaign. Please see my statement below.
pic.twitter.com/12P50tir4X “As the prime minister and Team Canada work to stand up to President [Donald] Trump and protect our economy, I do not want there to be distractions in this critical moment,” Chiang wrote on X.
“That’s why I’m standing aside as our 2025 candidate in our community of Markham–Unionville.” In comparison, the Conservatives dropped their candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, Mark McKenzie , on Tuesday after they learned that he had expressed support for the death penalty in a podcast from February 2022. Tuesday morning, Carney faced reporters again and was asked why he did not do the same with Chiang.
He was also asked if this was “a teachable moment” for him. “Mr. Chiang offered his resignation last night.
I accepted it. As I said yesterday, his comments were deeply, deeply troubling and regrettable. We will move on with looking for a new candidate for Markham.
I’ll leave it at that,” said Carney. During a news conference with Chinese-language media in January, Chiang told people that they could cash in on a HK$1 million bounty (CAN$184,000) if they turned over Joe Tay — who was vying for the Conservative nomination Markham–Unionville but is now running in Don Valley North instead — to Chinese authorities..
