cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6369787

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Explosive new allegations of Chinese interference in Prince Edward Island show Canada’s institutions may already be compromised and Ottawa has been slow to respond.

The revelations came out in August in a book entitled “Canada Under Siege: How PEI Became a Forward Operating Base for the Chinese Communist Party.” It was co-authored by former national director of the RCMP’s proceeds of crime program Garry Clement, who conducted an investigation with CSIS intelligence officer Michel Juneau-Katsuya.

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P.E.I.’s Provincial Nominee Program allows provinces to recommend immigrants for permanent residence based on local economic needs. It seems the program was exploited by wealthy applicants linked to Beijing to gain permanent residence in exchange for investments that often never materialized. It was all part of “money laundering, corruption, and elite capture at the highest levels.”

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Hundreds of thousands of dollars came in crisp hundred-dollar bills on given weekends, amounting to millions over time. A monastery called Blessed Wisdom had set up a network of “corporations, land transfers, land flips, and citizens being paid under the table, cash for residences and property,” as was often done by organized crime.

Clement even called the Chinese government “the largest transnational organized crime group in the history of the world.” If true, the allegation raises an obvious question: how much of this activity has gone unnoticed or unchallenged by Canadian authorities, and why?

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Dean Baxendale, CEO of the China Democracy Fund and Optimum Publishing International, published the book after five years of investigations.

“We followed the money, we followed the networks, and we followed the silence,” Baxendale said. “What we found were clear signs of elite capture, failed oversight and infiltration of Canadian institutions and political parties at the municipal, provincial and federal levels by actors aligned with the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, the Ministry of State Security. In some cases, political donations have come from members of organized crime groups in our country and have certainly influenced political decision making over the years.”

For readers unfamiliar with them, the United Front Work Department is a Chinese Communist Party organization responsible for influence operations abroad, while the Ministry of State Security is China’s main civilian intelligence agency. Their involvement underscores the gravity of the allegations.

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One example Baxendale highlighted involved a PEI hotel. “We explore how a PEI hotel housed over 500 Chinese nationals, all allegedly trying to reclaim their $25,000 residency deposits, but who used a single hotel as their home address. The owner was charged by the CBSA, only to have the trial shut down by the federal government itself,” he said. The case became a key test of whether Canadian authorities were willing to pursue foreign interference through the courts.

The press conference came 476 days after Bill C-70 was passed to address foreign interference. The bill included the creation of Canada’s first foreign agent registry. Former MP Kevin Vuong rightly asked why the registry had not been authorized by cabinet. The delay raises doubts about Ottawa’s willingness to confront the problem directly.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5471926

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Concerns about election interference, espionage, and economic coercion are not just theoretical. Intelligence officers, parliamentarians, and investigative journalists have repeatedly flagged incidents of the PRC [People's Republic of China] targeting Canadian Chinese diaspora communities, attempting to sway local elections, and even infiltrating institutions of higher learning.

But responses have been fragmented, and at times, politically muted. What’s needed now is a nationwide inquiry with subpoena power and full transparency alongside active criminal investigations, where warranted.

To understand the PRC’s strategy in Canada, we must also look globally at its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—a trillion-dollar geopolitical project that combines infrastructure investment, debt diplomacy, and soft power influence.

Under the BRI, China has secured critical infrastructure assets—including ports, energy grids, and telecommunications networks—in dozens of countries. As a result, many nations have found themselves economically beholden to Chinese state-owned enterprises, with strings quietly but firmly attached. This has compromised sovereignty, influenced policy-making, and increased susceptibility to authoritarianism.

Canada may not be an official BRI partner, but the tactics of economic leverage, academic espionage, and political manipulation are here nonetheless, dressed up as research partnerships, real estate investments, and threats to MPs and diaspora activists.

The implications for national security, civil liberties, and democratic integrity are immense.

That Canada’s smallest province—notably, the birthplace of Confederation—has had the foresight and courage to raise the alarm is both a credit to its leadership and an indictment of federal hesitation. Many islanders have also called for reforms of the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, the body that should have investigated the Buddhist organizations back in 2018.

P.E.I.’s call for an inquiry should be viewed as a national call to action—proof that even provinces removed from the country’s geopolitical epicentres are feeling the ripple effects of foreign influence.

Now it’s up to the federal government to act decisively.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5120141

Prince Edward Island Premier Rob Lantz says he wants a federal investigation into allegations of Chinese foreign interference and money laundering in his province by two Buddhist groups.

The premier has written letters to the RCMP and to a federal anti-money-laundering agency, asking them both to look into the allegations.

In the letters, Lantz says his province is concerned about allegations that the province has been used as an operating base for the Chinese Communist Party.

While the two Buddhist groups have been a source of public speculation and uncertainty over several years, he said comments made by a former solicitor general of Canada and former RCMP superintendent in Ottawa in early October have reignited the issue.

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“Equally troubling are suggestions, made by the same individuals, that Prince Edward Island has been used as a forward operating base for the Chinese Communist Party. These are serious allegations.”

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The Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute in Brudenell, P.E.I., is a monastery for nuns, mostly from Taiwan, about 200 of whom live at the monastery while another 300 live nearby. In 2019, the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society included about 600 monks -- most from Taiwan -- living on separate campuses in Little Sands, P.E.I., and Heatherdale, P.E.I.

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Some highlights include:

• Reducing the minimum required notice for a landlord to terminate a lease from 4 months to 2 months
• Increasing the maximum pre-approved annual rent increase from 3% to 10%
• Allowing a landlord to give a tenant a 5 day eviction notice if the landlord requests entry and the tenant refuses (for any reason) without rescheduling within 5 days
• Almost all provisions call for tenants to be responsible for some amount of payment directly to the landlord as well as an up to $5000 fine

The MLA behind it has a google form there's a feedback form that people can submit feedback here, I highly recommend people take the time and fill it out. Whether you oppose the proposals or not, this is something the wider public should be weighing in on.

The government is covering the difference between the actual toll and the $20 for the remainder of the current bridge contract, with the toll being up for negotiation during the contract renewal.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/39750948

In case anyone sees this and is heading to town this morning, Water St. has been closed, plan on taking Grafton St. or Riverside Dr.

Absolute genius, doing construction on all three routes off the bridge at the same time.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/27499797

Hello Canadians! I’m Emily, and I am participating in a scholarship competition run by Canadian Blood Services. I’m an active blood donor and advocate (currently the club president at my university!). I would love your help. I’m looking to recruit and have current donors join my team through the link. I would be more then happy to explain the process for registering to be a blood donor as well! Your donations save lives across Canada, and even if you aren’t interested in joining my team specifically I would still love it if you could look into becoming a blood or plasma donor. It’s only a bit of your time and will completely change another’s. The donation count on my team is from members across Canada, and currently you have all had over 100 donations completed during the summer which is absolutely incredible! Feel free to remove this as well, absolutely no hard feelings.

Just started playing hearts of Iron. Apparently PEI doesn't get to be its own province :(

'You can't simply paint bicycle symbols on a shoulder and call it a bike lane'

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/6953921

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I personally stay well away from cavandish during the festival(s). Whats it like living there?

CBC P.E.I. is looking for Islanders to share their stories, in their own words.