In my research focusing on Brookfield, which is the nature.... Already, in previous testimony, I heard Brookfield's and Mr. Carney's 103 potential investment vulnerabilities come up. My work is based on open-source investigations. I noted that Mr. Carney, in the timeline back to his days with the Bank of England, had worked on establishing a special relationship between the Bank of England and the Bank of China, which is of course controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, in terms of global monetary systems. I felt that was important, as a researcher.
Through the years, when Mr. Carney joined Brookfield, prior to entering politics, he repeatedly travelled to Beijing and met with senior officials, including President Xi Jinping. I noted that, for business people of Mr. Carney's stature at that time to appear with Xi Jinping.... Again, as China's economy was in need of foreign investment and while investments in China were becoming more dangerous in the view of some western capitalists, it would have been important, I think, to have Mr. Carney in those meetings. You could say, fairly, that it was as beneficial to Xi Jinping as it was beneficial to Mark Carney, the business person, in his time at Brookfield.
When Mr. Carney entered the race to become the Liberal nominee for prime minister, I did note that, as The Globe and Mail broke the story, Mr. Carney met with an entity called the Jiangsu Chamber of Commerce in Toronto. I was very aware already of that commerce department having overt ties to the United Front Work Department. Indeed, politically connected Canadians are honorary chairs with that entity.
I do think there's much reporting that hasn't come out on exactly what the Jiangsu Chamber of Commerce is and on Mr. Carney's meeting, which he denied at first, as you know. He denied elements of The Globe and Mail's reporting, so there's controversy around what really happened in that meeting.