With Bill C-70 there does seem to be more provision for CSIS to be able to advise elements outside of CSIS of information they have derived from intelligence about Chinese espionage activities and other ways that China is engaging in activities to obtain intelligence and undermine our democracy.
It's a very complicated issue. I think the Chinese government would like to drive a wedge between Canadians of Chinese heritage and the Canadian mainstream by on the one hand creating suspicion about Chinese researchers—that they might be collaborating with China—and on the other hand wanting to get persons of Chinese origin, who are Canadian citizens and therefore should be loyal to Canada only, to serve the Chinese interest in various ways, particularly if they have access to information that could serve the regime. There's a degree of coercion that's used if these people have family inside China who can be leveraged by the Chinese Communist regime.
It's a serious issue. I think we should be doing much more to expel agents of the Chinese regime under diplomatic cover who are coordinating this massive approach through the Chinese Ministry of State Security and the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department.
I suspect that our intelligence agencies know a lot about these agents and people but that we are reluctant to expel diplomats even if they're engaged in activities inconsistent with their mandate as diplomats under the Vienna Convention. I'm just puzzled as to why we don't address this issue much more seriously and protect our Canadians of Chinese origin from harassment and coercion by a foreign state.