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China cheers Michael Ma's questioning of Canadian expert's testimony on forced labour
A Liberal MP’s comments questioning the existence of forced labour in China have been quickly picked up by state-controlled media there, with a print article reporting positively on Michael Ma’s remarks and calling accusations of labour abuse a Western fabrication.
Meanwhile, the former Conservative MP, who crossed the floor to the government in December, was co-hosting a fundraising dinner with Prime Minister Mark Carney Monday evening. Protesters planned to rally outside the venue and call for him to be ejected from the Liberal caucus.
Ma aggressively quizzed China expert Margaret McCuaig-Johnston on her testimony at the House of Commons industry committee last week, demanding to know if she had actually witnessed forced labour herself.
He later apologized, saying he thought McCuaig-Johnston was talking about Shenzhen in southern China, not the Xinjiang region where forced labour involving the Uyghur minority has been well documented. Ma stressed that he opposes the practice wherever it occurs.
A spokesperson for International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu said in a statement last week that “Mr. Ma’s comments as reported are not reflective of the government of Canada’s position on the incredibly serious issue of forced labour.”
But the denials did not stop media in China from going to town on the episode, involving a member of Canada’s governing party appearing to echo Beijing’s own narrative about the issue.
In a lengthy article that appeared on at least three different sites, Ma’s two minutes of questioning at the industry and technology committee hearing were recounted in an approving tone.
“The so-called ‘forced labor’ accusation has long been an absurd lie fabricated by certain Western forces based on ideological bias,” said the article on the MP, attributed to the Observer Network. “It has long been divorced from facts and lacks empirical evidence, yet it has been repeatedly used to smear China.”
The story also took aim at McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow with the University of Ottawa’s graduate school of public and international affairs, calling her a “political clown” and suggesting that Ma’s questioning had left her rattled. In 2024, Beijing slapped the one-time federal bureaucrat with a visa ban and other sanctions.
“This person has repeatedly acted as an anti-China pawn in public under the guise of a so-called ‘expert’ … becoming a notorious hardliner on China in Canada with a long list of bad deeds.”
McCuaig-Johnston said that article was not unique. She also saw social media posts from China, some of which drew thousands of comments, that highlighted Ma’s tense exchange with her.
“He looks like a hero, because he took me on as a critic of the motherland,” she said in an interview Monday. “He is supporting the motherland and that makes him look very good and makes me look terrible … I think he thought it would be well-received by the Chinese embassy, which it was.”
That said, McCuaig-Johnston said she does not believe the MP acted at the direction of Beijing or the Chinese embassy, as some critics have alleged without evidence. He probably thought that he was supporting the “strategic partnership” Carney struck with China recently, with Canada agreeing to allow imports of a limited number of electric vehicles and China lifting its effective ban on Canadian canola. Ma was part of the government delegation to Beijing. But his gambit “backfired completely on him,” she said.
He could not be reached for comment Monday by deadline.
The committee was examining the electric-vehicle deal and in her presentation McCuaig-Johnston talked about evidence that aluminum made with forced labour by Uyghurs was shipped to car manufacturers in southern China.
Ma said he wanted short, yes or no answers from her and asked first if she had an “advanced degree in technology or cyber security.” Then he questioned whether the China Strategic Risks Institute she advises “specifically looks for risks when there isn’t one.” Finally he asked about her comments on forced labour. “Have you witnessed this yourself, have you been to China?” Ma asked. “Have you witnessed forced labour in Shenzhen?”
As a government employee who speaks some Mandarin, McCuaig-Johnston says she had a 40-year history of travel to and business with China, before the detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor helped turn her into a critic. She says she has briefed the federal government on China affairs for several years. McCuaig-Johnston said she tried to present Ma with a Human Rights Watch report on the forced-labour issue after the hearing but he said he didn’t believe in reports, only on actions he personally observes.
Ma garnered little attention when he first won election as a Conservative MP in last April’s election. But since he crossed the floor, controversy about his stance toward the Chinese government has dogged him.
Suspicion has focused on his work as chief information officer for the Hong Kong hospital authority, the fact he was endorsed as a Tory candidate by a pro-Beijing community member and his appearance in August at an event of the Chinese Freemasons, a group that has been a proxy of sorts for Beijing.
Carney was slated to speak Monday night at the fundraising event at Markham’s Angus Glen golf course, co-hosted by Ma, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, all Toronto-area MPs.
A notice about the protest outside the club called it a “peaceful rally for democratic accountability” and urged that the government “kick Michael Ma out of the liberal (sic) caucus.”
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