Han Dong, political party officials set to testify at foreign interference inquiry

A federal inquiry into foreign interference is set to hear from the Independent MP at the centre of allegations about foreign meddling in Canadian elections.

Han Dong left the Liberal caucus after it was alleged he willingly participated in Chinese interference efforts and won his seat with Beijing's help in 2019 — claims he denies.

Special rapporteur David Johnston found last May that there were «irregularities» observed with Dong's 2019 nomination and «well-grounded suspicion» that these were tied to China's Toronto consulate, but that Dong was not aware of these issues.

Dong is slated to testify this afternoon, as is former Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan, who is now the deputy mayor of Markham, Ont.

Chan is suing the CSIS and others over allegations the spy agency surveilled him and had concerns about improper activities with Chinese officials.

This morning, campaign directors for the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP will testify on a panel.

The inquiry will hear from Walied Soliman, the Conservative campaign co-chair in the 2021 election, as well as Azam Ishmael, who ran the Liberal campaign that year, and the NDP's national director Anne McGrath.

This afternoon, the inquiry is set to hear from Chan, followed by Dong's former chief of staff Ted Lojko and then Dong himself.

The hearings are part of the inquiry's work examining possible foreign interference by China, India, Russia and others in the last two general elections.

'Our concerns were never taken seriously'

Soliman was the Conservative representative on the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force during the 2021 race, and he has said that the party had never been notified of any threats to the electoral process.

«Our party was seeing clear signs