The People’s Republic of China and its ties to Canada’s elite underwrite fentanyl vulnerability, says former Mountie.

By Garry Clement | The Bureau

Summary

The threat of a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada, announced by President-elect Donald Trump, highlights Canada’s vulnerability to fentanyl due to Ottawa’s close ties to China.

Garry Clement, a former senior Mountie, in this opinion piece for The Bureau, argues that extensive connections between the Liberal Party of Canada and China’s leadership are significantly influenced through Power Corporation, the Desmarais* clan’s flagship enterprise. These connections include former prime ministers and key advisors to the current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.

Clement looks at the acquisition of Canadian assets by Chinese companies and the involvement of Chinese leadership in the production and shipment of fentanyl precursors to North America. He suggests that fentanyl-related money laundering is facilitated through the “black market peso exchange” (a trade-based money laundering technique commonly used by narcotics traffickers based in Colombia and Mexico), and further asserts that wealthy Chinese buyers use fentanyl profits to purchase property in Canada.

Trump’s proposed tariffs are seen as a consequence of Canada’s silence and inaction to address this vulnerability. Clement also criticizes traditional media for their failure to report on pressing issues with legitimate objectivity.

Read the full commentary at the publisher’s website here.

* Originally from Quebec, the Desmarais family controls the Power Corporation of Canada, one of the wealthiest investment banking conglomerates in the country. Family patriarch Paul Desmarais, who took over the Winnipeg-based Power Corp. in 1968, was declared the “most powerful francophone in the country” for his close ties to Canadian prime ministers when he passed in 2013. Garry Clement describes the ties between the Liberal Party and Power Corp as “so entrenched, they are indistinguishable”. For example, three (Liberal) prime ministers have held positions within Power Corp. One (Liberal) prime minister served as a lobbyist in China.