Vancouver mayor who fostered cozy ties with Chinese Communist Party becomes Carney Liberal candidate
Gregor Robertson throws hat in the ring for Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby.
Gregor Robertson, Canada’s most pro-China politician before Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister, is attempting a political comeback as Mark Carney’s Liberal candidate in Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby for the April 28 federal election.
Robertson was Vancouver’s three-term mayor from 2008 to 2018, coming to office with a promise to end street homelessness by 2015. Instead, it worsened.
He was pro-bike lane and anti-pipeline/anti-tanker. Luxury real estate boomed, fuelled by investment from China. Real estate developers stuffed the coffers of Robertson’s Vision Vancouver NDP/Liberal coalition when B.C. became known as the wild west of political financing.
Timeline of China’s rising influence during the Robertson years at Vancouver city hall.
2010
June 22
Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Richard Fadden tells CBC: “There are several municipal politicians in British Columbia and in at least two provinces there are ministers of the Crown who we think are under at least the general influence of a foreign government.”
Fadden highlighted China’s foreign influence tactics in a recent speech.
Three days later, a House of Commons committee demands Fadden resign for tarnishing the reputation of politicians and Chinese-Canadians.
Sept. 6
Robertson starts his first trade mission to China in Beijing. During 11 days, he visits Tianjin, sister city Guangzhou, the 2010 Expo in Shanghai and poses with a statue of distant relative, Canadian Maoist Dr. Norman Bethune, in Shijiazhuang.
Three years before Trudeau praised China’s “basic dictatorship, Robertson tells a reporter: “You can question how worthwhile democracy is in a lot of countries right now.”
"That's where you see the Chinese government taking radical, dramatic action in investing in turning the ship around and you don't see that in Western governments right now, democratically elected, because they're afraid,” Robertson said.
2011
March 21
China’s Consul General Liang Shugen urges Robertson to boycott the Shen Yun show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, calling it full of Falun Gong “cult messages and political attacks on the Chinese government.” The program contains a welcome message by Robertson, but he does not attend due to a family vacation.
2012
Late October
Robertson opens an account on China’s Sina Weibo social media service, amassing more than 70,000 fans in a week. It took Robertson four years to attract 28,000 Twitter followers.
Consultant Joanna Wong of Beijing-based Flow Creative Studios recommended Robertson aide Lara Honrado seek endorsement for Robertson’s account from Chinese pop star and recent Vancouverite Wanting Qu, who had 500,000 followers.
In an Oct. 17, 2012 email, obtained via Freedom of Information, Wong also wondered how they should “play the Bethune card” to emphasize Robertson’s link to Bethune.
2013
November 4
Robertson begins his second trade mission to China. Entourage includes Qu, who was also the Tourism Vancouver singing ambassador.
2014
Nov. 15
Robertson elected to a third term as mayor. In early 2015, he reveals he is dating Qu.
Dec. 4
B.C. Supreme Court upholds civic bylaw regulating protest structures as a reasonable limit on freedom of expression. Falun Gong supporters who began occupying a spot in 2001 outside the Chinese consulate mansion must pack up their hut and go.
2015
April 24
News that Qu’s mother Qu Zhang Mingjie, a Harbin City government development official, is arrested for corruption over the sale of government land. In 2021, she’ll be sentenced to life in jail.
2016
Sept. 30
Acting Mayor Kerry Jang, from Robertson’s Vision Vancouver party, raises China’s flag at a Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations-organized ceremony outside city hall to mark 67 years of Chinese Communist Party rule. Consul General Liu Fei is among the dignitaries
2017
Sept. 5-9
Robertson’s last trade mission China, which was not publicized prior to his departure. Includes meetings with Communist Party official Ying Yong, the Mayor of Shanghai, and executives from e-commerce giant JD.com and massive state-owned bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
2018
April 22
Robertson makes official civic apology to the Chinese community for discriminatory laws between 1886 and 1949. Acting Consul General Kong Weiwei attends ceremony.
May 28
Robertson speaks at the opening of the World Guangdong Community Federation Conference in Vancouver. VIPs include Su Bo, the vice-minister of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, and Li Xin, chair of the Guangdong Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.