Transcription
Well, good day everybody. Today's guest is uh investigative journalist and number one best-selling author of Willful Blindness. If you have not picked up Sam Cooper's book, then I strongly recommend that you do so. It is an amazing document uh that basically lays out what's been going on with political interference and cartels, money laundering in Canada. So, a very interesting read and I think a topic and subject that so few people actually uh are even aware of, let alone fully understand. So, welcome our guest today. Um, welcome Sam.
>> Really glad to join you today.
>> Yeah. Well, I've been wanting to have you on for some time. So, I was really glad when you agreed. Um, I have so much to ask you and I I as I explained earlier, you have been doing so much work and have connected so many dots to so many different topics. You've been a hard man to follow.
>> Yeah, it's hard for me to keep up with the news breaking in the world these days, let alone Canada. And I try to cover it as all as much as I can.
>> Awesome. Awesome. So I thought a good place to start though would be with your book Willful Blindness so that you can kind of just give people a rough idea as to how did you get into this and then lay out your findings for willful blindness and then um you know we can connect dots with you know using Epstein we can connect dots using your most recent with Senator uh Woo. Um, and I really want to go in to touch into a lot of that because I don't honestly believe that Canadians fully understand just how infiltrated and just the level of corruption that's going on within our own uh country. So, I'm going to hand it over to you and let you explain some of that.
>> Sure. Well, I my book willful blindness really started from my work uh as a young reporter in Vancouver. This is going back to pre20 2010 as a young reporter in Vancouver. I was trying to understand Vancouver's real estate market which made no sense from a economic or sort of a financial analyst perspective. They're very average to low median incomes for Canada in Vancouver. Beautiful city and uh you know the the real estate wealth is incredible. And it became quickly apparent that a lot of it was uh offshore and yet still people weren't reporting the incomes of how they were affording these homes. And so year after year I sort of unraveled what what a professor who read my work at the Vancouver Sun later termed the Vancouver model of transnational moneyaundering. And it has a lot of different angles, but I think I became somewhat, you know, uh, famous for for breaking, you know, a typology of moneyaundering that's now recognized around the world. You know, I say now the US Treasury has massive $300 billion dollar moneyaundering study into how Chinese organized crime through underground cash brokerages is laundering money across the Western Hemisphere for the Mexican cartels. And I'm the one that basically uncovered a version of that very model through uh British Columbia casinos that was coming through in massive quantities. So, we could talk about the book a lot, but I I think it became of interest to people in the United States and elsewhere in in various governments because I explained how literally billions of dollars of drug cash were being laundered through BC government casinos almost in broad daylight. And in my book, I explain how that involved, you know, ultra-wealthy and politically connected people from China laundering drug cash through BC's uh governmentontcontrolled economy.
>> All right. So that's a pretty big statement because we're talking now we're implicating you know politicians and very wealthy individuals both Chinese um and we have um an organization which you've pointed out as well called United Front which acts a bit as a proxy to the um you know people's republic of China or you know the communist party. Um, let's draw some connections there because you did bring out, you know, I I know like right now a lot of people are focused on what's been going on with Ebstein and a lot of these other things and and all these high-profile individuals and there's a bit of racketeering going on and but everything I find always follows the money. So, let's dig in a little bit to these underground banks, um, I think is what you refer to them as in your book and the underground banking and how they were laundering the money because, you know, organized crime only works because they have an ability and a means to take dirty money and get it back out into circulation so that they can use it.
>> Yeah. So the the Vancouver model moneyaundering story was uh for me and I think the readers easier to grasp because it was revealed through my work in Vancouver that you had foreign nationals mostly all from China or Hong Kong flying into Vancouver and literally walking through the doors of government regulated casinos with duffel bags of cash, suitcases of cash. And nobody asked a question.
>> No one's asking a question. Uh there's casino videos that again were produced through government inquiries that stemmed from my investigative reporting where you would literally see uh uh an Asian person walking up to the casino cash cage. So you've got essentially a government regulated employee receiving uh literal uh stacks of cash, right? And this people that know Canadian financial regulations know even on the face of that that cannot be legal because it's not the cash is not presented in a way consistent with standard banking practices or financial due diligence. But what what became you know what my work proved was that Chinese organized crime slowly but surely has has taken over as a broker of money laundering for international and domestic gangs. across Canada and the world. Uh essentially, you know, there are uh cash warehouses. Famously, one was discovered in my investigation uh you know, in a Richmond, British Columbia office tower. It had bulletproof proof glass uh windows. And so if someone was just walking down the hall of this uh Vancouver area office tower, it would look like a a regular financial services company, almost like a dentist's office, but if they could walk into the back room where the business, you know, the proceeds were accumulated, they'd see suitcases of cash. And you know, drug dealers from Calgary, you know, Edmonton, across Western Canada, Vancouver, of course, were d were, you know, uh, driving in their drug proceeds. So, again, suitcases of cash collected from drug sales, uh, and delivering them to this brokerage of uh, international money laundering. And so, that's simple enough to see that. The other side of it is you'd have ultra wealthy what they call whales, casino whales coming in from China and they are uh essentially getting this drug cash brokerage, warehoused cash given to them where they can walk into the casino and they launder it. And there's many different, you know, steps to laundering it. It moves across the world, you know, it goes uh it it involves cash pools in Mexico, Peru, where the Latin cartels are working with sort of the Chinese diaspora money brokers. But on a simple term, that's the Vancouver model transaction. an ultra-wealthy person from China who wants here's a key to escape China's capital controls makes a deal with you know a gangster that's connected to this cash warehouse in Vancouver to get you know a loan and they'll come in take that drug cash loan gamble and they'll pay the gangster back they'll pay his associate back in China it works other ways, you know, the ultra wealthy could be a Chinese politician could be a Chinese police officer will deposit cash with the Vancouver cash brokers, you know, uh, coordinate in China and then receive a payout, of course, minus a little fee in Vancouver. And it's drug cash at the end of the day. That's the key thing. It's drug cash. It's laundered through the casinos and basically it gets exchanged or the value gets uh sent back to China where it's funding essentially more fentinel production. The fentinel gets sent to Vancouver and the process repeats. That's at a simple level Vancouver model moneyaundering.
>> Unbelievable. Especially considering I go into the bank and I ask for $3,000 and it's 101 questions as to what you're going to use it for. And we have $10,000 limits for crossing the border. um we have you know AML you know try making an investment, you know, and and without doing AML on somebody and it's like, you know, so it seems to be all these rules for us but yet, you know, these elites and the the criminal organizations and networks obviously have found a very easy way to get around that in Canada. So why why Canada?
>> Well, that that the way you framed it is absolutely the key question and that takes me to the Toronto Dominion Bank Fentinel moneyaundering story and my one of my sources I think most of your you know your viewers will know the TD Bank story but they made the exact point that that you did in in any other community essentially in United States or Canada one cannot walk around with a bag of $200,000 in cash but as it turns out uh especially in the the Chinese diaspora in Canada. So uh you know Vancouver could be Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver are very key high proportion diaspora populations. it becomes uh as my US government sources said normalized you know not just within the casino money laundering story but in the Canadian big bank story where uh a person from the Chinese community uh we can say they're elite because they have a lot of money at at their disposal could walk into a TD bank branch in you know the New York area and do that exact same transaction. So literally videotape evidence will show the casino okay the bank teller in this case receiving you know massive bales of cash and it's the same thing uh in the US government's investigation they found Chinese international students were used as what's called money mules or sort of straw account holders that would work with these cash warehouse. So, the same story. You've got a cash warehouse that has essentially bought Mexican cartel drug proceeds from the streets of New York in this version of the story. And uh they're using Chinese international students to walk it into the bank. And and the US government says, "Well, Canada let this go. You know, it's not just the diaspora community that was getting away with it. Canada's government basically let its big banks, not just BC government casinos, be used, you know, in varieties of this Vancouver model, money laundering.
>> And that that's the disturbing part for me because we have these supposedly highly regulated banks that apply rules to everyday individuals like you and I. We could never get away with this. And yet it's somehow happening right out in the open. Um and and if you can find it and you know you did and you did an amazing job at reporting on this. Um we have CESUS we have our own investigative you know criminal um organized crime um you know police forces and and dedicated resources here in Canada. Why hasn't anybody done anything about this?
>> You're right. CEUS uh has data on this. The RCMP has data on this. More to the point, Fintrak, our anti-moneylaundering intelligence watchdog, which reports, of course, up the chain to the Minister of Finance, had exquisite, as they say, visibility on this moneyaundering model going through the Canadian banks. Uh an interesting anecdote is during the pandemic when uh you know casinos government casinos were shut down this method of money laundering you you know through TD Bank and all the other big Canadian banks uh it uh it evolved you know through uh money mule Chinese students again uh you know setting up fake accounts and running that drug cash into Canadian banks and how do I say that Fintrak knew they put out a massive sort of a typology warning in 2023. I've done a number of stories on it at the bureau demonstrating what essentially is the exact criminal case for TD in New York except Canada's government FINRA was mapping it and there's no there's no charges. Nothing is stopped. So your question is why isn't Canada's government uh doing anything about it? I think that the the title of my book, Willful Blindness, that is turning a blind eye to a massively profitable source of liquidity for Canadian legal businesses that Canada's uh criminal and financial intelligence knew. There's no question they they knew that a lot of this money was drug money and they didn't do anything. And that's why uh my high level sources in the U US government say not only the Trump administration, the Biden administration before it was very upset with Canada. They they the Americans feel like it's a slap in the face. People have dying dying fentinel overdoses across the country. Canada's government knows that TD and other banks were letting this go. And uh TD only got I believe it was a $9 million administrative fine in Canada. They've got a $3 billion US deferred prosecution agreement in the states and that case could still still keep going. So at the end of the day I think it's a morality question and it's a question of people let's remember TD Bank's board I mean has I think Frank McKenna who's a very close associate of or friend or former US ambassador very close to Mark Carney. So it's a question of whether Canadian elites can be accused of turning a blind eye and you know uh bluntly I've come to the conclusion that they can be accused of that.
>> Yeah. Well, I I have real issues right now with accountability and or the lack thereof of decisions that are being made on by behalf of our uh politicians on behalf of Canadians. Um I'm glad you brought up what you did there with respect to Mark Carney and the politics behind this because we have um you know I I have followed I hate to use the words conspiracies. I'm more of a prophet these days because it seems like every conspiracy I've ever spoken to seems to be more truth than fiction. But the reality is you you do have these elites uh of which case Mark Carney is definitely one of them. He is one of the higher um you know you people like Justin Trudeau and and really to pick on him. But the reality is Justin Trudeau wasn't a very intelligent man. He very much was the evident I'm the puppet you know being controlled by somebody in my opinion. Um Carney is one of the ones who was doing the controlling I think. And so now you're seeing, you know, all these names on the Epstein list. And I like the names on the Epstein list because it's bringing out a lot of the banking um and the financeers um and connecting a lot of the dots or at least for me I'm beginning to see a lot of the dots connected.
>> And even in the Epstein files, you know, suggesting with uh Lord Mendelson there.
>> Yeah. um and the Chinese infiltration and the connections and how all of this is really coming back around which is why for me again I come back to why Canada why does China have such a significant interest in infiltrating our political system um you know it can't just be uh getting the capital out of China which I know there is definitely some of that but this goes like the United Front.
>> um goes much deeper than just getting capital out like they are doing truly manipulative influential you know activities to you know infiltrate you know the the the Canadian political system. So what are your kind of thoughts on that?
>> Yeah, remind me to come back to Lord Mandlesson because Mandlesson and Epstein definitely bring in the case study that I've covered for the bureau where transnational global political and banking elites uh do intersect with what I find to be international intelligence agencies and it's not a question of whether Epstein was working for for any one company or any one country or intelligence agency but it's very clear that people like him at a global level are facilitating connections between sometimes uh criminal people in in a certain country, sometimes elites like Lord Mandlesson and the Chinese networks that I have detailed in my book and can connect to Jean Kasha for example uh or you know some corporations in Eastern Canada do and have come up in the Lord Mandlesen sort of network. So I maybe I'll come back to that. But the United Front, I feel that I broke some ground in two ways in the book. The financial crime story of the Vancouver model and being one of the first reporters uh in the west to sort of detail what China's United Front Work Department uh is and does. So I mean very recently I've reported on the the Jamestown Foundation which is a think tank in Washington where we have international you know geopolitics and intelligence experts working for a former CIA very high level China influence analyst. uh they came out with a report just in the past week that detailed uh 2,00 I believe 2,300 known United Front Work Department community groups in Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. And the real kicker here, I wasn't surprised. I would have expected this, but a kicker for most people is Canada has five times the concentration of Beijing, Chinese Communist Party linked community groups in uh you know on our soil. And the report and its author come right out and say it. Canada is targeted to answer your question because uh China has an objective to replace uh the the United States as the leader or the global hedgemen. For us, it's the leader of the free world. So, you know, freedom of religion, expression, freedom to not be chased around by thugs, you know, from a foreign government. That's what we expect in Canada and the United States. Uh Beijing is using these United Front community groups. They have taken over what were often, you know, groups of immigrants from various different hometown areas of China. They've taken them over with their intelligence handlers in the United Front in China and in consulates in North America and Europe and Canada. Why are we saturated with these CCP cells, which is what they are? Essentially, that that report that I'm citing says uh because Canada is seen as important for uh you know uh China's strategy to to target its actual objective which is the United States. So my research has has always I think found that Vancouver and Toronto especially are saturated with these international organized crime and CCP uh you know financial networks. And now we know uh that the political cells of the CCP go hand in hand with these financial crime networks. And the Jamestown report even says this uh it doesn't put the focus on it that my book does chapter after chapter but it says that the CCP uses these United Front groups for human trafficking and money laundering and other criminal activities. So this is a highlevel US uh think tank with intelligence analysts confirming you know what what I broke in my book and a lot of people probably saw as a conspiracy theory for a long time and that was Beijing using its political cells on our soil for criminal activities as well as political influence transnational repression which is the CCP police station story and many other activities political and criminal.
>> and see that's I think what a lot of people don't understand is we did have Chinese police stations operating on Canadian soil. We have Chinese security who um through agreements have the rights to secure um Chinese-owned assets on Canadian soil. So, you know, we I it there just seems to be such a strong connection between Canada and China. And I'm glad you brought up the um the the the real objective here I think is to weaken the United States economy in particular um to kind of destroy I think that western culture a little bit. I mean um and you see this through the United Nations and the role that China plays there and even China itself. I mean throughout history and I know you are um a man of history, right? You have your degree in history. You know, it China has never hidden the fact that it has big ambitions, you know, as far as uh control and power and influence around the world. You know, you see that with their uh road uh the the road belt um objective, right? You know, they let they lend countries money knowing these countries will never be able to repay the money. So, what they do, they do, they take the asset. So this is one of the things I want to dig into a little bit because Carney and the tariffs, you know, Trump, everybody came down with on Trump about tariffs, tariffs, tariffs and that, you know, to a certain extent, you know, your book is there, but this is not a very well-known um story. Like people don't understand that this is happening right underneath their nose and and you know everybody went elbows up and in gets you know Mark Carney who has been talking about being tough on the United States and now we have you know we're we're cozying up with China.
>> Yeah. There's so much to talk about there that I think I can pull a thread on on what you said that us cozying up to China. My work in the book and and at the bureau has pointed to the fact that from Pierre Trudeau to Jean Cresan, Paul Martin Lesser, of course, Justin Trudeau, now Mark Carney, uh all of these, especially liberal prime ministers, not that some conservatives haven't been influenced, but the liberal prime ministers, including Carney now, uh we can see them as uh proteges or supported candidates of things like the Canada China Business Council, Jacqu Kashen, you know, after Pierre Trudeau really solidified the bonds of uh with a an entity that my book deals with a little bit called Sitic uh International, which is a Chinese state sort of guided investment fund. It's got it's so many offshore entities, but this one particular company has connections to uh units of the Chinese military, units of the Chinese state, and my work among others. I've even seen Michael Kovig talk about it recently, says that Jean Kashan and his relatives in the power corporation of Montreal have been in direct business dealings with Sidic. Uh, and so this is an entity that also came up in something called China Gate. Uh, about $3 million in donations to the Clinton White House. And that happened, you know, in the 1990s while the US government was investigating arms dealing coming from this very same Chinese entity illegally into California to go to street gangs. So I see citic and you know Chinese state entities and their connections to the Clinton White House, their connections to Jacan, their connections to the Canada China Business Council as part of China's global intelligence and influence operations which are aimed at, you know, securing leverage into Western elites like Jean Crashan. And what do you know? Let's get back to the Epstein files and Lord Mandlesen. I found that Epstein uh a Chinese tycoon who uh who his name is Desmond Shun and Lord Peter Mandelson were sort of all involved in uh brokering of of dealings with this uh Citic International. So that my work is always about seeing sort of the patterns repeating. And so when I saw the Cresian sort of group tight tight with Citic, Lord Mandlesson and Epstein and others tight with Citic making those international sort of banking relationships with political ties and at the center of them a Chinese intelligence entity you know that's what I really think the Epstein story is about in addition to whatever you know horrific crimes against uh women and children you know occurred there. So at the end of the day, I do think this is about China uh trying to overcome uh the world, the leader of the free world and the protector of you know religious speech and etc which is the United States.
>> Yeah. The hard part for me that I get so concerned with is especially with Mark Carney is he has been using um you know the tariffs. He's been using the United States to and and the actions of Trump to create a distance and um you know to to build a a wedge between Canada and the United States which is truly I mean and you know and he talks about trade which is so nonsensical and you know this because we do what maybe 6% of our trade with China yet we do almost 80% with the United States. Um, we have one of the best deals with the United States on tariffs, you know, and Canada, which is another thing that people don't understand either, is that we have tariffs on goods that come in from the United States, you know, uh, milk and dairy, you know, you want to talk about cartels, right? You don't have to go far. Canada has them, too. Um, you know, Bruce Party often, you know, states in in many of my interviews in our private conversations, he says, you know, uh, the Canadian government is a cartel. Um, for all intents and purposes, you know, it's not really serving the interests of the Canadian people. It truly is selfserving. Um, and the way that it's been infiltrated with our institutions, whether it's health care, whether it's our education. Um, but let's talk about Lord Mendelson a little bit more here because in the Epstein files, I mean Mark Carney is mentioned 69 times all around finance banking, right? He was the governor of uh England, you know, the Bank of England um Bank of Canada here and uh it was actually Harper who appointed him here for the Bank of Canada. um both of Harper and um and I don't want to pick necessarily on on you know just the Liberal government because I think this has been going on a long time and I really see whether it's conservative or whether it's um liberal there's two sides of the same coin here going on our MPs that apparently have had political interference they've never been disclosed right and that's because there's names on both sides of that blue and red right it's just one or the other. And so with with respect to, you know, connecting some of these dots, I I being in the money business, this is, in my opinion, largely about money and control, and this is how they're doing it. This is how they're using it. And Canada, I think, should could have played a very big role in in preventing this and in stopping much of this had they not allowed this type of activity and this type of money laundering to go on. because it does. It takes money to make these activities work. You can't do this if you don't have money to bribe people, to pay people to, you know, to move things across borders, you know. So, you know, moving forward here in a lot of this, I mean, because I think there's going to be a lot more to come out. Um what are the areas that you see you know because when I look at you know your article that you wrote about the the United Front 2294 they have truly like identity based organizations business associations and then student organizations those were the top three big ones that they've infiltrated and where they target. So, are we going to see this continue or are we going to see this >> um you know, now that there's more light coming to it, are you going to see it change direction a little bit?
>> Well, I see the intention of the authors and the Jamestown Foundation in choosing. There are United Front groups in 130 countries around the world. So, they could go on and on doing their network mapping, you know, the similar work that I do. they they chose Canada, United States, Britain and Germany because these are important leading democracies which could work together uh in an ideal world to combat China's infiltration which I believe if you really get at it uh it's not President Donald Trump's tariffs in some cases, you know, are are not just about making America greater or richer. they are about fighting you know China's use of international trade to secure influence or to move uh I assert drug money around the world with Chinese state networks and how China uses international organized crime uh to run some of its operations and to secure influence. So you pointed to a few of these different uh entities you know that or rather categories of United Front groups. I was happy that the report focused on a group in Vancouver, a so-called cultural group and this was a very same group that I had uh you know uh rigorously examined in my own book including with pictures and I think it probably a nice anecdote to illuminate for your listeners and viewers. um this Vancouver group I detailed in my book how uh a a known that is a target of this international anti-money laundering investigation in Vancouver. So, we're talking about how the US government came to the RCMP with information about their highest concern international fentinyl and methamphetamine uh trafficking and money laundering entity was uh running so much of their product, commodity, drug cash through Vancouver that the US government wanted them to look at it. You know, that's the story behind the story of my book. And and so this cultural entity named by the Jamestown Foundation as one of 575 in Canada, my photographic research showed that at one of their Vancouver cultural events was Liberal MP Joe Pescoelo, a number of local politicians, a leader of another one of these extremely high level United Front Work Department groups in Vancouver who in fact had extracted PPE from Canada during the pandemic. which was one of my previous reports at Global News. Also at the meeting, as I say, a known alleged Western Hemisphere fentinel trafficker and moneyaunderer along with their associate, a former highlevel People's Liberation Army official. So what what do we have here at this Vancouver United Front cultural entity? There are a bunch of Chinese tycoons, uh, a highlevel pimp and fentinel trafficker, their associate, a high level Chinese military figure. We have Chinese consulate officials, Canadian politicians, uh, and and everyone together in a room which this US government sort of adjacent think tank says is part of China's united front effort to infiltrate our society and ultimately to target the United States and take them down. I'll add one more point. you know, uh, my research is so network-based that I knew several of people that I just talked about at this meeting, meeting with Liberal Joe Pescelo had also uh, met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in this same time period in a report also done by the Globe and Mail and myself. Trudeau stumbled into some uh, Canadian surveillance operation. We don't know why he was meeting with these suspected highlevel gangsters and moneyaunderers and Chinese agents, but I I I just assert that this is what the United Front is about. Compromising our our our society and our politicians, laundering money, moving drugs, uh at the end of the day, defeating the the free western world.
>> Well, there was uh in one of these articles that I pulled off here today, you wrote uh about Senator Woo, who was obviously appointed by Justin Trudeau. This is part of our problem with our political system is if you do get somebody who tends to favor, you know, or or one way or the other, you know, we have appointments. We don't have elections of these individuals. But David uh VGNU no vigno vignno um quote anyone serving in the House of Commons today is compromised by foreign interference. Now that's not all knowing like not that they've been you know actively doing it but maybe unwillfully and you mentioned here um Mary uh ni ni is
>> Marying yeah
>> yeah you know who has un you know not necessarily knowing but unwillfully maybe um also met with some you know high up individuals on the Chinese side um and this is about with an actor who was well known KN as a an intelligence for collecting intelligence for the the CCP.
>> Yeah, that story I think is newly relevant because you know the context here is Senator Yuen Pau very clearly has used his Senate position to make statements that experts on China's United Front can see line up with defending Beijing's foreign policy. So very recently his latest statement that caused outrage you know for a lot of Canadian political watchers is he said that uh this man Jimmy Lie you know a Christian in Hong Kong who had sort of a media a little bit of a media empire uh and it was all about promoting democracy from Hong Kong. He's been thrown in jail by, you know, Hong Kong's security state, which is the Chinese Communist Party's, you know, front. And and Senator Yuen Pau has the timmerity to make another one of his China defending comments and saying Jimmy Liy's activities would get him in trouble in Canada if there was a foreign interference law. And I don't even know where to start with how bad that comment of UN powoos was because I think he's a smart person and I believe he knows very well that the people that really should be in jail in Canada are some of his associates that he rallied with uh on Parliament Hill in 2023 against a foreign agent registry. Pau is not a stupid person. He knows the people that should be in jail are the people that he is working with. But why do I say that? I can prove it. My my reporting uh two years ago when I launched the bureau obtained a tape recording in which Pau is meeting online during the pandemic with a number of I assert known United Front group department members. How can I say that? They're parts of entities that have been named in Chinese government documents uh as part of the United Front and in fact credited for for being involved in Canadian elections. But here's the real the real point. How on this tape recording tells these people in a Zoom meeting, I have the pictures. I have the audio. He tells them he is working very hard to use his Senate office to make sure that members of the United Front in Canada are not accused by Canadians of uh of promoting China's state line on Hong Kong. So remember Hong Kong Pau just made a comment sort of targeting Jimmy Lie as a you know a person that should be prosecuted in Canada and this is why it's okay for China to you know have thrown him in jail in Hong Kong. Pau has made all kinds of comments that line up with his private statements of standing up for the United Front in Canada. And I went to an expert Dr. Charles Burton a scenologist to confirm exactly what he said. And in a nutshell, he said, "Unpaw Woos statements effectively do give uh free agency to Chinese Communist Party cells in Canada to operate." We could talk on and on about the minutia of that and how it fits into the Jamestown report, but you know, as I say, I think my tape recorded evidence has proven that, you know, uh Pau should not be talking about Jimmy Lie being subject to law in Canada. He should be talking about himself being subject to law in Canada. Why isn't he? You know, I just think Yuan Pau, as you say, Justin Trudeau was a bit of a puppet and that powerful sort of Canada China business lobby connected to Jacan's business networks. I think probably wanted Pau to be in Senate. That's why he's in Senate and that's probably why he remains in Senate.
>> Well, what's interesting about that, too, he's playing a role in that foreign interference commission that's coming up and he's got intervenor status. So, I guess he's going to be presenting some legal arguments. And on that note, too, you did mention that he's not only uh trying to defend, but he actually promised to shield was quote in your your your writing there, United Front members from scrutiny for taking a pro. And it wasn't just, you know, uh, Hong Kong, it was Tibet, it was also the Weaguers. Um, it was also South China Sea. So, you know, this individual in this sort of position of power has a tremendous amount of influence to guide our process um one way or the other. And here he is, he's going to be testifying and or presenting legal arguments uh for this commission.
>> Just to clarify that that already happened and he already did gain access to testify and he did use his position to make those, you know, obviously absurd arguments. But a key thing I'm glad you pointed out what he said and people can go to the bureau and listen to the tape recording. He lists off all the key points that we know are China's top foreign policy. You know, they don't want to be criticized on their genocide against weaguers. They don't want to be criticized for throwing Jimmy Lion in jail in Hong Kong. You know, they don't want to be criticized for uh their increasing aggression in the South China Sea against Taiwan and now Japan. And yes, effectively, Yuen Pau was listing off all those points where I say he was, yeah, he's establishing a shield for China's United Front Work Department cells and actors in Canada to to go to their, you know, Mandarin language media and make those Chinese Communist Party arguments. So, absolutely, Yuen Pau, in my assessment, is using his office as a shield. I think that should be illegal.
>> I I really do. you won't get any argument from me. Um, if nothing else, it's a huge conflict of interest, right? So, you would recuse yourself from those types of conversations or discussions. Um, one one last thing I want to touch on a little bit here is because as you've probably heard, Alberta is having this little conversation with the rest of Canada about potentially leaving.
>> Yeah.
>> Um, and one of the things that keeps coming up are First Nations. And I note here in much of what you've written, there are some really deep connections with the First Nation chiefs in particular. And and for me, it's really hard to talk about this topic because of course you get attacked on every front, but the reality is it's it's not the First Nations people per se because unfortunately they're living in horrendous conversations or horrendous conditions. Many of them don't even have what they need. Money does not flow down. We have just like we have a a health industry, you know, a big pharma industry, military industrial complex industry, I we also have an aboriginal industry where lawyers, consultants, you know, and a handful of people at the top, including, in my opinion, chiefs um who benefit from deals that get brokered. Um they are certainly individuals. They're human, so they are certainly susceptible to, you know, bribes or payoffs or whatever else. But you mentioned First Nations a number of times in here. Can you just dive a little bit into some of your findings with the connection with, you know, Chinese money and conversations influence with First Nations?
>> Yeah, I I would start by saying I I agree with you. You know there are uh there are first nations jurisdictions that are that are very well-run and with honorable leaders and there are a number I think because of you know jurisdictional gaps sometimes uh political reticence on the part of Canadian governments to get involved in criticisms across you know those sensitive jurisdictional issues or or or areas that look my own reporting based on leaked Canadian intelligence documents has said China is targeting First Nations jurisdictions and chiefs in the north especially with intelligence operations where they are inviting uh chiefs that they believe can be fooled or corrupted over to Beijing, you know, on uh false pretenses and they're running operations essentially to to corrupt them and to gain access to Canadian critical minerals or resources. So this is a major concern in the north. My reporting for the bureau has, as you as you recognize, has looked at that issue a number of times over the past few years, and we just had that confirmed uh in in parliamentary hearings, I believe over the past week. The CEUS Canadian intelligence executives confirmed uh their their top concern, the threat uh to the to the north and to the Arctic, the number one threat is China. So you won't have Prime Prime Minister Carney or Foreign Minister Anita Anand saying China's name in the north anymore. You know, we'll hear Mark Carney talking about how Canada and and China share a lot of alignment around issues like Greenland, but the reality is China is target. China is a huge threat in our north. Of course, this should be of concern to our allies in the United States. And yet we have Carney going in the wrong direction, getting closer to China. Uh, another news outlet called The Rebel broke a story a few years ago about the People's Liberation Army training in our Arctic, which is which was a totally scandalous sort of breach of security. That's the China issue. Uh, Mexican cartels, my reporting has shown, have major access to certain First Nation uh, lands. Many in sort of the Ontario Quebec area along the Great Lakes corridor. There's major cartel smuggling activity going across those lands which in some cases this would be about corruption at the senior levels of uh of various first nations. At other times it's simply a case where you know good good first nations police chiefs just don't have the resources. the uh you know the in many cases the the victimized uh population on the reserves is being is being exploited and used by literally you know 70 80 gangs operating on uh the First Nations jurisdictions even more so than across Canada where by the way uh we we know they're increasingly saturating across Canada not let alone the First Nations reserves which are clearly even a bigger vulnerability. So what does that mean? We know illegal cannabis, fentinel factories, uh counterfeit cigar cigarette factories, weapons trafficking involving Mexican cartel networks, Chinese Communist Party networks, working a lot with the domestic biker gangs. They're using First Nations lands in a big way in Canada. And and thank you for pointing that out because the reason I brought that up is, you know, um we're talking here and I use this around Alberta independence, you know, and that the First Nations are trying to carve out, you know, this special treatment. And I believe in Canada in general, um and especially if Alberta were to do something, you know, on its own, we have to start with one rule of law that applies to everybody. Nobody's above the law. Not a politician, not a judge. you know, if you're found guilty, you need to be held accountable. You know, every citizen has the same rules that apply to them equally. And with the ruling that I saw come out of Richmond, I found that very concerning because we have politicians who we know have been influenced. Um, you know, that we have Chinese that are and and I know we have corruption and we have, you know, illegal activities happening on native land. um probably more so than others because it's easier like you said either they don't have the resources and or they they are corrupt and a part of it. But either way, it just seems like such an easy entry um and an easy way for gaining greater control and influence in Canada and it is something that nobody wants to talk about.
>> Yeah, I I agree with you. And whether we're talking about the Alberta potential separatism issue, other regional concerns in Canada, I do believe that wherever you come down on, whether you want Canada to survive as a as a as a great project, it's been good for over 150 years now, or you know, Alberta chooses to go its own way because they recognize a Mark Carney type eastern elite government will never fix these problems and recognize the very real concerns in Alberta. I do believe that Canadians that want Canada to survive should agree that as you say, it needs to be one rule for all. There are very historical, you know, sort of concerns. We we continue to need to address, but it it needs to be done in a way that sort of we've fixed it. It's done. We agree we're on the same page. We're going to be a strong nation. We're not going to let jurisdictions be used by China, Mexico, you know, Middle Eastern crime networks, which is what's happening now. And if you don't have one rule for all, if you have elite politicians making side deals with foreign nations or you know uh you know selling off property rights uh to to to this and that you know sort of first nation that has been able to secure a deal unknown to the rest of the population. Yeah. will not have any national cohesion. I I completely agree that that's foundational, it's a moral thing, right? And without that belief that, you know, everyone is on the same sort of level of the law, I think that people will rightly, whether Alberta or otherwise, say, well, maybe they would like to start over at square one and get a better rule of law, you know, for everyone.
>> Yeah. So, I I just want to talk um because you brought up the Arctic, which has been a big thing. uh I think and it's been something that Canada has truly failed miserably to defend to protect even to um secure ownership. You know, at one time it was never ever questioned the Arctic belonged to Canada. Now we have lots of different countries who are laying claim and and rightfully so. And I think the United States has a very good reason to be concerned with what's going on in the Arctic. And the fact that Carney is, as you just said, and I totally agree and have said many times, going in the wrong direction. He is drawing, you know, driving a wedge between the United States and Canada. He's aligning with China.
He's now has anou, which, you know, the Arctic was discussed. We just don't know what was said.
Yeah, it's a big, it's a big gap in our knowledge whether we're talking about the theou with regards to Canada's federal police cooperating with Chinese police, which should be a non-starter. Chinese media having access, uh, to Canada, non-starter. Even things that on the surface should sound good, like Canadians having visa access to China or what they call greater people-to-people exchanges with a normal nation, that's good. But with the Chinese Communist Party and its United Front system and its leveraging of criminals, it's not a normal nation. So all those things that Carney has agreed on, even that we know of in vague detail or high-level, you know, the headline details, we already know they're non-starters. So you're right. What have they discussed in the Arctic? I have no idea.
But, you know, when we look at the electric vehicle deals and how I say that will indirectly benefit again, the Canada China Business Council type interests that surround Liberal prime ministers, especially. Um, there, I don't think there's anything good when we, when we find, when we find what's under those rocks on the Arctic. It won't look good, and it, it will probably be worrying to the US government. And you're right, I, I just think it's been very negligent, uh, um, you know, of Canadian governments for, for decades now, not to establish, you know, a stronger, a stronger foothold and industrial sort of base in the Arctic. There's just a lack of forward thinking and national thinking.
Yeah. And I, it's not even, you know, um, in past, I, I look at the, the actions that this government is taking today, and these are deliberate. Carney knows what he's doing. Carney is not a stupid man. Um, he's well-coned. I mean, if he doesn't have an answer, he can certainly find one out very quickly. Like, so these are very deliberate actions that he is, you know, taking against the United States and in favor of China. You're seeing, you know, policies in Canada that are becoming more and more Chinese all the time as far as, you know, our hate speech laws, you know, restricting media access, like you said, opening up, you know, because apparently we have so many cultural similarities between Canadians and the Chinese, you know, let's, let's broaden that more. So, those are, those are some of the current concerns I have. And so much of your work really, like it's, it, I just find there are so many dots to connect here, Sam.
I think my work predicted a lot of the concerns we're seeing now, and it does provide, I'll never say that I, they, I always got my sort of forecasting and my mapping right, but I would say successfully identified a lot of the major issues that are really coming home to roost now. And yes, China is in a very sophisticated way using, uh, using populations to to attack our sovereignty. I really believe that's the issue now. And you're right, Mark Carney only seems to be playing into that. He's not stupid. So in what way is he benefiting himself, you know, his election chances and his business friends that want to do more sort of shady business with China? That's my sort of final, final line in the sand on what's going on in Canada right now.
Yeah. And that's the hard part for me is like, they keep talking now about, uh, spring election. Um, which is why I think work like yours is so important to get out in front of the people so that they have a better understanding of truly the big issues and, you know, who should we be aligning with? Is it the United States or is it closer ties to China? I think we can all agree that it's probably not closer ties with China. You know, Nortell, I keep telling people, have you heard of this company called Nortell? You know, we talk about Chinese espionage and we're bringing in EVs and you, uh, it just, it goes so deep. Last final words that you have for, uh, the people who are listening and of course, I think this is going to go wide and far. So, um, you know, what, what sort of things, cautionary things that you kind of give people, something to look at? Obviously, Willful Blindness was a great way to start. You have the bureau, which I know you, you post, uh, a number of things. I know you have a podcast, so where can people find you, learn more, and any last words that you might have, Sam?
Yeah. No, it's been really great talking to you. So, uh, people should go to the bureau.news. That's my investigative platform, which really launched off the success of my book, which came out at number one, uh, in Amazon Canada in 2021. I continue to just do a lot of reporting on the geopolitics of Canada and United States. And that gets to my message sort of, uh, I think there are very severe threats, military and economic, going on in the world that mostly relate to how China and Russia have very deviously and skillfully sort of upended the West's, uh, you know, uh, the best system of them all, freedom and and democracy. Western elites that we've talked about have been very complacent over the years. There's been a lot of self-deing from the Epstein crowd or the the Jean Krashan crowd or the Lord Mandelson crowd that, you know, these people thought that democracy would always be there and didn't have to be defended, and they could enrich themselves with their friends from Russia and China while the people in China and Russia were, uh, were were letting them get rich and had a plan, you know, to stick it to the rest of us, and that's where we are right now. So, Canadians, for that spring election, if it happens. Look, uh, I've been very clear. We need a change of government. I, the the Mark Carney government, I say very clearly, is being anti-American, against the, you know, the, um, the interests of most, most Canadians, as you say, it should be a no-brainer. Who do you want to be closer to? The United States, even if their rhetoric is a little bit mean right now, or China? It's a no-brainer. But too many people, especially in older generations, have bought the Carney narrative that, uh, President Donald Trump and the US are the enemy, not China. That's dead wrong. China's the enemy. And so we need probably 10 to 15% of the, uh, sort of older population that got tricked so egregiously in the last election, if they're open-minded to voting for more than one party and they don't want sort of a, as I call it, a liberal one-party state. And what that means is a party that has a lot of ties to the CCP. I say, look, if you're an, if you're an intellectually honest person that wants to think about, you know, what's really at stake in the next election, hey, take a, take a good look at the bureau.news. You don't have to agree with everything I, I write, but you're going to find some documented evidence that's going to open your mind a little bit. I hope that's my last word.
Yeah. For me, it's, uh, so many people are emotionally reactive today rather than take a step back, you know, take three deep breaths and then dig a little deeper because, you know, um, so many people dislike Trump. And Trump is a short-term problem. If he's a problem for you, he's a short-term problem. If we get into bed with China and we destroy our relationship with the United States, that's a long-term problem. One that, you know, will require a lot of repair, you know, to, uh, to, to kind of even undo, unwind the damage that is currently, I think, Carney is doing. So, Sam, I want to say thank you. I am a big fan. I'm a subscriber to the bureau. Um, and if you're not, please do check out his work. You know, follow Sam along. There is great stuff here. I, I wish more people would pick up on, you know, some of the threads, Sam, that you've put out here because I know you're one person and trying to do it all. But, you know, when it comes to finance and geopolitical issues, these are huge. And and because they're so complex and there's so many moving parts, people, I think, just get overwhelmed and don't always understand where to look or, or, you know, don't want to get involved because they are so complex. But these are the two big things that I think people need to understand more of. And I think you do an amazing job at explaining it. So, thank you so much for doing that this morning, this afternoon. I.
Thanks. Yeah, it was great talking with you. Really enjoyed it. Thank you.
Wonderful. So, there you have it, everybody. Please do, uh, Sam's book, Willful Blindness. You can check him out at the bureau as well. Um, you know, if you have any questions for Sam, please do put them in the comments and please do share, please do like, that certainly helps the channel. Um, hit the little bell if you want more, uh, notifications for more interviews like this. But, uh, please do send this around broadwide. You know, we may have a spring election coming up. People need to know, um, you know, what is going on with our government and foreign interference and, you know, what sort of geopolitical implications there are in another Liberal government. So, just, you know, get informed, take a few moments, just get informed. Uh, send this to a friend, somebody that you think you know might have an interest and or maybe thinking about going the other way. U maybe this is just enough to bring them back. So, God bless you.