LeBlanc says he’ll meet with Han Dong soon to discuss his future with the Liberal Party

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Thursday the government plans to meet in the coming days with Han Dong — the MP who left Liberal caucus to fight a claim that he meddled in the detentions of two Canadians — to discuss his future with the Liberal Party.

Dong, a Toronto-area MP, announced in late March he’d sit as an Independent after Global News published a report alleging he advised a senior Chinese diplomat in February 2021 that Beijing should hold off on freeing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the two Canadians being held by China at the time.

Former special rapporteur on foreign interference David Johnston investigated the claim and concluded in a report released in May that the allegation was “false.”

Dong told CBC News a day after Johnston’s report came out that he “absolutely” wants to return to the Liberal caucus.

On Thursday, LeBlanc told CBC’s Power & Politics the prime minister asked him in the spring to review the situation internally.

“I haven’t had a chance, but I will in the coming days sit down with Mr. Dong and discuss,” he told host David Cochrane. 

“And at the right moment I’ll present the prime minister with a recommendation as what would be the next steps.”

CBC has reached out to Dong for comment. 

Johnston’s report also found that there were “irregularities” observed in Dong’s nomination for the federal Liberals in 2019 and cited a “well-grounded suspicion that the irregularities were tied to the PRC consulate in Toronto, with whom Mr. Dong maintains relationships.” But Johnston, who stepped down as rapporteur, wrote that he found no evidence that Dong knew about China’s potential involvement in his nomination.

Dong filed a $15 million defamation lawsuit in April against Global News and its parent company Corus Entertainment.

In a statement issued in March, Global News said it “is governed by a rigorous set of journalistic principles and practices, and we are very mindful of the public interest and legal responsibility of this important accountability reporting.”

On Thursday, the federal government announced Justice Marie-Josée Hogue will lead a highly anticipated public inquiry into foreign interference.