Wenbin "Vincent" Ke ( zh, c=柯文彬) is a Canadian politician who has been the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for

Don Valley North Don Valley North (french: Don Valley-Nord) is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1997 and since 2015. Don Valley North ...

since June 7, 2018. Originally elected as a Progressive Conservative (PC), he stepped down from the caucus on March 10, 2023, following allegations of involvement in Chinese government election interference. He is the first mainland-

Chinese Canadian , native_name = , native_name_lang = , image = Chinese Canadian population by province.svg , image_caption = Chinese Canadians as percent of population by province / territory , pop = 1,715,7704.63% of the ...

immigrant elected as a PC MPP.

Background

Ke was born in

Quanzhou Quanzhou, postal map romanization, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metrop ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and immigrated to Canada in 1998. He holds an undergraduate degree in engineering from

Fuzhou University Fuzhou University (FZU ) is a university located in Fuzhou, Fujian, China. Split into two campuses by the Min River, Fuzhou University's Old Campus is located on the north bank of the river in the western part of Fuzhou City, while the New Campu ...

in China and a Master's from

Ruhr University The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

in Germany.'''' Prior to his election, Ke worked for Conec—a German firm which has sites in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipalit ...

—from 1999 to 2018. His role with the company was as an electronic engineer''.'' Ke is also registered as an insurance agent by the

Financial Services Commission of Ontario The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA; french: Autorité ontarienne de réglementation des services financiers) is a self-funding Crown agency which acts as the financial regulator for the province of Ontario, Canada. Esta ...

.''''

Professional Engineers Ontario Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO; known until 1993 as the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario, APEO) is the self-regulatory body that governs Ontario's 85,000 professional engineers, and sets standards for and regulates engineering ...

(PEO), the province's regulatory body for engineers, instructed Ke to stop using the title of engineer following complaints that he was doing so without being licensed as a

professional engineer Regulation and licensure in engineering is established by various jurisdictions of the world to encourage life, public welfare, safety, well-being, then environment and other interests of the general public and to define the licensure process thro ...

with PEO.

Political career

Ke was elected to the Legislative Assembly following the 2018 provincial election. He was appointed as the parliamentary assistant to the minister of heritage, sport, tourism and culture industries (culture and sport) on June 26, 2019. On June 29, 2022, he was appointed as the parliamentary assistant to the minister of public and business service delivery.

Alleged Chinese government interference

Ke's ties to the Chinese consulate were questioned by ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'' writer Tom Blackwell in a 2019 article.'''' In particular, Blackwell reported that Ke maintained ties with groups linked to the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

United Front Work Department The United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (UFWD; ) is a department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which is officially tasked with "united front work". For this endeavo ...

. Blackwell provided Ke's office with a list of questions about his connections to the Chinese government including the possibility he joined the Chinese Communist Party, his ties with the Chinese consulate and a 2013 trip to China for a government-run workshop. In response, Ke's office said that he was "honoured to be a part of Doug Ford’s government" and that he would focus on "ensuring a strong voice for the constituents of Don Valley North at Queen’s Park".''''

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party since March 2018. He ...

's office also provided a response, stating that "MPP Ke is an important part of the Progressive Conservative caucus and represents his constituents with their best interests in mind".'''' In a 2021 article, Blackwell criticized Ke for seeming "over-eager to defend China, rather than being too worried about anti-Asian hate," after Ke and

Scarborough—Agincourt Scarborough—Agincourt is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1988. It covers the area of the City of Toronto bounded by Steeles Avenue East to the nort ...

MPP

Aris Babikian Aris Babikian (Armenian: Արիս Պապիկեան) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 provincial election. He represents the riding of Scarborough—Agincourt as a member of the Progress ...

spoke out about a sign at a Chinese physician's office describing

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

as "Wuhan pneumonia" in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

. On March 10, 2023,

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned-and ...

reported that Ke served as a financial intermediary for the Chinese consulate as part of election interference efforts. Ke denied the allegations and resigned from the Ontario PC caucus on the same day, so that he would not be a "distraction to the government and take away from the good work Premier Ford is doing for the province of Ontario". Ford's office stated that "While the allegations against Mr. Ke are not proven, they are serious and deserve his full and undivided attention as he works to clear his name". Ford later said "I have confidence that his name will be cleared", and that he would welcome Ke back into caucus if that occurred. The

Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...

(CSIS) had previously briefed the Ford's chief of staff in November 2022, which Ford described as sparse and "very secretive". In April 2023, Ke said that he had served Global News with a libel notice concerning their reporting about him.

Allowance from party donors

During the 2022 provincial election, Ke and seven other PC MPPs were identified as having received an allowance from their PC riding associations, with Ke expensing meals, entertainment, gas and parking. While allowed by provincial law, federal politicians are prohibited from doing the same, raising questions about aligning provincial and federal allowance rules.

Electoral record

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ke, Vincent Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs 21st-century Canadian politicians Living people Canadian politicians of Chinese descent People from North York Politicians from Toronto Year of birth missing (living people)