In February 2021, Edward Enterprise International Group Inc., an Ontario-incorporated company of which Gong was the sole shareholder, pleaded guilty in Ontario Superior Court to pyramid selling and using forged documents.Īccording to an agreed statement of facts signed by Gong, EEIGI recruited members, most of them in China, who paid the equivalent of $1,000 for packages consisting of health supplements and shares in a pharmaceutical company. His campaign website describes him as a “Canadian entrepreneur, director, artist, journalist, and corporate strategic planner,” and his platform lists pledges to cut property taxes by $1,000 for each household, accelerate the construction of affordable housing, and “turn Toronto into the world capital of metaverse, blockchain, crypto and digital asset exchange.” He hasn’t participated in any major debates, and isn’t registering in public opinion polls.īut of the 102 people running to be mayor of Toronto, none has a more remarkable backstory than Gong, whose personal story of entrepreneurial success was derailed two years ago when his company pleaded guilty to operating an international pyramid scheme, and who has since taken Canadian authorities to court alleging they partnered with Chinese officials to persecute him. While Gong’s ad game is undeniably strong, he’s still a long shot to win the June 26 byelection. This election season, there’s no escaping Edward Gong.Īs the race for Toronto mayor enters its final weeks, Gong, a media magnate and outsider candidate, has launched an advertising blitz guaranteed to get the public’s attention.Īs soon as election advertising was legally allowed on June 1, his blue-and-yellow signs started sprouting up, each one declaring Gong was “Here to rescue Toronto,” and displaying 44, his number on the crowded mayoral ballot. It’s even glowing above Yonge-Dundas Square. It’s on signs cluttering the roadside, whizzing by on the roofs of taxis, printed on flyers stuffed in mailboxes, and on ads in the pages of this newspaper. By now, everyone in Toronto has probably seen his face.
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