It’s time for change
By Lethbridge Herald Opinion on January 12, 2021.
Let me get straight to the point.
Canada is standing at a precipice. When it comes to Canada-China relations, inaction and appeasement are no longer acceptable.
The Prime Minister’s primary responsibility is the safety and security of Canadians. So, why is he so willing to pacify China and put his own country at risk? Why is he abdicating his role as a leader and choosing to kowtow to a domineering, vindictive, and ruthless regime?
Although there has been a growing suspicion that China follows its own rules, when push comes to shove, it has become crystal clear over the last few years that the communist regime is not to be trusted.
In December 2018, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) exposed their ruthless behaviour and lack of respect for the rule of law when it arbitrarily detained two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, in retaliation to Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of China’s largest private company and telecom giant, Huawei. The two Michaels remain imprisoned today.
The CCP proceeded with its vindictive behaviour by putting arbitrary bans on the imports of Canadian agriculture products such as beef, pork and canola, which has had devastating impacts on the industry.
As the Official Opposition, Conservatives have been critical of the Prime Minister’s indecision and lack of action when it comes to China. From the outset, we have offered advice publicly and privately and clearly communicated that we wished to work in a non-partisan capacity to find a resolution for the sake of Canadians.
 With no change on the government side, Conservatives decided to act.
In December 2019, when serving as the Conservative Foreign Affairs critic, Erin O’Toole tabled a motion to “appoint a special committee with the mandate to conduct hearings to examine and review all aspects of the Canada-China relationship including, but not limited to consular, economic, legal, security and diplomatic relations.”
Despite the Liberals’ attempt to vote it down, we worked with the other opposition parties to get the motion passed.
In a very short period, this vital committee was able to uncover a number of extremely nefarious actions taken by the CCP. Even though virtual meetings were an option, the committee was sidelined, along with many others, when the Prime Minister decided to reduce the function of Parliament for almost an entire year starting in March 2020.
On November 17, 2020, Conservatives brought forward another motion calling on the government to take urgent and necessary action to do two things within 30 days: decide on Huawei’s involvement in Canada’s 5G network-is it allowed or is it not? And, develop a robust plan to combat China’s growing foreign operations here in Canada and its increasing intimidation and harassment of members of Canada’s Chinese community.
Even though the Liberals voted against the motion, it passed with the support of all opposition parties.
And yet, the 30-day deadline came and went, and we still have no decision on Huawei. A reasonable question to ask is, why not?
Canada is the only member of the intelligence alliance, Five Eyes, that has not banned or restricted Huawei from our 5G network.
The Five Eyes, consisting of the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, is an alliance of like-minded nations, which work to share intelligence and signal security threats in order to protect our respective nations.
There is concrete evidence of Chinese espionage, infiltration, systematic interference in Canadian companies and the federal government.
Even CSIS, our national intelligence agency, has said Beijing uses undercover agents to target members of Canada’s Chinese community in order to silence critics of China’s regime. These agents use threats of retribution against their families in China in order to coerce and control.
Naively, Canada has assumed that if we play nice and seek to appease the dragon, it will not bite us.
This is not the case. Appeasing a hostile actor does not result in a trusting or functional relationship. On the contrary, it creates an imbalance where one party becomes dominant, and the other, submissive.
With its long-term plan of becoming the predominant world economic superpower, and its development of what many are calling the New Silk Road-that is the Belt and Road Initiative-China is using an approach that is nothing short of global economic imperialism.
The Chinese Communist Party has not been shy in enacting its plan to take over industry, ports, mines and infrastructure projects in other countries, including in Canada.
To add insult to injury, it was recently discovered that Canada’s military has been doing training exercises with China for a number of years. This was only recently cancelled. Senior officials at Global Affairs Canada expressed alarm at General Jonathan Vance’s decision to cancel winter military training for the Chinese military on Canadian soil in 2019, explaining they were afraid of reprisal from the CCP.
Canada’s entanglement with Communist China under Prime Minister Trudeau is worse than anyone could have imagined.
The primary responsibility of any democratic leader is to ensure the safety and security of its citizens.
So, where is Prime Minister Trudeau on this file? Why is he refusing to act?
We are in a faceoff with a growing economic superpower. Now is the time to stand our ground and push back against this communist regime whose political ideology is rooted in a philosophy that preaches world domination.
This is an opportunity for Canada to show leadership on the world stage, as we once did.
China is counting on inaction. We need a government that will put the interests of Canadians first and show the CCP that we will not be intimidated.
30-29
I think you answered your own question and I am no defender of Trudeau. You have described the proverbial “Rock and a Hard Place”.
If Trudeau takes a hard line with China, then “if” they do not release the two Michaels, then its Trudeau’s fault for taking the hard line, too early.
If we wait till Biden gets in, perhaps the Huawei/Wanzhou situation self resolves with the US dropping the charges/agreement made?
So if and I say “if” there is any chance China will release the Michaels because the Huawei situation is resolved or in the process of being resolved, then acting like a meanie to China beforehand could exacerbate the situation.
So, he has to look timid to achieve the Michaels release, which fits his profile anyway (in my opinion). Its after the Michaels issue has been resolved, what then? Canadians are addicted to “Made in China” and “Repair by Replacement”, its why we have tonnes of plastic and useless home appliances. They are designed to expire in 5 years or less.
To actually take a stand on China, Canadians would have to be willing to actually create manufacturing jobs at home, and build what is already being built for more, and in the end, would likely not be one iota better then the crap we get from China.
China would then discount their crap more, and put the Canadian Company out of business. Welcome to the “New World Order”
And, in all of this:
“Why Canada should finally free Meng Wanzhou. The Huawei CFO’s detention has always been political. With Trump out, Trudeau shouldn’t wait to release Meng.”
http://www.the walrus.ca/why-canada- should-finally-release-meng-wanzhou/
The USA Trump administration has, glaringly, not, been Canada’s friend.
and another entry that shows an utter lack of comprehending what communism is. let us start by stating: china is not communist. communism is a system based on the roughly equal sharing of a society’s responsibilities and resources. it can choose whatever political system it wishes, from an open and democratic one, to authoritarian and fascist. china tends mostly to the latter politically, but that does not make it communist – that makes china totalitarian. economically, there is a vast gulf between haves and have nots in china, just as exist in the usa – no one would call the usa communist, and rightly so. so, why does one call china communist? is it ignorance, or a desire to discredit the idea of cooperative living by painting it undemocratic, corrupt, and wicked? undemocratic, corrupt and wicked…not completely off the mark in the planet’s capitalistic systems.
the entry exposes how ignorant and opportunistic the opposition is. shameful.
Let’s face it as the mantra goes ” we’re all in this together “.
The west, us and government has allowed big tech, manufacturing and resources to go to China, cheap labour, right!
The only way out of this mess is to slap massive tarrifs on goods from China and force the western shell companies to return to manufacturing in the west.
This will mean a lot less consumerism and higher prices. The question is are we prepared for that.
At Christmas I was hard pressed to buy anything that was not manufactured in China, in fact its the same all year, they are even handle a considerable amount of our food processing. Unfortunately this is not just about the 2 Michael’s or Huawei, although as many Canadians I hope they are able to come home soon.
Trump wasn’t wrong about this one.