Sending food back to the kitchen?

[rooster59]

Canadian PM fires envoy to China after remarks on Huawei case

By David Ljunggren

 

FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) shakes hands with former Immigration Minister John McCallum after McCallum delivered his farewell speech in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, January 31, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File Photo

 

OTTAWA (Reuters) - In an unprecedented move, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday said he had fired his ambassador to China, who prompted a political furor with comments about Huawei's high-profile extradition case.

 

John McCallum had embarrassed Trudeau's Liberal government by saying Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou could make a strong argument against being sent to the United States.

 

Opposition legislators and former ambassadors accused McCallum of unacceptable political interference in an affair which has badly damaged relations between Canada and China.

 

Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, was arrested in Vancouver last month over alleged violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

 

China subsequently detained two Canadian citizens on national security grounds. A Chinese court later retried a Canadian man who had been jailed for drugs smuggling and sentenced him to death.

 

"Last night I asked for and accepted John McCallum's resignation as Canada's ambassador to China," Trudeau said in a statement that did not explain his reasons.

 

Veteran diplomats and experts told Reuters it was the first time a Canadian ambassador had ever been officially fired.

 

Trudeau said as recently as Thursday that he had no plans to replace McCallum, who apologized the same day for his remarks earlier in the week.

 

But the Toronto Star newspaper on Friday quoted the envoy as saying that if Washington dropped the extradition request "that would be great for Canada". McCallum, 68, a long-time former Liberal cabinet minister, is not a trained diplomat.

 

Brock University professor Charles Burton, a former Canadian diplomat who had served two postings in China, said McCallum's comments on Meng possibly avoiding extradition had signaled to Beijing that its hard line tactics were working.

 

"He really made it untenable for the prime minister to sustain him (in his post) for any length of time and he had to go," Burton said by telephone, suggesting Trudeau should quickly appoint a special envoy to handle the dispute.

 

Spokespeople for Trudeau and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland declined to comment when asked about the dismissal.

 

Andrew Scheer, leader of the official opposition Conservative Party, said in a tweet that Trudeau "should have fired his ambassador the moment he interfered in this case" and accused the prime minister of weakness and indecision.

 

Polls show the Liberals have a slender lead over the Conservatives ahead of a federal election this October.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-27

[goferman]

Enjoy your retirement, John. And if life gets too boring, come to Thailand and look me up ????

[geriatrickid]

About time he was terminated. He broke the cardinal rule of not interfering in a judicial process. It was unethical and had he been a member of parliament would have been obliged to resign his seat.

 

His duty was to carry out official Canadian foreign policy as determined by the government of Canada through the parliamentary committee(s), Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International trade and the Prime Minister. The Ambassador serves the government and does not set foreign policy, despite McCallum's inflated sense of importance.

 

He breached that duty by offering his own position which IMO was influenced in part by his relationship with some senior Chinese business officials dating back to the days when he was a senior banker and  involved with trade deals.

 

Edited January 27, 2019 by geriatrickid

[blazes]

Let's face it: he was not in the least qualified for the job.  A plum job in China was his reward for decades of patient waiting in the Liberal trenches.  Now he has received the sniper's bullet.

[Stargeezr]

Oh ... I know. Lets make Justin Trudeau  the new envoy to China and give him a one way ticket to that country.

Geezer

Edited January 27, 2019 by Stargrazer9889
used wrong word

[pacovl46]

China retrying and sentencing a Canadian citizen to death after the fact, just goes to show what they’re really like. 

[unblocktheplanet]

Pretty boy Justin is a spineless lapdog. NOT his father: PET was a hero.

[pegman]

On January 26, 2019 at 10:27 PM, geriatrickid said:

About time he was terminated. He broke the cardinal rule of not interfering in a judicial process. It was unethical and had he been a member of parliament would have been obliged to resign his seat.

 

His duty was to carry out official Canadian foreign policy as determined by the government of Canada through the parliamentary committee(s), Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International trade and the Prime Minister. The Ambassador serves the government and does not set foreign policy, despite McCallum's inflated sense of importance.

 

He breached that duty by offering his own position which IMO was influenced in part by his relationship with some senior Chinese business officials dating back to the days when he was a senior banker and  involved with trade deals.

 

He told the truth. The top elected leader of the prosecuting nation stated publicly that his government may use her as a pond in trade negotiations. I hope the judge sets her free for the reasons given by McCallum.  

[geriatrickid]

6 hours ago, pegman said:

He told the truth. The top elected leader of the prosecuting nation stated publicly that his government may use her as a pond in trade negotiations. I hope the judge sets her free for the reasons given by McCallum.  

 

The truth is that  McCallum  spoke exclusively in Markham Ontario to Chinese Communist Party "media" and ethnic Chinese language media from Canada who are linked to support from the the government of China. No non  China friendly media were invited.  This in itself  should raise a red flag in more ways than  than one.

 

Because it is difficult for an ambassador to fly in from China on short notice, to speak to an organized  special interest group which did not "invite" non ethnic Chinese, questions have been asked as to what McCallum was doing. Because of these circumstances, it is alleged that the meeting was organized and supported by the Chinese government.  The growing view now is that McCallum was serving the interests of China and not  the people of Canada. In the old days it was called  conflict of interest.

If it wasn't for an upcoming election, we would see an inquiry into  McCallum's actions and his possible link to the Chinese. 

 

 

[pegman]

12 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

 

The truth is that  McCallum  spoke exclusively in Markham Ontario to Chinese Communist Party "media" and ethnic Chinese language media from Canada who are linked to support from the the government of China. No non  China friendly media were invited.  This in itself  should raise a red flag in more ways than  than one.

 

Because it is difficult for an ambassador to fly in from China on short notice, to speak to an organized  special interest group which did not "invite" non ethnic Chinese, questions have been asked as to what McCallum was doing. Because of these circumstances, it is alleged that the meeting was organized and supported by the Chinese government.  The growing view now is that McCallum was serving the interests of China and not  the people of Canada. In the old days it was called  conflict of interest.

If it wasn't for an upcoming election, we would see an inquiry into  McCallum's actions and his possible link to the Chinese. 

 

 

He was looking out for the interests of Canada. Something that would seem foreign to you no doubt. Little wonder that back stabber Harper garnered so much of your admiration.

 

Like long time federal minister Manley stated at the time of her arrest, the government should have fumbled the process and we wouldn't be in this situation now.

 

As for him being in Markham that is where he spent 15 years as the MP. If you had ever been there Spicoli you would know the Chinese community has a lot of sway in the riding's elections. McCallum would surely have had a long time relationship with the local Chinese media there.