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The story so far ...


Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial office for Huawei, a telecommunications company with ties to the communist Chinese government, was arrested in Vancouver on December 1st, 2018 on charges of violating sanctions on Iran and was being held for extradition to the US. The US has since formally sought extradition of Meng.

From the time of her arrest, China has demanded that Canada release Meng. It has insulted and threatened Canada and held thirteen Canadians in what it calls custody.

In order to pacify the country the current prime minister openly proclaimed that he admired for its "basic dictatorship" and whose money he has no difficulty accepting, the ambassador to China, John McCallum, outlined ways that Meng could avoid extradition to the US:

John McCallum, Canada's ambassador to China, says there are strong legal arguments Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou can make to help her avoid extradition to the United States. ...

Speaking to Chinese reporters Tuesday in the Toronto area, McCallum listed several arguments Meng's legal team can make in her defence.

He said her lawyer could argue that there has been possible political involvement following recent comments by U.S. President Donald Trump. Last month, Trump raised questions about the basis of the extradition request by musing in an interview with Reuters about intervening in Meng's case if it would help him strike a trade deal with China.

McCallum also said she can argue against the extra-territorial aspect to her case and the fact the fraud allegations against Meng are related to Iran sanctions, which Canada did not sign onto.

"I think she has some strong arguments that she can make before a judge," McCallum said during his opening remarks to reporters.

When a confused Canadian public wondered why McCallum was acting like a defense lawyer as opposed to an ambassador who should restrict his comments to Canadian-Chinese relations, McCallum then claimed that his entire strategy was a mere matter of misspeaking:

Canada’s ambassador to China says he “misspoke” when he suggested detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou had a strong case to avoid extradition to the United States.

Justin refused to remove McCallum for this public error:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending his envoy to Beijing who says Canada now has more in common with China's authoritarian regime than with the United States under President Donald Trump. ...

The envoy said the divergence between the United States and China is a boon for Canada. "In a sense, it's a good thing for me as an ambassador and for Canada with China because, because of these big differences, it gives us opportunities in China. There is no doubt that Canada wants to do more with China, which is what the Prime Minister told me when he asked me to come here."

At a wrap-up news conference Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr. Trudeau was asked if he agreed with his ambassador's outlook. He didn't disavow Mr. McCallum's comments but said his government's approach to foreign affairs is to look for common ground with countries, including China.

Now, instead of standing fast by an ambassador who represented the interests not of Canada of himself and his boss, Justin has removed McCallum and hopes that this entire spectacle will blow over in time for the October election:

The prime minister’s office announced Saturday that ambassador John McCallum had been told to hand in his resignation — just hours after he weighed in on a high-stakes extradition case for the second time in less than a week.

Also - Scheer was right:

After a week in which he twice weighed in on a high-stakes extradition case, John McCallum is out as Canada's ambassador to China — although for Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, the damage has already been done.

"It should never have come to this," Scheer tweeted Saturday, after the prime minister's office released a statement announcing McCallum's resignation at the request of Justin Trudeau.

But McCallum and Justin really want to smooth things over with China more so with the US (see above).


And:

Charles Burton, a political scientist at Ontario’s Brock University who closely monitors China-related rights issues, says one of the United Front’s key goals is to soften opinions around issues like Chinese companies’ acquisition of Canadian natural resources and technology, or the looming decision Canada must make about Huawei’s involvement in building the country’s 5G telecom network. The company, considered to have close links to the Chinese state and having for years faced accusations of corporate espionage, was barred from taking part in 5G trials in the U.S., Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand — the four countries that with Canada comprise the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance.

It’s difficult to map exactly how the United Front Work Department deploys its resources in places like Canada. But Burton argues its influence — helped by immigration in the last two decades made up increasingly of people raised under Communist rule on the Chinese mainland — has been tangible. He believes a “substantial” portion of Chinese diplomatic staff in Canada are likely United Front operatives, interacting with Chinese-Canadian leaders, politicians, students and others.

 And let's not forget FIPA.



Justin, who ran out of the gallery to scream at the Tories were ambulance-chasers for wanting to return a child-murderess to prison, plays a well-worn fear-mongering card:

In response to a Syrian refugee thanking Trudeau during a town hall in Miramichi, New Brunswick, Trudeau tried to cast anyone who could question him as ‘fear-mongerers.’

According to the CP, Trudeau said, “When we’re faced with anxieties, it’s very easy to have those fears drummed up and exacerbated — getting people to point fingers and lay blame. But the kind of fear-mongering, the kind of intolerance, the kind of misinformation going on across the country and around the world is something all of us have a responsibility to engage with a positive and a thoughtful way.”

**

Rather, any questioning of Liberal dogma on these issues during the election will be attacked by Liberal candidates as unCanadian, including Trudeau’s plan to increase the annual immigration target to 350,000 by 2021 — almost 1% of Canada’s population — from the current level of 310,000.

Because it's an election year!:

Recent reports on a group called CorpEthics exposed how the San Francisco-based organization is fighting against Canada’s energy industry.

Now, they’ve been caught trying to scrub the fact that “from the very beginning,” they’ve wanted to “landlock” Canadian oil sands oil.

**

According to a recent Global News Report, the Liberals are trying to use a secretive committee to attack Kenney:

“With the House of Commons set to resume, the Liberals have launched a bid to get a secretive House of Commons committee to investigate UCP Leader Jason Kenney mere months before the Alberta election gets underway. In a letter sent to Speaker Geoff Regan, chair of the powerful House of Commons’ Board of Internal Economy, Jennifer O’Connell, parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Bill Morneau, asked for support from its members to launch an investigation into alleged misuses of housing allowances by Kenney while he was a Conservative MP.”

Because transparency!



Because ethics!:

Former Liberal MP Raj Grewal says he's staying on as the member of Parliament for Brampton East.

Last November, Grewal announced he was taking a leave to deal with what he called a compulsive gambling problem that caused him to rack up millions of dollars in debt.

Ignoring stop signs has obviously deadly consequences:

A Saskatchewan court has heard that a semi-truck driver barrelled through an oversized stop sign with a flashing red light before the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash.

An agreed statement of facts says Jaskirat Singh Sidhu was going between 86 and 96 km/h when he drove into a rural intersection north of Tisdale last April.

The statement says the driver of the Broncos junior hockey team bus hit the brakes and the bus skidded for about 24 metres. It T-boned the truck at an impact of between 96 and 107 km/h.

Crown prosecutor Thomas Healey says there was no way the bus driver could have avoided the collision. The transport truck was fully in the intersection across all lanes of traffic.

"The driver of the bus recognized the hazard as quickly as possible," Healey told the court Monday. 

The statement says RCMP found no evidence that Sidhu had used drugs or alcohol or that he was distracted by a cellphone. The weather and road conditions were good.

The posted speed limit on both roads is 100 km/h.

Sixteen people were killed and 13 others on the bus were injured.

Giving Islamists what they want will still result in death:

Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding 111 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said.

Witnesses said the first blast inside the Jolo cathedral in the provincial capital sent churchgoers, some of them wounded, to stampede out of the main door. Army troops and police posted outside were rushing in when the second bomb went off about one minute later near the main entrance, causing more deaths and injuries. The military was checking a report that the second explosive device may have been attached to a parked motorcycle.

The initial explosion scattered the wooden pews inside the main hall and blasted window glass panels, and the second bomb hurled human remains and debris across a town square fronting the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, witnesses said. Cellphone signal was cut off in the first hours after the attack. The witnesses who spoke to The Associated Press refused to give their names or were busy at the scene of the blasts.

Police said at least 20 people died and 111 were wounded, correcting an earlier toll due to double counting. The fatalities included 15 civilians and five troops. Among the wounded were 17 troops, two police, two coast guard and 90 civilians.