Roundup: Return of the two Michaels

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Friday was very much an exercise in life coming at one fast, as Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with American authorities, and hours later, the extradition order she was under was dropped and she was free to return to China. A few hours after that, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were on their way back to Canada, the fig leaf that their arrests were not hostage diplomacy in retaliation for Meng’s arrest completely gone, and they arrived on Canadian soil in the early hours of Saturday morning, with prime minister Justin Trudeau and foreign affairs minister Marc Garneau greeting them on the tarmac in Calgary. Spavor debarked there, Kovrig then continued onto Toronto, where he was met by his estranged wife and his sister.

With all of this in mind, there are questions as to where our relationship with China goes next. Garneau says that they are “eyes wide open,” and that they are now following a four-fold approach to China: “coexist,” “compete,” “co-operate,” and “challenge” – which seems to be a more articulate policy direction than the “tough but smart” that Garneau’s predecessor, François-Philippe Champagne stated several months ago. This certainly came up during the election, but the Liberals didn’t articulate much of a foreign policy in their platform, and we got very little in the way of debate on the subject. It is not insignificant, however, that Canada did lead a group of Western allies in a pact against the use of hostage diplomacy, whether practice by China or others (and there are others), so it’s not like the government sat on their hands the whole time either. It will also be exceedingly difficult to disentangle our trade from China – particularly in our agricultural sector – so it will be very interesting to see what this process looks like going forward over the next couple of years.

Good reads:

  • There is a conversation ongoing as to whether the next defence minister should be a woman, as the first and only woman in the job was Kim Campbell in 1993.
  • The Catholic Bishops of Canada have given an “unequivocal” apology for their role in residential schools – but it’s still not the demanded apology from the Pope.
  • New rules for pandemic-related EI came into force over the weekend.
  • Another post-election lament on the growing urban-rural divide in Canadian politics, where the Liberals take the cities and the Conservatives the countryside.
  • Ousted Liberal candidate Kevin Vuong maintains he will sit as an independent, even as his Liberal predecessor and others call for him to resign.
  • MP-elect George Chahal is being investigated by Calgary police over allegedly removing opponents’ campaign materials from their mailboxes.
  • Elected Liberal Arielle Kayabaga plans to carry on with her grad studies at Carleton University while she’s a sitting MP.
  • The Star has a look at some of the post-mortem that the Conservatives are undertaking on the campaign, and tracing to when they knew it was lost to them.
  • Part of the reckoning around Erin O’Toole’s campaign performance will be the fact that he lost several racialized incumbents and how his party is 95 percent white.
  • Here is a recounting of how Jason Kenney has managed to temporarily forestall a caucus report.
  • Stephen Saideman has a few thoughts on the next minister of defence.
  • Matt Gurney has more candid interviews, this time from NDP and Liberal insiders, about the campaign.
  • Supriya Dwivedi calls out the Canadian media for their inability to come to grips with the rise of the far-right and how mainstream conservatism has fuelled it.
  • Heather Scoffield wants the government to move swiftly on its climate goals.
  • Chantal Hébert suggests it would be wise for the Conservatives to keep O’Toole on for another election.
  • Althia Raj, on the other hand, notes that O’Toole has an authenticity problem.
  • My Xtra column looks at how the 44th Parliament will be the queerest one in Canadian history, and how the government’s agenda LGBTQ2+ will shape up.
  • My weekend column looks at how conservatives have tried to use right-wing populism as though it had no negative consequences, which is a naïve belief.

Odds and ends:

My Loonie Politics Quick Take discusses some of the lessons parties should be considering post-election.

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3 thoughts on “Roundup: Return of the two Michaels”

  1. Canadians can be assured that the bishops issued their apology under orders from the Pope. For him to do it would prove that his church is as always to subjugate its followers.
    This has been the practice since the inception of this tyrannical order. A Papal apology will never be given. The church will continue to promote its belief in magic, it will continue to prey on the weak and ignorant. It will strip the innocence and freedom of children and continue to indoctrinate regularly under the guise of redemption. The weapon it uses is fear and the promise that only the church can eliminate it. We take no steps to call it out individually, in the press and most sadly in governments. With so many adherents, we are truly ruled by tyranny.

  2. The Canadian media is overwhelmingly conservative itself. The Globe gave op-ed space to Rebel Media, and its editor was a Murdoch protege. Postmedia is owned by a US Republican hedge fund. The Star’s new owners were Conservative donors. The TV news channels have their base either in Western resource conservatism (Global) or the business empire of a reclusive family of Toronto billionaires (CTV). For a country that voted in a government that is 2/3 progressive/left-of-centre the media is not reflective of the image that Canada chooses to portray of its character. Hence why they were and still are so hell-bent upon painting Tool and his hateful party as “moderate” compared to the more overt offshoot of Max and his deplorables. But they’re all one and the same.

  3. Co-exist and cooperate.
    Hmm, at what point do Canadian officials get to tell Chinese officials that they’re every bit as full of crap as Trump and his cronies….in a, y’know, friendly way? Does the Chinese emperor get to parade around Beijing with his nutsack blowing in the wind, while their official media lines paint them as fair, wise, and above reproach? Spavor and Kovrig released on the very same day as each other, and as Meng herself, but for “health reasons”? “Disingenuous” doesn’t even begin to describe the disinformation campaign Beijing pursues. I don’t know how much B.S. Canada and other nations are supposed to inhale before we choke on it. We don’t have to cut ourselves off from China, but dammit, we can still insist that they be honest and upfront with us. Or are they afraid that would lead to their populace finding out about what really happened in Tiananmen Square, or that Hong Kongers would get to vote for who they actually want?

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