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PM Justin Trudeau's Canada

I see that Ottawa has changed the risk level for China.
https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/china
China - Exercise a high degree of caution
"Exercise a high degree of caution in China due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws."

And meanwhile we've lept right onto a minefield and are stuck right between China and the US
Yep.

I'm going to Singapore and Taiwan in May and have instructed the travel agent to find me flights that do not touch any PRC territory, thus excluding Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese-Canadians are likely safe, but this is the one time my white privilege will fail me, as who knows what the political climate is like by May 2019, and the Chinese gov't may see this tall white Canadian guy coming through Hong Kong on his way home and say, hey come with us, and then I'm on CCTV.
 
Chinese-Canadians are likely safe, but this is the one time my white privilege will fail me, as who knows what the political climate is like by May 2019, and the Chinese gov't may see this tall white Canadian guy coming through Hong Kong on his way home and say, hey come with us, and then I'm on CCTV.

Chinese-Canadians have always been, and are particularly unsafe - "disappearing" had been a huge issue, plus China don't recognize dual-citizenship (and a lot of locals use their HKSAR passport/HKID/Home return permit when they travel for ease of entry to HK/China - big mistake)

AoD
 
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Who does?

Jagmeet Singh. Plus, from a strategic perspective, the Liberals want him to be leader. If he lost the by-election and the NDP sacked him, maybe someone else would step in that could change their fortunes for the better.

Conservatives rejected Karen Wang before her short-lived Liberal candidacy, MP says #cdnpoli #bcpoli

She is also considering an independent run.
 
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The Trudeau government unveiled the Rouge Park Management Plan last week.

It should be a positive step forward towards improving the park, both from a natural heritage/ecology point-of-view as well as for tourists/visitors.

That said.............

Jim Robb who runs Friends of the Rouge and has been a key stakeholder involved in protecting and restoring the valley for more than two decades is not particularly happy.

Certain niceties aside (he found out the plan was being unveiled from the media)....

I do share some of his concerns.

As compared with some earlier drafts, the amount of farmland being retained has been increased, as the expense of land to restored to forests/wetlands etc.

Article here:

https://www.thestar.com/ipolitics/f...eases-plan-for-rouge-national-urban-park.html

Actual Plan here: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/rouge/info/gestion-management/gestion-management-2019

Some images from the plan (via the preceding link)

map-pg50-key_strategies-visitor_trails_and_facilities.jpg


map-pg63-management_area_concepts-management_area_1.jpg


map-pg67-management_area_concepts-management_area_2.jpg

map-pg81-management_area_concepts-management_area_6.jpg
 
Not surprised at the caliber of Trudeau's cabinet, considering that this man was the same one who kickstarted Canada's current migrant issues.

Kelly McParland: Just as China is hanging itself, along comes John McCallum
Until our ambassador let loose with his thoughts, Beijing looked to be losing ground on every front in the case of Meng Wanzhou
Until John McCallum came along to explain otherwise, I was under the impression that China was doing a bang-up job of defeating itself in the case of Meng Wanzhou.

Since the Huawei executive’s arrest in Vancouver, Beijing has thrown a blistering international tantrum that succeeded in alarming political leaders and business executives in numerous countries, while ensuring neither Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nor U.S. President Donald Trump could meet its demands without appearing to cave in to tyrants.
But then Mr. McCallum, the former Liberal cabinet member ushered off to China to make way for fresher blood, agreed to discuss the case with a group of Chinese journalists and promptly bolstered Beijing’s position, while firing a giant cannonball into the side of the Canadian government.

Meng, he told them, has a strong case to avoid extradition. Her lawyers could argue that the case had been politicized by comments from Trump, who has linked the arrest to an ongoing trade feud and suggested he could intervene with the U.S. Justice Department if he sees fit. McCallum cited an “extraterritorial” aspect to the case, apparently a reference to the fact a Huawei subsidiary at the heart of the dispute is based in Hong Kong, beyond Canada’s jurisdiction; and noted that Canada has not adopted the sanctions against Iran that Meng is accused of violating.
The remarks were quickly reported by Chinese media, as were suggestions McCallum was arguing China’s case for it. Another former ambassador called them “mind-boggling.” Trudeau did his best to avoid answering questions about his appointee, while Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland felt the need to emphasize — once again — that Meng is subject to “a fair, unbiased and transparent legal proceeding,” adding that “there has been no political involvement in this process.”
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/ke...-china-is-hanging-itself-along-comes-mccallum
 
More on the messes from Grewal (hope you didn't miss that one) and McCallum, some quality figures from round the Trudeau Administration. We better take a look at what United Front organizations and Confucius Institutes are operating round Canada.

Liberals refuse to reveal details of six-figure fundraiser for MP with millions in gambling debts
The Liberal Party of Canada is refusing to release details of a fundraiser held by MP Raj Grewal that amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time Grewal was struggling with millions in gambling debts.

With tickets priced at $500 per person, Grewal said the event for the Brampton East Liberal riding association last April attracted 1,200 people, an unusually large crowd for a local fundraiser that featured no party luminaries.

The potential take of up to $600,000 — less costs and non-paying guests — would have far exceeded the riding’s spending limit of $100,000 for a minimum 37-day election campaign.
https://vancouversun.com/news/canad...ebts/wcm/8f8ab8b1-0703-48f2-b4c6-859960ce1213

John McCallum fell victim to Beijing’s ‘influence campaign,’ say former ambassadors
Former ambassador John McCallum’s break from Ottawa’s official messaging suggests Beijing was employing strategies from a “well-honed playbook” designed to sway ambassadors into representing state-friendly perspectives, say experts in foreign affairs.

While not illegal or necessarily sinister, the practice of “gaming” envoys and businessmen by playing to their egos with the illusion of “special access” is a tried-and-true method to subtly draw foreigners into alignment with the political aims of the Communist Party of China, said James Palmer, editor of Foreign Policy Magazine.

“China has a habit of singling out individuals ... for its own influence campaigns,” Palmer said in an interview.
Missives in the Global Times and China Daily — news organizations with ties to the Chinese state — depicting McCallum’s exit as confirmation of the illegitimacy of Canada’s legal process are a further indication the former ambassador was viewed as an ally by Beijing, said Palmer.

“They clearly saw McCallum as an asset, as somebody who they very successfully wooed through this program,” said Palmer, who worked for Global Times for seven years.
Whereas newly posted foreign ambassadors in Western countries are typically put in touch with government officials of all stripes, when a foreign ambassador first arrives in Beijing, they are given zero access, said Guajardo.

Then slowly, over time, ambassadors are told particular, high-ranking Communist Party officials wish to meet with them because they’re “special” and “obviously” have a unique understanding of the nuance and delicacy of the party’s position, he said.

“And they keep playing up this idea that you’re special (by granting the same access) any ambassador would get in any other capital,” Guajardo said in an interview.

The mind-game of cultivating an envoy as a “special friend” to China who believes he has singular access to — and understanding of — the country’s political inner-workings is key to ensuring the diplomat will become an ally in Beijing’s efforts to see its interests taken up abroad, he said. And this relationship becomes especially useful during periods of dispute between China and an ambassador’s home country.

“This is typical Chinese playbook: to convince the ambassador from a foreign country that his country is not acting correctly, and that ‘of course’ he understands that they’re not acting correctly, and, ‘I’m telling you as a friend because I like you and I don’t meet any other ambassadors,’” he said. “And they start getting into your head that way.”
China is amazingly successful at convincing people, including seasoned diplomats, that the most important thing in the world is maintaining good relations with China,” Mulroney said in an email. “By this they generally mean not commenting or otherwise reacting to something egregious that China has done.

They persuade people by playing to their vanity, making them believe that their unique understanding of China is evidenced by their ability to keep things calm and untroubled. They do this because it works — for China.”
https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2...nfluence-campaign-say-former-ambassadors.html
 
More on the messes from Grewal (hope you didn't miss that one) and McCallum, some quality figures from round the Trudeau Administration. We better take a look at what United Front organizations and Confucius Institutes are operating round Canada.


https://vancouversun.com/news/canad...ebts/wcm/8f8ab8b1-0703-48f2-b4c6-859960ce1213


https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2...nfluence-campaign-say-former-ambassadors.html

The Grewal matter seems of concern. Not a fan of 'suspect' fundraising.

On McCallum......I'm not so sure. First off, I don't think he said anything wrong. I actually don't believe under Canadian law or International Law there is any basis for the arrest or potential deportation of Ms. Meng.

That's not to say China does not behave badly in various ways; nor to suggest Huawei is innocent either.

Rather its that the charges suggesting that the US has the right to make foreign companies which operate under the laws of their respective countries comply with an extra-territorial US law is problematic, at best.

I think McCallum's statements, while odd, if not sanctioned for Foreign Affairs or the PMO were reasonable and not suggestive, unto themselves of undo influence.

Now if they truly came w/o any domestic permission, in the circumstances, that would be inappropriate and rather curious.

I think there's a fine line to walk in recognizing few actors have entirely clean hands.
 
The Grewal matter seems of concern. Not a fan of 'suspect' fundraising.

On McCallum......I'm not so sure. First off, I don't think he said anything wrong. I actually don't believe under Canadian law or International Law there is any basis for the arrest or potential deportation of Ms. Meng.

That's not to say China does not behave badly in various ways; nor to suggest Huawei is innocent either.

Rather its that the charges suggesting that the US has the right to make foreign companies which operate under the laws of their respective countries comply with an extra-territorial US law is problematic, at best.

I think McCallum's statements, while odd, if not sanctioned for Foreign Affairs or the PMO were reasonable and not suggestive, unto themselves of undo influence.

Now if they truly came w/o any domestic permission, in the circumstances, that would be inappropriate and rather curious.

I think there's a fine line to walk in recognizing few actors have entirely clean hands.

The problem is that the whole Meng issue is a US-China proxy war of words that's happening in Canada. We need to be aware that China can, and will use its organizational appendages and financial power to influence public opinion and democracies, much like it has done in Australia and its other neighbouring states.

While I have no doubt the US acts largely in its own interest under the usual democratic pretenses, I think it's a good thing that it's revealed how China is hardly a benevolent alternative either for those imagining a post-US multipolar future.

We need to be wary of China's actions in other countries- its government is ultimately a suprematist one (China first), and instances like Huawei and Nortel in the past should tell us to be wary, especially in dealing with free trade and technology.
 
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Speaking of double-standards and less than clean hands...........

While few of us here would defend Mr. Maduro who mostly likely lacks a legitimate democratic mandate in Venezuela and who has also mismanaged economic affairs there in spades.....

But.....

Mr. Guaido may be of concern as well.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/the-m...oratory-created-venezuela-coup-leader/254387/

I should add I have other sources that support the evidence above.

I'll further note that this source has an obviously political slant, but its 'facts' seem to be verifiable.
 
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