(Ottawa) The Liberals blocked the tabling of a motion calling to postpone the Beijing Olympics for one year, which will kick off in just under two months.
The attempt by Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe to table the motion failed due to opposition from the Liberal benches.
No other party opposed it.
The motion said the House would ask the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Beijing Olympics for a year so that an international observation mission can visit Xinjiang.
It is in this region of northwestern China that the Xi Jinping regime is accused of committing genocide against the Muslim minority of the Uyghurs and the Turkic peoples.
The motion also provided for China to be withdrawn from its Games if it refused to host a mission, or for the latter to “come to the conclusion of the existence of a violation of human rights”.
But as the rules of procedure of the House of Commons dictate, a single “no” aborts the attempt to table a motion without notice.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe
When he left the House, the elected Bloc member did not hide his disappointment, even his “anger”.
And he did not mince his words to criticize the liberal position, of which he is otherwise unaware of the reasons.
“When you know that there is a genocide, when you say that there is a genocide, and that you decide to do nothing when you have the power, me, I say to myself that indirectly, you make accomplices in this genocide, ”he blurted out.
“In any case, that says a lot about your scale of values,” he denounced in the press melee in the foyer of the Commons.
The text was adopted on November 14 as part of the annual summit of the Uyghur World Congress which took place in Prague, where the Bloc member went.
In history, the Olympic Games have been postponed.
In the very recent past, those in Tokyo were given a few months notice, due to the pandemic.
A diplomatic boycott?
Diplomatic boycott is an option United States President Joe Biden has admitted to having in his toolbox.
“This is something that we are considering,” he told a reporter just under two weeks ago, as he welcomed Justin Trudeau to the White House – and a few days after his interview with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
A few hours later, at a press conference, the Canadian Prime Minister did not venture so far.
“We have been in discussions with allies from all over the planet for months, and these conversations continue,” he offered at the microphone of the Canadian embassy in Washington.
“I am sure that the closer the opening date of the Games will approach, we will have more information on the precise position that Canada and the world will take on this issue,” added Justin Trudeau.
The day after the threat made by the American president, we roared in the Chinese camp.
“Mixing politics and sport goes against the Olympic spirit,” warned Chinese diplomacy spokesman Zhao Lijian the next day.
“The US human rights accusations against China are devoid of truth and completely baseless,” he added.
When she left the cabinet meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday, Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge did not want to say whether she was planning to go to the Beijing Games.
In 2008, when violence in Tibet had triggered a boycott movement, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summer Games.
Two ministers from his government, however, came to take part in the event.
The Beijing 2022 Games are due to open on February 4.
With Agence France-Presse