(Ottawa) The government has not expelled any Chinese diplomat since 2018, but it “will never hesitate to do so,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly. We also want to “prevent rather than cure”, for example by refusing entry visas to relatives of the regime, she illustrated.
The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs heard for the second time in nearly three months from the minister and his colleague Dominic LeBlanc. From the first minutes of the session, tension set in.
Conservative MP Luc Berthold was repeatedly called to order because he interrupted his interlocutor.
The elected official wanted to know how many Chinese diplomats had been expelled from Canada in 2018, then in 2019, and so on. In response to these direct questions, Minister Joly wanted to provide elaborate answers, which resulted in some spats at the committee table.
We could hear him affirm, in the midst of the brouhaha, that if representatives of China contravened the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, “never [elle] wouldn’t hesitate” to show them the door.
But since we “can prevent rather than cure”, we can also prohibit them from setting foot in Canada upstream, she argued.
This is what was done last fall, illustrated the Minister, confirming the information published in the Globe and Mail. His statement, however, was somewhat drowned out by the repeated interruptions at the committee table.
To a more friendly interlocutor, the Liberal Ruby Sahota, Ms.me Joly later stressed that the expulsion of foreign diplomats was not to be taken lightly, as there would be retaliation.
And Canada cannot afford to lose its eyes and ears in China, because “you have to understand how they work”.
The minister reiterated that she had an exchange with her Chinese counterpart about Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections on the sidelines of the G20 summit in India a few days ago.
“I looked him straight in the eye,” she said.
“I’m sure he was scared,” then mocked Conservative MP Michael Cooper.
To this pike, the minister replied: “You must know China, you have already been there as a parliamentarian”.
The obstruction continues
Before Ministers Joly and LeBlanc entered the scene, which was delayed by 10 minutes, the Liberals continued to use delaying maneuvers in the hope of avoiding an appearance by Katie Telford, the chief of staff of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
They each took advantage of their monologue to praise the announcement of the creation of an independent special rapporteur, and question the relevance of launching an independent public inquiry into foreign interference.
Among them, Ruby Sahota appealed to the tax fiber of the conservatives as an argument against holding an inquiry.
She cited the one that was done in 2022 on the Nova Scotia massacre, which cost $25.6 million.
“I can hardly imagine how much this would cost taxpayers,” she said.