Canada’s foreign affairs minister is doubling down on Canada’s position on its current standoff with China in the face of blowback from Chinese officials.
China’s foreign ministry said Friday that Canada’s attempts to secure the release of two citizens detained in China by involving other countries, including the United States, is “doomed to fail” and a “waste of time.”
Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in response that Canada won’t take lessons on diplomacy from Beijing.
“The only one who [is] going to dictate the foreign policy of Canada is the Government of Canada,” he said in an interview with CBC Radio’s The House today.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told TVA’s Salut Bonjour program on Thursday that his government has asked the Trump administration to delay signing a final trade agreement with China until Beijing releases businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig.
Kovrig and Spavor have been in Chinese custody for over a year. They were arrested shortly after Canada detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on an extradition request from the United States. Her case is before the courts.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry took a shot at Canada for reaching out to Washington.
“If you pull chestnuts out of the fire for others, you will end up being the one getting burned,” Geng Shuang said.
Trading relationship in question
Despite the strident tone of China’s statements, it’s still Canada’s second largest trading partner. Reciprocal trade in goods between the two countries totals almost $100 billion each year, says Statistics Canada.
Champagne said Canada’s trade with the superpower doesn’t have to suffer because of the tensions caused by the consular cases. When asked if Canada could engage in trade with China and still push for the detained Canadians’ freedom, Champagne responded, “I think you can.”
Maintaining those ties is one thing — Prime Minister Trudeau told CBC News expanding them isn’t an option, given the current state of the relationship. On top of the detentions, China also halted imports of Canadian meat and canola earlier this year, causing huge issues for Canadian farmers.
“Until there is room to find that common ground, I don’t think that greater free trade with China is really something we can explore,” Trudeau told Power & Politics.
China takes no responsibility for the deterioration of the bilateral relationship.
“The responsibility for the current difficult situation in China-Canada relations lies entirely with the Canadian side. Whoever started the trouble first should end it,” Geng said. The Chinese have indicated the standoff will continue until Meng is released.
Champagne said it’s time for a new framework for relations with China. So far, he said, Canada’s strategy of sticking to the “rule of law” argument in Meng’s case has come at a price, but Champagne maintains it was the right thing to do.
“When you believe in the rule of law, I don’t think you can pick and choose.”
HALIFAX – An energy firm based in Ireland says it is planning to produce aviation fuel using about 700,000 tonnes of wood biomass annually.
Simply Blue Group announced today that construction would begin in 2026 with the bio fuel project expected to be operating by 2029 in Goldboro, N.S., about 165 kilometres northeast of Halifax.
The company says it has secured about 305 hectares of land for development, including 108 hectares previously owned by Pieridae — which had planned to build an LNG plant at the site — and 198 hectares owned by the Municipality of the District of Guysborough.
Based in Cork, Ireland, the company says its aviation fuel performs like conventional jet fuel but reduces greenhouse gases by “approximately 90 per cent.”
Simply Blue says that every year the project will source about 700,000 tonnes of biomass from Wagner Forest NS Ltd. to produce 150,000 tonnes of the fuel.
Tory Rushton, the province’s natural resources minister, issued a statement saying the plant could represent a new market for the province’s forestry sector.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick RCMP are disputing claims that the recent shooting death of an Indigenous man in mental distress happened during a police wellness check.
Assistant commissioner DeAnna Hill, commander of the New Brunswick RCMP, says that information is inaccurate.
On Monday, the RCMP said two officers responded to a report of an armed man in mental distress at a home in the Elsipogtog First Nation, where one Mountie shot the man after the other failed to subdue him with a stun gun.
Erin Nauss, director of the Serious Incident Response Team, says she understands the initial interaction on Sunday was not what the RCMP would call a wellness check, but she says the police oversight agency will conduct an investigation to “determine all of the facts.”
Meanwhile, a statement from an Indigenous group that works with the RCMP said they weren’t told about the deadly incident until it was too late, and the group described the Mounties’ initial role at the scene as a wellness check.
As well, New Brunswick Liberal Leader Susan Holt has described what happened as a wellness check gone wrong.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
HALIFAX – RCMP are expected to provide an update today on their investigation into the suspicious disappearance of a 55-year-old Nova Scotia woman.
Esther Jones was reported missing on Labour Day, and the RCMP’s major crime unit is now involved in the case.
According to police, Jones was last seen on Aug. 31 in Kingston, N.S., and family members reported her missing Sept. 2.
Two days later, officers found Jones’s vehicle, a silver 2009 Volkswagen Passat, abandoned in nearby Greenwood, N.S.
Jones is described as five-feet-four with a slim build, and she has brown, greying, shoulder-length hair and hazel eyes.
She may have been wearing a black T-shirt with ties on the shoulders, a black and floral below-the-knee skirt, and sunglasses with mirrored lenses when she was last seen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
