Conservative rhetoric suggests hypocrisy
DEAR EDITOR:
If you believe that re-examining the Harper government’s record is irrelevant you haven’t been listening to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
Poilievre, in Edmonton, April 13, said repeatedly “the way we did when we were in power.”
Unfortunately, the “way we did” often involved questionable tactics, a practice they have taken to new heights.
When Dick Fadden, head of CSIS , sounded the alarm about Chinese interference in 2010, the Harper government “renounced categorically Mr.Fadden’s statements,” and said his statements were “unacceptable and irresponsible”, and “suggested he resign.”
Despite warnings by CSIS in 2012, against Chinese tech company Huawei (barred by the U.S. and Australia) the Harper government allowed Huawei to participate in major Canadian telecommunications projects,even with the Canadian military. Harper’s China love-in included a 31-year natural resource contract with China, signed in Vladovostok, Russia, guaranteeing Canada liable for any loss of Chinese profit.
All of which set the stage for the hostage situation with the two Michaels when Meng Wang-zhou was detained, as well as China’s boycott of our canola and pork. Yet in committee testimony, May 2023, Harper’s then office manager, whose claim to fame was a replica seal club on her desk, insisted there were no warnings of Chinese interference, a statement repeated (televised) by other Conservative MPs.
Since the return of the two Michaels, Canada has banned Huawei from inclusion of their products in Canadian telecommunications. It is a little rich to hear the Conservative opposition, supposedly unaware of the consequences of their choices, demanding actions of the government, which suggests the lives of the two Michaels when in Chinese detention, was immaterial. These MPs were, and are, enjoying the perks of tax payer funding, anticipate a generous pension, and yet their sole object is to engage in personal attacks against the government, obediently echoed by the assembled chorus of the day. Their obsession with power has nothing in common with concern for Canadians here or abroad.
Elaine Lawrence, Kelowna