Canada-China relations probe spurned
OTTAWA — The choice to reach out to two former ambassadors to China was part of an effort to make sure experts were sufficiently informed, not to pressure them into toeing the line, Liberal MPs said Tuesday as they shut down opposition efforts to investigate the matter.
Members of the governing party who make up a majority on the Commons foreign affairs committee were on hand to fend off allegations that the Prime Minister’s Office had attempted to pressure two former ambassadors to China over their public statements about Canada’s ongoing dispute with the People’s Republic.
David Mulroney and Guy SaintJacques told the Globe and Mail newspaper last week they had been contacted by an official from Global Affairs Canada. Mulroney said the official had asked him to check with Global Affairs before making future comments on China and that the request had come from the PMO.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his office did not direct the department to silence the former diplomats.
During Tuesday’s special summer meeting of the committee, Liberal MPs framed the calls as part of the government’s practice of consulting with experts and trying to enable an informed discussion.
Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, secretary to the foreign affairs minister, said the contact with the two former ambassadors was part of an effort to ensure Canadians were speaking “with an informed voice,” but not “one voice.”
Liberals on the committee shot down an opposition motion that would have summoned Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, the two former ambassadors and others to testify.
Conservative members joined Guy Caron, the NDP MP on the committee, to push for the investigation in order to shed light on efforts to end Canada’s row with China, and help Canadians understand whether the government had tried to “muzzle” two diplomats.
Conservative critics Leona Alleslev said invoking the PMO in a conversation with a former public servant was a “notso-veiled threat: It’s a way of communicating a severity and a seriousness to the conversation, and that they would like you to behave in a certain way.”