It’s been obvious for some time that there is something weird about the way Canada approaches its relationship with China — a disconnect brought into sharp relief this week by the news that Global Affairs and the Department of National Defence were not the same page when it came to military ties and training involving the People’s Liberation Army.
In some respects, the volcanic online political eruption which followed stories in The Globe and Mail and other media outlets, based on exclusive access to information documents, was predictable, as was the flurry of finger-pointing in the House of Commons on Thursday and Friday.
Diplomats were alarmed when Gen. Jonathan Vance, the country’s senior military commander, cancelled winter military exercises with the PLA in 2019, fretting that it might aggravate Beijing or make the lives of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor even worse.
There exists within our borders and institutions both private and public a bought and paid for China Class that has been busily undermining Canadian society and sovereignty for decades.
