Hugh Mackenzie
Huntsville Doppler
This weekend, even under very different circumstances, most Canadians are enjoying Thanksgiving weekend. Here in Muskoka, it is a beautiful fall day and we are reminded of how fortunate we are to live where we do, in a country that is envied for its quality of life by many nations around the world.
Yet today, I am thinking of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. It would surprise me if either of these names are immediately recognizable and that, in itself, is regrettable. These two Canadian men are not enjoying Thanksgiving weekend. Instead, they are approaching two years of languishing in prison, held hostage by the communist government of China. There is absolutely no evidence that either of these men did anything illegal. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. That they are still in captivity after all of this time is mind-boggling and demanding of answers.
It all started on the first of December 2018, when Meng Wanzhou, a Chinese citizen with permanent residency status in Canada, was stopped by a border control agent as she attempted to re-enter the country at Vancouver International Airport. The agent noted an alert that an extradition order had been issued for Meng by the United States and she was detained and subsequently, at the request of the Americans, arrested.
Meng Wanzhou is chief financial officer and vice chair of Huawei, an international telecom giant and China’s largest privately owned company. Huawei is owned by Meng’s father, who is known to have close ties with the Chinese communist establishment. The Americans and other Western countries believe that Huawei uses its international telecom connections to gather information and intelligence which they share with the Chinese Government. Having Meng in their clutches would give the United States a strategic ‘leg up’ in dealing with this controversy.
The Chinese Government was not amused at Meng’s arrest and what they viewed as Canada’s complicity in allowing the United States to get their hands on her. Within days of Meng’s arrest, the two Michaels, as they are now referred to, both of whom worked in Asia for humanitarian organizations, were also arrested and thrown into jail, accused of espionage. No evidence of that has been presented and unlike Meng, who attends her extradition proceedings from her mansion in Vancouver, no bail was allowed. Only the naïve would believe this was a coincidence. It was clearly retaliation, pure and simple. Tit for tat.
And now, almost two years later, everything is at a standstill. The two Michaels are still locked up in a Chinese prison and Meng Wanzhou sits in luxury while her multiple extradition hearings grind on. There is something intrinsically wrong with this. These men should be brought home.
The position of the Canadian Government is that an extradition hearing is before the courts and that the Government must allow the process to take its course without interference. There is some truth in this as in a democracy, politics and the judicial system should be kept completely separate, although former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould would likely suggest that the current Government has not always adhered to that principle.
In this instance, however, the Government’s position on noninterference is not entirely accurate. The Canadian Extradition Act grants authority to the Minister of Justice, in his or her dual role as Attorney General, to intervene in an extradition matter at any point in the process and for any reason, whether or not a hearing or trial is ongoing. I hear good things about this Minister, and in my view, it is time for him to do just that.
The Chinese Government has made little secret of their willingness to exchange the two Michaels for Meng Wanzhou. There is a difference between this and negotiating with terrorists, which a government cannot overtly do.
What the Chinese have done is not an act of terrorism; it is an unprovoked act of aggression, if not an act of war. So let’s treat it like that. Let’s arrange for an exchange of prisoners and send Meng Wanzhou packing, and bring our boys home.
Some will argue there is weakness in that, but there is not. For certain, the current American Government will not be happy with us, but they aren’t in any event. Our battles are not important to them and we should treat theirs, at least in this instance, the same way.
As for Canada, there are other ways to punish China without leaving innocent Canadians in their hands. Indeed, we need to send a message to them that there are consequences for their actions. For starters we can ban Huawei from all Canadian markets. That is an act of strength, not weakness. But first, we need to get Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor home.
In Canada, we talk a lot about human rights and human dignity, as well we should. There is no dignity and a clear suppression of human rights for the two Michaels as they sit in a prison in communist China for crimes they did not commit. They have been under duress for far too long. If diplomacy was going to work, it should have worked by now. The Chinese just want one thing and, until they get it, these men will sit where they are.
If Canada wants to send a clear message to the world that they really do care about human rights, even though our record in that regard is less than perfect, bringing the two Michaels home, insisting that they come home, and dealing with China later is one way to accomplish it.
We have the means to do that. It is time to act. Anything less is to Canada’s shame.
Hugh Mackenzie
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Hugh, the situation is much more complicated than you describe. To understand why the two Michaels are in a Chinese jail, one must go back to 1953. Iran has the world’s 3rd biggest oil reserves. In 1953, Iran’s very first democratically elected government asked to see the books of the Anglo-Iranian oil company that was suspected of taking an unfair share of the profits from Iran’s oil. Why would they do that? Because they can, just like the USA is now paying well below world price for Canadian oil because they can. Iran nationalized the oil company. MI6 and the CIA organized a coup to overthrow the democratically elected government and installed the first of a series of brutal right-wing dictators. In the 1979 revolution, Iran overthrew the US backed right-wing dictator and replaced him with a left-wing dictator.
The Iranian people want a moderate government. In 2013, Iran elected a moderate president. In 2015, the Obama administration organized an agreement including the EU, Russia and China in which the moderate government of Iran agreed to stop the development of nuclear weapons that was started by his predecessor and to begin normalizing relations with Iran’s population of 83 million intelligent people (Same size as Germany).
The Republican / Trump administration ran an irrational election campaign based on cancelling everything Obama did regardless of the consequences. In 2018, Trump unilaterally cancelled US participation in the Iran nuclear agreement, with no evidence of violation. Trump reactivated crippling sanctions on Iran’s economy which he is able to do because international oil payments go through banks in New York. Trumps foolish actions undermined the moderates in Iran, strengthened the hardliners, wasted the opportunity to bring a potentially good country, with a proud history of contributions to science and the arts, back into the world community, and further destabilized the Middle East.
The EU, Russia and China remain committed to the nuclear agreement. Meng is in jail in Vancouver, accused by the Trump administration of helping her company to violate US sanctions on Iran. Canada must respect the extradition treat if we want any future US governments to respect it for us. Biden is committed to rejoining the nuclear agreement. As soon as that happens, Meng will be released and so will the two Michaels. That is the best course of action.
I notice for a long time that the price of gas in Huntsville gas stations is the same not matter if the international price of oil come down ,is there that maybe the gas stations in Huntsville have a secret agreement of price fixing ? Where is the competition ? Is not hard to see the prices south of Huntsville much lower 5 or 6 cents per litre of gas , for me personally I try my best to put the gas when I need somewhere else .
I must admit to being a babe in the woods when it comes to extradition. Meng was held basically as a favour to the States. So why was she not immediately transported/extradited there? Let the Chinese retaliate against Trump: They have no great love for him anyway.
Has the UN or the WHO regularly inspected the health of these men, or the conditions under which they are being held?
Trading two for one, however one looks at it, remains precedent-setting. Seemingly. negotiating for the return of the two Michaels using tariffs should be the preferred solution. Get Meng into America by whatever means. She is not our problem!
Sending Meng home would be rewarding the Chinese for their “unprovoked act of aggression” and encouraging them to do similar again to get their way, not showing we are concerned about human rights. I think better solutions will be available once Joe Biden is in office south of the border (Gods willing). Canada can then ask the US to put pressure on the Chinese to release the two Michaels.
There is no doubt in my mind that there will come a moment in the future, when Canada does have to poke it’s finger in ‘mericas eye; but is this the right moment?
To do anything else but play for time, as I think is being done in this situation, would seem like picking a side. Let’s hope that Biden, a states man with experience in matters like this, will manage to undo this Gordian Knot before we have to.
Hugh, do you trust that the exchange would actually occur? What makes you have confidence in this outcome?