The 2 Michaels are the least of the Trudeau government’s problem. This has a lot more to do with their limpwristed approach to China.
It is a fine balance. I think the priority should be on the economy, and that is probably where it is. I don’t think the feds entertain any notion of getting the Michaels out of China while we have Meng Wanzhou. I think pissing off China on the Taiwan question will have economic consequences more than hostage consequences.
I don’t see why acquiescence to hostage diplomacy would encourage less hostage diplomacy, but I also don’t think that Ottawa bowing to China on this award will help the Michaels.
Put otherwise: nothing gained by Canada. Unless you expect Beijing to suddenly release the Michaels after Canada nixed giving Tsai Ing-wen an award.
Guy
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Sexual puritanism is alive in Nova Scotia. Having lived in France for a number of years, I just have to laugh at the peculiarities of regional Canadian culture. What is wrong with tats and bed shots? I’d never vote Liberal but she is more interesting than the pablum they usually nominate (and cleaner than Trudeau) 
Former Dartmouth South candidate says Liberals dropped her over ‘boudoir’ photos | CBC News
Robyn Ingraham | Inked Cover Girl (inkedmag.com)
Especially since the Conservatives and the right-wing press, being such broad-minded types, would never go into hysterical screaming meemies over “Liberal porn-star canditate!”
Didn’t Trudeau’s mom flash her muff at the Studio 54 back in the day?
Probably.
Old joke from when Margaret Trudeau was supposed to be having an affair with Mick Jagger:
RCMP detective: We’ve analysed that yellow snow outside Parliament that says “Fuck You, Pierre”, and the good news is it’s definitely Mick Jagger’s urine.
Pierre Trudeau: Great!
Mountie : The bad news is it’s Margaret’s handwriting.
In his defence, Mick denied ever having slept with Margaret, saying she was too crazy for him (really).
Bad news on the death penalty front.
Canadian citizen has lost his appeal against a death sentence in China for drug smuggling.
The court said it upheld Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s sentence because evidence against him was “sufficient”.
Schellenberg was initially sentenced to 15 years in jail, but in 2019 an appeal court said this was too lenient, leading to a retrial and a death sentence.
The verdict comes as relations between Canada and China remain fraught.
China: Canadian citizen loses appeal against death penalty - BBC News
My bad, didn’t see chewdawg’s post, a day behind that one.
He ha also been sentenced to extradition, without specifying the time. Suspect it will not be until sometime after Meng Wanzhou is released.
More details here from the CBC:
Guy
Some possible developments happening in the ongoing arbitrary detention of the two Michaels in China:
Guy
After more than 1000 days in detention in the PRC, the two Michaels are on their way back to Canada, released—like the hostages they were—after Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou left Canada following her plea agreement.
Prime Minister Trudeau did not make any announcement until the plane carrying the Michaels had left Chinese airspace. Draw your own conclusions.
Guy
More analysis from a former diplomat: “This was hostage taking.”
Guy
Hostage taking. Did you see the smile on her smug ugly face as she left Canada? Disgusting. And we won’t do a thing about it.
“This was hostage-taking.”
Indeed it was. The US had Canada seize Meng Wangshou as a hostage in a US trade fight with China; China seized two innocent Canadians in retaliation.
For one thing, even though the justice department may have felt they were doggedly acting on information about a potential breach of US sanctions law, Donald Trump made the case explicitly political by saying he would intervene to drop the charges if he thought it would help US-China trade negotiations,
China, meanwhile, felt Meng and Huawei were being used as a weapon in a wider battle. It was highly unusual for the prosecution to be directed at the chief finance officer personally and not at the corporation. Last year, Airbus agreed to pay $4bn in penalties to resolve a bribery case. In 2015, Deutsche Bank was fined $258m for violating Iran- and Syria-related sanctions. But no executives were detained in either case.
Indeed, at a hearing in August, the judge in the case said that the case against Meng seemed very unusual. No one lost money, the allegations were several years old, and the intended victim, a global bank, knew the truth even as it was allegedly being lied to.
Heather Holmes, associate chief justice, asked: “Isn’t it unusual that one will see a fraud case with no actual harm many years later? And one in which the alleged victim, a large institution, appears to have had numerous people within the institution who had all the facts that are now said to be misrepresented?”
Puh-lease. Lying to banks is fraud. And what exactly did the Michaels do?
Guy
You could always count on Trump to do the most amoral and stupid thing possible.
The Michaels are back in Canada. Trudeau was there—this is apparently in Calgary—to greet them on the ground at the airport.
Guy