1 day Ago By Lorne Gunter
Article content Liberal Leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney labelled Liberal candidate Paul Chiang’s call for other Chinese Canadians to turn in Joe Tay to Chinese authorities in Toronto a “teachable moment,” when announcing Monday he had no intension of firing Chiang as a candidate. Chiang, of course, has since withdrawn on his own. Apparently even he was more disgusted by his own comments than Carney was.
Tay is the Conservative candidate in the Toronto riding of Don Valley North and has been an active supporter of democracy in Hong Kong. Chiang, on the other hand, has always been a reliable friend in Parliament of China’s Communist government. As a result of his support for Hong Kong independence, Tay has had a bounty of $184,000 placed on his head.
The bounty can be redeemed by anyone presenting Tay to staff at the Chinese Consulate in Toronto. In our own country, the Chinese have such contempt for Canadian sovereignty that they issue a reward for the capture and surrender of one of our own citizens — and Mark Carney thinks that’s a “teachable moment.” And while Carney rightly reacts strongly to U.
S. President Donald Trump’s quips about making Canada the 51st state, he all but shrugs off China’s efforts to intimidate one of our citizens, who is also a candidate for high office. It’s not just Tay the CCP is trying to intimidate.
The Beijing regime hopes by its highly visible bullying tactics to intimidate tens of thousands of other Chinese Canadians and dissuade them from standing up for human rights in China, too. But just what does it mean when a leader like Mark Carney calls a situation such as this a “teachable moment?” That phrase is shorthand for “we could all learn from Chiang’s mistake.” Nonsense! The vast majority of Canadians don’t need a lesson to show them this is wrong.
They knew instantly this was not just some slip up in judgment. It was an irredeemable flaw in Chiang’s character that disqualified him for re-election as an MP. Chiang is a big fan of China’s Communist regime, but that would not be enough to eliminate him from office in Canada.
Even MPs have a right to be stupendously wrong. However, counselling others to act as bounty hunters — even if only jokingly — and round up a Canadian citizen on behalf of a hostile foreign government (a government that could easily torture and execute Tay) crosses a line over which it is impossible to recross. Certainly the RCMP didn’t require a “teachable moment.
” Shortly after they learned of Chiang’s remarks, they launched an investigation into whether he was counselling others to commit crime. About the only person who seems to have needed a “teachable moment” to understand just how wrong Chiang’s remarks were, was Carney himself. The Liberal leader insisted he had complete confidence in his candidate up until the moment Chiang resigned.
Carney’s “teachable moment” explanation should also remind voters of just how much he is like Justin Trudeau. Trudeau used the “teachable moment” phrase (or similar euphemisms) whenever he got himself into trouble and wanted all of us to share his blame. When Trudeau got caught wearing blackface, that was a “teachable moment” compounded by his “life of privilege,” by which he likely meant “white privilege.
” His refusal to recuse himself from cabinet votes on federal money for WE Charity, his harassing a female reporter in his pre-politics days and his mansplaining to an Edmonton woman that he preferred the word “peoplekind” to her word “mankind.” Those he insisted were teachable moments. As was his apology in the interior of B.
C. for a 150-year-old hanging of four chiefs. Again and again, Trudeau used “teachable moment” as an attempt to spread guilt to every Canadian.
Also like Trudeau, Carney is equally unwilling to take decisive action on China’s efforts to manipulate Canadian politics, preferring instead to blame all Canadians..
