As a progressive conservative, it boggles the mind how many issues Erin O’Toole has failed to seize to his advantage in trying to win this election. This space has already commented on the singular issue related to mandatory vaccinations, passports, and the failure of politicians of all stripes to effectively deal with anti-vaxxers blocking access to healthcare facilities.
However, the second issue which has, shamefully, been a relative non-issue in this campaign is the matter of the two Michaels; two Canadian citizens who by all accounts were made pawns in a game of political chess they wanted no part of, or worse, didn’t know was being played out with their lives and livelihood so delicately hanging in the balance.
The topic received but a scant mention in the federal leaders’ debate with each of the candidates giving the matter what appeared to be disingenuous concern equal to that of a gnat on a mule’s behind. Given we are 1,000+ days into this injustice, there is simply no excusable reason the two Michaels were not home with their families some 970 days ago.
The fact each party leader lined up like soldiers in support of Justin Trudeau’s diplomatic rhetoric was as deplorable as it was a failure to capitalize on the potential for political gain for all the right reasons, not simply for partisanship purposes.
The tit-for-tat link between Meng Wanzhou and the two Michael’s detention is unmistakable. Only the deliberately naive think the one has no impact on the other. Justin Trudeau’s refusal to acknowledge the correlation, and doing little productive about it, is insensitive justification based on the principle of not giving in to international blackmail.
The alleged concern being that, God forbid, if Canada should release Meng Wanzhou in exchange for freeing the two Michael’s, then every Tom, Dick, or Harrorist might view it as Canadian open season on making ransom demands. For what plausible reason or cause escapes me.
But what Mr. Trudeau, and worse, the other federal leaders fail to recognize is how few in the international community, and fewer still domestically, view the Meng Wanzhou debacle as Canada’s issue. The matter is simply and yet another Donald Trump hangover we got roped into doing out of a false sense of civic duty. The fact of the matter is it’s NOT our fight, but we got bullied into taking it on, and now we are paying the price; no one more so than the two Michaels and their families.
Forget that successfully negotiating the Michaels' freedom would be the right thing to do morally. The other mind-boggling reality is that Erin O’Toole and the Conservatives have so far failed to connect the dots or recognize the winning proposition that an overwhelming majority of Canadians would likely support; that on day one of assuming power, a Conservative government would release Meng Wanzhou into Chinese care on condition of release of the two Michaels back to Canada.
Who would fault a Canadian government for taking such action? Who would not recognize that Canada was merely exiting from a fight that was never ours in the first place? Almost as important and from the narrow perspective of political strategy, who wouldn’t vote for that?
Opportunity lost or sheer incompetence?
