Canada’s seniormost diplomat finds himself embroiled in a controversy, facing questions in the country’s parliament and from the media over a debt of more than 1 million Canadian Dollars to a state-owned Chinese bank.
According to a report in the daily Globe and Mail, foreign minister Francoise-Philippe Champagne had taken out a mortgage with the Bank of China to purchase two residences in London. Those loans were taken before he was first elected an MP in 2015, and have been partly repaid, with approximately CA $ 1.2 million outstanding. Champagne’s office also clarified to the daily that these loans were disclosed to the country’s Ethics Commissioner and other relevant agencies.
However, critics have argued that circumstances changed after Champagne became the foreign minister, and were particularly relevant since two Canadians, including a former diplomat, remain in Chinese custody in a move seen as retaliation for the detention of a senior Huawei executive in Vancouver in 2018.
The matter was raised in a sitting of the House of Commons by Opposition leader Andrew Scheer who asked the government whether Champagne’s mortgage had come up for renewal after he was elected to Parliament and at what interest rate he had secured the loans. Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland responded those personal details were not available with the Government at the time. Scheer later tweeted, “This is incredible. The person who should be representing Canada’s interests is indebted to a bank run by the Chinese Communist Party. How did Justin Trudeau think he was an acceptable pick for Minister of Foreign Affairs?”
{{/usCountry}}The matter was raised in a sitting of the House of Commons by Opposition leader Andrew Scheer who asked the government whether Champagne’s mortgage had come up for renewal after he was elected to Parliament and at what interest rate he had secured the loans. Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland responded those personal details were not available with the Government at the time. Scheer later tweeted, “This is incredible. The person who should be representing Canada’s interests is indebted to a bank run by the Chinese Communist Party. How did Justin Trudeau think he was an acceptable pick for Minister of Foreign Affairs?”
{{/usCountry}}Columnist John Ivison wrote in the newspaper, National Post: “When you owe someone more than $1 million, the potential for influence and abuse is ever-present.” He also cited Margaret McCuaig Johnston, a senior fellow at the China Institute at the University of Alberta, as saying, “It is inconceivable that this is not at the back of his mind as he deals with the government of China, his most difficult file.”
As the matter roils Canadian politics, it comes at a time when there is anger in the country over Beijing virtually rescinding the special status of Hong Kong, where nearly 300,000 Canadian citizens live and work.
John Higginbotham, who was Canada’s Commissioner to Hong Kong, a role equivalent to that of an Ambassador, was quoted by the Globe and Mail as demanding that Canada boycott the Winter Olympics scheduled to take place in China in February 2022. He was backed by former Canadian Ambassador to Beijing David Mulroney, who tweeted, “For China, the Olympics is an opportunity for Beijing to summon foreign leaders to pay tribute. Hong Kong is only the latest reason why shouldn’t attend. Consider the detention of 1 million Uighurs – and 2 innocent Canadians.”