Harper Had That Coming

December 3, 2009 by
Filed under: Out of the Shadows 

PM Harper’s arrival in China yesterday started off rather bizarrely by him choosing to upstage Flaherty (who was back here in Canada) and release the latest economic update. Guess that was as far as he could get from the House of Commons. Either that or he realized what a pompous little jerk Flaherty is and decided that as PM he was just had to upstage him, I’d be frightened if I actually started to understand Harper’s thought processes.

That little political grandstand was nothing compared to what came later on.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the number two man in China, publicly chastized Harper for the five year gap in official visits from a Canadian leader. Harper hasn’t made an effort to visit China on his watch, in fact he and his goons have taken a bit of a hardline towards China. Economic conditions and pressure from the Opposition has more to do with Harper showing up in China than any change of attitude on his part.

David Akin, a journalist travelling with Harper, tries to argue that the public rebuke Harper received is a slight to all Canadians. Technically, Akin is right in that Harper is representing Canada and its people when he’s making an official visit.

However, Harper needs to own the rebuke, he earned it. Canadians didn’t exactly clamour to tell him to snub China on his watch, he made that call. He ignored others who urged him to engage China as a path towards addressing issues like human rights. Of course, right about now, the Chinese could ask some hard questions about this governments handling of Afghan detainees.

Oh, Harper’s response to the rebuke? He pointed out that China hadn’t visited Canada in five years. That takes an invite from the Government of Canada. Was one forthcoming that China didn’t respond to? Do tell Harper.

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