QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs
Canada-China Relations
March 30, 2021
Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Gold, given the fact that, for over two years, Canadians have been subjected to belligerent harangue and arrogant vitriol from representatives of the Government of China, the two innocent Michaels are being unceremoniously held within the bowels of the Chinese gulag and our officials are being tongue-lashed on a daily basis, might it be time to begin to question our participation in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics? I know it is a painful decision, but no more painful than the isolation and deprivation experienced by those two Canadian men.
Thank you for your question. This government, along with its democratic allies, is acting in concert to express, through concrete actions, its strong disapproval of the unacceptable behaviour of China toward the Canadians they continue to hold arbitrarily, as well as to religious minorities in China and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
All aspects of our relationship with China are a matter of serious reconsideration and analysis, and that includes the participation of Canada and Canadian athletes in international events such as the Olympics.
