Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader. It seems you’re absolutely right that the Canada-China relationship is multifaceted. It seems to be an arrangement where the Chinese carry out atrocities vis-à-vis human rights and the Canadian government attaches a price tag for acquiescing and just carrying on soft diplomacy.

In February 2018, Canada rightfully used the Magnitsky Act to sanction an official from Myanmar in relation to acts against this country’s Rohingya Muslims. In doing so, then Global Affairs minister, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, had this to say:

Canada will not stand by silently as crimes against humanity are committed against the Rohingya.

My question for the Leader of the Government in the Senate is: If we did not stand by silently while crimes against humanity were being committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar, why is your government standing silently by while crimes against humanity are being committed against the Muslim minority in China?

Honourable senators, the government now, for many, many months, continues to stand by as they encroach on basic human rights with nothing more than dialogue and platitudes.

Senator Harder, in addition to Myanmar, your government has used Magnitsky sanctions against several countries, including Russia, of course, but also South Sudan, in relation to violence that has racked that country for years since it gained its independence, and Venezuela and the Maduro regime for undermining the integrity of their democracy and the rule of law in that country.

These all sound a lot like what’s happening in China, but actually, what’s happening in China is a lot more egregious than what was happening in those countries, or equally so, both with protesters in Hong Kong and the systemic persecution of minority Muslims in mainland China. It seems to me, government leader, that this government has a double standard for where they apply the Magnitsky Act and where we stand up for human rights. Why the double standard depending on the country?