OTTAWA -- He鈥檚 rarely, if ever, been this forceful on a foreign file.
Somehow overnight Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided to give up on China, endure the diplomatic deep freeze and face the inevitable economic backlash by soundly rejecting the Meng-for-Michaels proposal.
Gone were the usual 鈥榰ms鈥� and 鈥榰hs鈥� he mutters while trying to remember talking points.
In the case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou鈥檚 possible extradition to the U.S. and the linked-in imprisonment of Michaels Spavor and Kovrig on bogus spying charges, the prime minister unleashed his position Thursday with no hesitancy in either official language.
If the proposed swap went ahead, Trudeau warned, China would be emboldened to become unscrupulous hostage-takers, seizing foreigners for trade when one of their own gets in trouble overseas.
It was an uncharacteristically firm response for a guy who always seeks kinder, gentler reactions to global tensions involving Canada.
He could鈥檝e simply ducked behind the explanation of this mess crawling along in a court hearing process which could ultimately free Meng in any event.
But he didn鈥檛. And he went further.
Trudeau basically ripped and ridiculed 19 prominent Canadians advocating capitulation, flipping the bird at heavyweights from the Chretien, Martin, Harper and Mulroney governments for a proposal that would put Canadian travellers of the future in danger of being kidnapped.
It鈥檚 not clear what motivated so many big names to decide now, 18 months after the standoff began, was the right time to advocate for a hostage swap as a means to improve the China connection.
Their argument that the current justice minister or the prime minster has the power to stop the legal extradition process and simply send Meng packing for home aboard a private Huawei jet wasn鈥檛 exactly a revelation.
And they must be aware our more important U.S. relationship would be hurt by simply ditching an extradition request our courts have so far decided is legitimate and should proceed.
But, as of today, Trudeau has wisely decreed this will never happen 鈥� and it鈥檚 hard to dispute the logic behind his decision.
When China made it clear they鈥檙e game for a hostage swap, that put to rest any pretence the charges filed against Spavor and Kovrig were somehow disconnected to the Meng extradition process.
And if it this works once, why would anyone believe it wouldn鈥檛 be repeated every time a Chinese national of Communist Party value is apprehended in another country?
Today鈥檚 developments will have the Conservative opposition gasping. They鈥檝e advocated for a tough-on-China approach generally and for Trudeau to act against China for detaining the Canadians specifically. Now they鈥檝e got what they demanded. Gulp.
There鈥檚 going to be a hefty price to pay for this, of course.
Lumber, lobsters, just about anything heading for export to China is bound to face closer scrutiny, paperwork slowdowns and perhaps outright obstruction to avenge Trudeau鈥檚 position. New markets will need to be established to fill the trading void.
This also appears to be the kiss of death to Huawei鈥檚 plan to help develop the 5G telecommunications network in Canada, which will make bad things worse.
The Canada-China relationship is clearly in meltdown mode and there鈥檚 no stopping the damage from going radioactive now.
Welcome to Canada鈥檚 version of the China syndrome.
