Well, Justin Trudeau’s managed to do one thing right

So, just a few hours ago, I said, “It is time, in my opinion, to follow-up on M Saint-Jacques’ sensible suggestion: First,” I said, “recall Mr McCallum and put him out to (graceful, well funded) pasture.“

Now, according to a report in the Globe and Mail: “John McCallum is no longer Canada’s ambassador to China … [and Prime Minister Trudeau said] … “Last night I asked for and accepted John McCallum’s resignation as Canada’s Ambassador to China” … [but] … The statement didn’t offer a reason for the removal, which comes amid an especially tense time in the Canada-China relationship, but caps off an especially tough week for McCallum after he controversially waded into the extradition request against Meng Wanzhou, an executive with Chinese telecom company Huawei.“

Good!

That’s the first step in what I think is the right direction.

The next essential step is to fire Chrystia Freeland, too. I accept that Mr McCallum had a special position which put him a bit above the normal ambassador but this whole things is a foreign policy screw-up of epic proportions and Ms Freeland and a few of her top officials need to go, too … as with Admiral John Byng in 1757, ‘pour encourager les autres.’  China and, indeed, the whole world needs to see that Justin Trudeau  and his PMO (who are most to blame for this fiasco but who are bomb-proof in an election year) are trying to put foreign policy back on some sort of a sensible, grown-up track.