OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – One of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top cabinet members accepted an invite to go to China for an official state visit despite the ongoing fallout from Beijing’s meddling in Canada’s elections that drew the ire of some Canadian Conservative politicians.
Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault will attend the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCIED), according to a Radio Canada report, and serve as “vice chair” in climate change talks with the Communist Chinese Regime.
The conference takes place from August 28 to 30.
The news of Guilbeault’s trip to China was immediately blasted by top Conservative party politicians.
“Trudeau’s Minister is flying off to hang out with the same regime that interfered in our elections. He’s also sending this Beijing-controlled group more than $16M of your tax dollars!” former Conservative leader Andrew Scherr posted yesterday on X (formerly Twitter).
Alberta United Conservative Party leader and Premier Danielle Smith also took a shot at Guilbeault’s trip to China, especially considering her ongoing battle with him and Trudeau over the planned forced implementation of extreme “green” environmental electricity regulations.
“After a recent news report that Minister Steven Guilbeault is a vice chair of a CCP environmental group, I am concerned why the Minister wants to force Alberta to 2035, but it is okay with China getting there by 2060,” Smith posted on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday.
Guilbeault said it is “worth it for me to go there,” adding he will be advancing “collaboration on the climate, on biodiversity, and perhaps also to start rebuilding bridges with China at the diplomatic level.”
Of note is that Guilbeault was directly invited by China Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu.
Canadian elected officials have not visited China since 2018. After this time, relations between the two nations began to break down due to the 2019 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Huawei.
Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, “two Canadian Michaels,” were imprisoned for months by the Chinese government in what most regarded as a retaliatory measure for Canada’s arrest of Wanzhou. All three were released in 2021 to their homelands.
As part of the Huawei scandal, Canada banned the company from the nation’s telecommunications systems over security concerns.
Since early June, MPs and leaders from the Conservative, Bloc Québécois and New Democrat parties have been in talks as to how best to proceed with a public inquiry into foreign election interference.
Last month, the Conservative Party of Canada released an email from a Liberal Party cabinet aide that purportedly proves Trudeau and his cabinet are “lying” or double-dealing when it comes to investigating suspected election meddling by foreign actors.
Trip troubling considering Trudeau’s past praise of Communist China
Over the past two years or so, potential interference by foreign agents has many Canadians concerned, especially considering Trudeau’s past praise for China’s “basic dictatorship” and his labeling of the authoritarian nation as his favorite country other than his own.
The recent meddling in Canada’s elections by agents of the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) worries many Canadians and conservative politicians.
Trudeau, on the other hand, seems to be cool to the idea of launching a full public inquiry into CCP election meddling despite calls from the opposition to do so.
Instead, after MPs demanded Trudeau act against CCP election meddling, he appointed family “friend” David Johnston as “special rapporteur” to investigate the matter. Opposition Conservative MPs demanded Johnston be replaced over his ties to both China and Trudeau.
After Johnston concluded that there should not be a public inquiry into the matter, calls grew louder for him to resign. In June, Johnston quit as “special rapporteur.”
Under Canada’s Inquiries Act, only Trudeau and his cabinet can issue an executive order that compels an investigation that includes subpoena powers. Despite this, Trudeau continues to blame the Conservative Party for delaying the launch of a new inquiry.