For years their images haunted us, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, the two Michaels, trapped in Chinese prisons.
Held hostage for more than 1,000 days by the Chinese government in retaliation for our arrest of the Huawei senior executive Meng Wanzhou.
But then Meng was set free, and soon after that so were the two Michaels, with Justin Trudeau delivering the good news last night.
“About 12 minutes ago, the aircraft carrying Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor left Chinese airspace — and they’re on their way home.” đ¨đŚ
— Braeden Caley đ¨đŚ (@braedencaley) September 25, 2021
pic.twitter.com/Go2D1adOGg
It was a great moment, a great happy moment, and most Canadians celebrated their return to their country, their families and their loved ones.
But sadly not all of them were in the mood to celebrate.
Erin O'Toole and Jagmeet Singh couldn't bring themselves to congratulate the Trudeau government....
Couldn't even mention the Prime Minister's name, so great is their hatred for him.
It's depressing to imagine how disappointed they must be, now that they can no longer use the two Michaels for crass political purposes.
But I suppose we should be grateful that the grubby Singh hasn't claimed all the credit for himself...
And to be fair, the reaction of the Con media was even more disgusting.
Andrew Coyne was so upset that the Trudeau government might get some credit he made absolutely no sense.
And David Akin was so distraught I had to straighten him out on Twitter.
Strangely enough, the notorious Trudeau hater Brian Lilley was the only member of the Con media to give Trudeau any credit.At a time when most Canadians are celebrating the freedom of the Two Michaels, David Akin can’t help using that as an excuse to bash Justin Trudeau. Again. The Con media will be the death of this country and Akin should be ashamed of himself. #cdnpoli https://t.co/gaqKrGgJvj
— đ¨đŚ Simon đ´ó §ó ˘ó łó Łó ´ó ż đđ (@montrealsimon) September 25, 2021
And for once he was right.It has finally happened. Thank you to @JustinTrudeau for doing the right thing and standing firm. China showed they were lying for nearly three years when they released the two Michaels. They are on their way. Read & RT #cdnpoli https://t.co/5IOqLQOMUA
— Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) September 25, 2021
While leading his country through a pandemic, fighting and winning a brutal election campaign, heading the diplomatic effort that brought the two Michaels home.And cementing his reputation as one of the greatest Prime Ministers this country has ever known.
But you know, when I say that hate is killing this country, I mean it.
For the toxic Trudeau haters in this country, from the deranged Warren Kinsella to the sordid Disaffected Lib, remind me of this new artistic display in my neighbourhood.
For that mound of buffalo skulls is where they would lead our Canada.
Fortunately we were able to beat back the toxic Trudeau haters in the election that just ended, and I am confident that we will be able to keep on doing that.
As long as we remember that this country is better than them.
And that we must keep fighting for our Canada and its values, if we want to make sure that the future belongs to us...
This is where I live and dream.
18 comments:
Just imagine if this would have happened last Friday.
If only life were as straightforward as the simplistic way you view things. Trudeau, the greatest prime minister ever? A man with three official ethics violations to his credit. Apparently you completely condone the behaviour of a man who cannot distinguish right from wrong. What that says about you is fundamentally disturbing to me. You are in rapturous favour of a man with no moral compass.
I'm glad the two Michaels are free. With Trump ensuring that Huawei has been frozen out of the white man's Western world even with a superior 5G product, getting us to hang onto Meng over violation of an illegal US sanction, as countries were then browbeaten to not choose Huawei with implied "criminality" attached, the US reached a certain point: Getting us to hang onto Meng for three years was great for them, but now that Huawei's commercial 5G enterprise is reduced to a footnote by empire, they had no use for Meng as a hostage any more. So they let her go. Um, they allowed us to let her go, I mean.
The Chinese who bald-facedly kept the two Michaels as hostages at our expense for being a US enabling nation lied through their teeth about that as well calling them criminals not hostages, a ridiculously stupid thing to claim, it was so transparently utter bullshit. Trudeau had eff all to do with their release -- the two big bullying powers came to some arrangement behind Canada's back and left Trudeau looking quite literally bewildered last night at his good luck, handed to him on a plate.
Well, they say it's better to be lucky than to be good.
BM
BM
BM, nobody gives a fuck about the Ottawa bubble gossip of the phony ethics scandals. They don't put food on anybody's table but Cons and the tabloid media hounds who feed off them. Princess Jody's book is classified under "fiction" in the bargain basement bin, which shows you just how meaningful in the long term those smear campaigns have been.
I think that what the fate of the Michaels shows is that Trudeau was vindicated in his approach of not poking the panda bear. Tool's jingoistic chest thumping could have had them killed. He sounds like Trump with his bleating about GHINA GHINA GHINA. Polling shows it cost them seats in ridings with significant Chinese-Canadian populations, who got sick and tired of racist attacks blaming them for everything from the Michaels' detention to COVID to nonsense conspiracy theories about "Liberal corruption" straight out of a Frank Sinatra movie. He's done SFA to fix the racism in his 95% white male party and it shows.
I'm glad they are home, and I would bet that Trudeau recognizes the bittersweet fact that this was another JWR fuckup that's finally been remedied. I'm sure he'll have plenty more to say about this episode some time in the future and just how many headaches his worst hire ever caused him. Right now it's just a time to be grateful that patient diplomacy worked a lot better than lobbing tomatoes across the Pacific.
Word to the wise, Canada: Take it from a Yankee, America doesn't have allies. We have "interests". I want to apologize on behalf of my country for how Cheeto Mussolini put you into this mess. Sad to say, however, that while everyday Americans and Canadians might be siblings from another mother, America itself can't be counted on as a stalwart acolyte anymore. Stand on guard and be wary of the elephant in the bed.
In the words of the immortal Neil Peart:
"I can't pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend."
Simon can’t look reflectively on Justin. He just can’t. He believes and clearly states that this country belongs to him and only people like him. It’s the Liberal cult in a nutshell.
Yep, the Trudeau haters are nothing if not consistent.
Whenever something bad happens it is all Trudeau's fault. Why did he not do something to prevent/fix it? He is the PM after all.
When something good happens Justin Trudeau had no part in it because he is just a powerless drama teaching in over his head.
It is a convenient argument. He is all powerful and powerless depending on situation. It further proves my long standing assertion that in politics you can suck and blow at the same time.
Psst -- anonycon, Justin's not the one facing down the barrel of ire from within, and for good reasons. Perhaps you might look instead at the big blue circus tent burning itself down at the present moment or, increasingly, the orange one adjacent to it:
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/09/23/opinion/after-24-million-ndp-just-done
https://scrimshawunscripted.substack.com/p/ndp-autopsy-jagmeet-must-resign
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-if-anyone-should-be-stepping-down-its-the-likeable-jagmeet-singh/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ndp-post-2021-federal-election-review-1.6187158
There's something to be said for and about the Trudeau-derangement cult too, you know. This country shouldn't belong to gravel-throwers, "friendly sausage makers," anti-vaxers, conspiracy theorists, mendacious liars, tabloid sensationalists, and chest-thumping jingoists. Liberals, and Justin Trudeau in particular, don't fall into any of those categories. Neither does Simon or anyone else here.
But perhaps I was presumptive in calling you an anonycon. Are you an anony-Dipper-con who believes that "democracy" means being inclusive of (dare I say it) Max and his deplorables having seats at the table?
Simon, it did surprise me but I thought John Ivison’s tweet about the release was actually quite positive towards the Prime Minister - or at least more positive than negative.
I laugh at all the armchair foreign policy "experts" and at BM's latest bowel movement that would have us believe they have a clue as to what transpired in the release of the two Michaels. What's the next loopy narrative? The hug was staged? The truth will come out some day, and I'm afraid that all the little conspiratorialists will be woefully disappointed that sound leadership and mature diplomacy played a big role in allowing this deal to go through. I am tremendously happy for their safe return and no amount of Trudeau bashing from the usual suspects can take that away. They are merely noise.
JD
Hi Ottlib...Yes, if the release had happened a few days before the election, I'm sure Trudeau would have won a majority, and if Shachi Kurl hadn't stirred up the old "Is Quebec racist?" bullshit it might have been a super majority. So close and yet so far....
Hi BM....why are you always accusing me of being simplistic? When I'm far smarter than you, and your views are not only simplistic, they're out of date. Trudeau's ethical violations are like parking tickets compared to the way the Cons and their far right friends mangle the truth, and use one lie after the other to viciously attack their opponents. Trudeau not only doesn't behave that way, he has three election victories under his belt, which make him by any standard one of the best Prime Ministers in modern Canadian history. And while it's true that we were caught in a squeeze play between the Chinese and the Americans, Trudeau refused to give in to the Chinese bullies, our diplomats worked very hard to get the two Michaels released, so you shouldn't demean their work, you pompous windbag. Get with it daddy-o it's 2021....
Hi Jackie...I think that Justin Trudeau handled the international hostage taking carefully and well, unlike Erin O'Toole and his Con clowns who were always attacking China and all but accusing Trudeau of being a Chinese agent. And by so doing endangering the lives of our hostages. And as you point out, causing a large surge in anti Chinese Canadian/Asian bigotry and violence. Thank goodness Trudeau won the election, for I shudder to imagine to what dark place the Cons might have taken us.....
Hi anon@8:31 PM....I realize that you are still in shock. I realize that you were so sure you were going to win, and are now so terribly disappointed you are having trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy. But let's be clear, we are not the ones who believe that Canada belongs to us, it's your all-white party of religious fanatics, misogynists, and homophobes who are the real cultists. And just like what's happening in the U.S. are a real threat to our democracy. Trudeau is just a better person and a better Canadian than your lying leaders, and that's why I admire him. But I've never said he's perfect, just better. So go beat your tin drum somewhere else...
There was a time when partisanship used to stop at the water's edge in this country. The Opposition did not question or criticize a sitting government during foreign policy or trade events so as not to undermine said government. After everything was resolved then the criticism would fly but during they let the government do what it had to do.
Sadly, that no longer seems to be the case.
Hi Martin...Wee little John Ivison blocked me long ago, no doubt for portraying him as a member of the band on the Titanic (or SS Postmedia) sawing away while the ship goes down. But I looked up his tweet, and yes he did at least recognize that the government's strategy of putting pressure on the American to pressure the Chinese was a good one. What else could he say? But thank goodness for small mercies...
Hi Ottlib....the Trudeau haters will find any excuse to attack him. For some like Kinsella or the Disaffected Lib he's the source of all evil. And some of what is out there is absolutely chilling, and should never be directed at any Prime Minister. O'Toole and his Con thugs encouraged the rise of the far right thug movement, and now those thugs are threatening our lives and our democracy...
Hi JD...BM surfaces regularly from the depths of the Black Lagoon to call me names and suggest I'm stupid. But that's OK because I consider him senile, or in serious need of a brain transplant. He is one of those Canadians who enjoy putting down his own country, and would drown us in an ocean of negativity. I realize we're not perfect, but we're pretty damn good, and the way we pressured the Americans to pressure the Chinese was absolutely brilliant, and of course, very Canadian...
That first meeting between Trudeau and Biden has borne fruit. Good to see adults in charge.
What impressed me wasthe silence leading up to the releaseof all three political prisoners. No leaks whatsoever. Good to see adults in charge.
Hi Rumleyfips…..Yes, it took a lot of discipline to keep the lid on the delicate negotiations, especially since O’Toole and his stooge Singh were taunting Trudeau and all but calling him a Chinese agent. And you’re so right, it’s great to have adults (and real Canadians) in charge….
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