With the Conservatives struggling in the polls and growing reports of internal divisions within the CPC on the issue of Erin O’Toole’s leadership, one bright spot for the Conservatives has been their courageous approach to confronting China..The messaging from the party has been strong, with them warning of the threat of Huawei, pushing back against China’s attempts to intimidate people in Canada, and calling out China’s genocide of the Uyghurs, leading to a moment of moral clarity in the House of Commons that exposed the cowardice of the Trudeau cabinet..The Conservatives managed to fully line up with Canadian public opinion, take a stand for Canadian values, and bring other parties along in that noble endeavour..And yet, they have since partially undermined themselves..A few days ago, it was revealed the Conservative Party hired Jake Enwright to be their director of issues management..Now, Enwright has a history in the Conservative Party, having worked for Andrew Scheer and Rona Ambrose when she was interim CPC leader..However, he also spent about a year working for Huawei Canada, including as their vice-president of corporate affairs..While it was a short portion of his overall career, the hiring of someone with Huawei connections is an odd move for a party that had made anti-Huawei rhetoric such a strong feature of their messaging..Notably, Erin O’Toole has accused Huawei of industrial espionage and facilitating the destruction of Nortel..“The rise of Huawei was itself facilitated by years of industrial espionage conducted by China against Nortel. Intellectual-property theft, counterfeiting and digital piracy are not exceptions to our dealings with China. They are the reality, and it’s high time our government and many corporate leaders realize that. We may have lost Nortel to Huawei but we can and must learn from it. Because if we don’t, we have to accept that another company will be next,” O’Toole said..Additionally, a top Conservative MP was very critical of former Liberal Operative Morgan Elliott working for Huawei:.This raises the following question:.If Huawei is committing industrial espionage in Canada, if Huawei is a threat, and if a past Liberal political operative should be condemned for working for Huawei, then why should the Conservatives get a free pass when they hire a former Huawei executive to be a political operative for them?.If it’s wrong when the Liberals do it, it’s wrong when the Conservatives do it..Just imagine what the Conservatives would be saying if Trudeau had hired a former Huawei executive?.We would be hearing how “this further shows how Trudeau is in bed with the Communist State,” how Trudeau is “betraying Canada,” how he is “selling us out to China,” how he “can’t be trusted on China,” etc….And the Conservatives would have had immense credibility in saying this, because under O’Toole they have been much tougher on China than the Trudeau cabinet..However, much of that credibility is wasted when they hire a former Huawei executive and just expect everyone to go along with it..It’s also an insult to Conservative Party supporters, who are being forced to defend something that puts them in the embarrassing position of trying to justify something they would be condemning the Liberals for..With much of the Conservative base already seemingly demoralized, the party’s strong position and sense of values on China was something to hold onto, but hiring a former Huawei executive takes even that away..Now, the point here is not that Enwright is some sort of evil dude, as I’m sure he’s not. And I’m not a fan of cancel culture. After all, given my past involvement in different political parties, there are lots of people who see me as a hypocrite. That’s just how things go..However, it is simply absurd that the Conservative Party can’t see how terrible it looks to make an anti-Huawei, anti-CCP message a huge portion of their offering to voters, slam the Liberals for Huawei ties, position Huawei as a serious threat to Canada, and then hire someone who held a high-level position with Huawei in Canada..It looks like the same arrogance we so often see from the Trudeau government, who expect everyone to ignore how their words and actions rarely ever match up..The Conservative base, made up of committed, hardworking, patriotic Canadians, deserves better than a party brass that takes them for granted and forces them to defend absurd and hypocritical decisions..And all Canadians deserve better..With surveys showing a clear consensus among the Canadian people on Huawei and China, all of our political parties should be reducing their connections to the Communist state and distancing themselves from companies connected to China..When it comes to China, Canadians have spoken, and our leaders need to listen..Spencer Fernandos a columnist for the Western Standard and the owner/author of spencerfernando.com from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
With the Conservatives struggling in the polls and growing reports of internal divisions within the CPC on the issue of Erin O’Toole’s leadership, one bright spot for the Conservatives has been their courageous approach to confronting China..The messaging from the party has been strong, with them warning of the threat of Huawei, pushing back against China’s attempts to intimidate people in Canada, and calling out China’s genocide of the Uyghurs, leading to a moment of moral clarity in the House of Commons that exposed the cowardice of the Trudeau cabinet..The Conservatives managed to fully line up with Canadian public opinion, take a stand for Canadian values, and bring other parties along in that noble endeavour..And yet, they have since partially undermined themselves..A few days ago, it was revealed the Conservative Party hired Jake Enwright to be their director of issues management..Now, Enwright has a history in the Conservative Party, having worked for Andrew Scheer and Rona Ambrose when she was interim CPC leader..However, he also spent about a year working for Huawei Canada, including as their vice-president of corporate affairs..While it was a short portion of his overall career, the hiring of someone with Huawei connections is an odd move for a party that had made anti-Huawei rhetoric such a strong feature of their messaging..Notably, Erin O’Toole has accused Huawei of industrial espionage and facilitating the destruction of Nortel..“The rise of Huawei was itself facilitated by years of industrial espionage conducted by China against Nortel. Intellectual-property theft, counterfeiting and digital piracy are not exceptions to our dealings with China. They are the reality, and it’s high time our government and many corporate leaders realize that. We may have lost Nortel to Huawei but we can and must learn from it. Because if we don’t, we have to accept that another company will be next,” O’Toole said..Additionally, a top Conservative MP was very critical of former Liberal Operative Morgan Elliott working for Huawei:.This raises the following question:.If Huawei is committing industrial espionage in Canada, if Huawei is a threat, and if a past Liberal political operative should be condemned for working for Huawei, then why should the Conservatives get a free pass when they hire a former Huawei executive to be a political operative for them?.If it’s wrong when the Liberals do it, it’s wrong when the Conservatives do it..Just imagine what the Conservatives would be saying if Trudeau had hired a former Huawei executive?.We would be hearing how “this further shows how Trudeau is in bed with the Communist State,” how Trudeau is “betraying Canada,” how he is “selling us out to China,” how he “can’t be trusted on China,” etc….And the Conservatives would have had immense credibility in saying this, because under O’Toole they have been much tougher on China than the Trudeau cabinet..However, much of that credibility is wasted when they hire a former Huawei executive and just expect everyone to go along with it..It’s also an insult to Conservative Party supporters, who are being forced to defend something that puts them in the embarrassing position of trying to justify something they would be condemning the Liberals for..With much of the Conservative base already seemingly demoralized, the party’s strong position and sense of values on China was something to hold onto, but hiring a former Huawei executive takes even that away..Now, the point here is not that Enwright is some sort of evil dude, as I’m sure he’s not. And I’m not a fan of cancel culture. After all, given my past involvement in different political parties, there are lots of people who see me as a hypocrite. That’s just how things go..However, it is simply absurd that the Conservative Party can’t see how terrible it looks to make an anti-Huawei, anti-CCP message a huge portion of their offering to voters, slam the Liberals for Huawei ties, position Huawei as a serious threat to Canada, and then hire someone who held a high-level position with Huawei in Canada..It looks like the same arrogance we so often see from the Trudeau government, who expect everyone to ignore how their words and actions rarely ever match up..The Conservative base, made up of committed, hardworking, patriotic Canadians, deserves better than a party brass that takes them for granted and forces them to defend absurd and hypocritical decisions..And all Canadians deserve better..With surveys showing a clear consensus among the Canadian people on Huawei and China, all of our political parties should be reducing their connections to the Communist state and distancing themselves from companies connected to China..When it comes to China, Canadians have spoken, and our leaders need to listen..Spencer Fernandos a columnist for the Western Standard and the owner/author of spencerfernando.com from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
