On Parliament Hill

Canada stands at a foreign policy crossroads.

Under Justin Trudeau’s watch, our reputation on the world stage has declined to new lows in recent days.

This Prime Minister who boldly stated that Canada was “back” has been responsible for failure upon failure, embarrassment after embarrassment – his disastrous India trip to name just one.

Justin Trudeau’s failures to deal with China, aggressive Russian expansion in the Arctic (a subject for a later piece) and the disastrous and heartbreaking situation in Afghanistan has both Canadians and our allies around the globe questioning the Prime Minster’s ability to rise to the occasion when it comes to foreign policy – especially China.

To say that the Government of China’s respect for Mr. Trudeau pales in comparison to his fascination with their dictatorship is an understatement, to say the least. Starting with allowing Chinese billionaires to pay for direct access at party fundraisers, to paying the Chinese Infrastructure Bank hundreds of millions of Canadian tax dollars, since the earliest days of his premiership, Justin Trudeau has failed to grasp China’s threat.

Unlike our Five-Eyes Allies, Justin Trudeau has refused to ban Huawei from our 5G networks.

Most grievous of Justin Trudeau’s failures to deal with China is the revelation that, under his watch, scientists with ties to China’s military were allowed to work in Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Lab – one of our most top-secret facilities – transfer deadly pathogens to the Wuhan lab and then disappear. Rather than come clean, Justin Trudeau went so far as to sue Parliament to cover up China’s secrets.

Most recently, Canada was conspicuously left out of the new AUKUS (Australia, UK, US) defense pact, designed to counter Chinese military aggression. It seems, when it comes to China, our allies trust Justin Trudeau even less than Canadians do.

But China is not the only foreign policy disaster on the PM’s plate.

Back in August Canadians were horrified by the botched pull-out from Afghanistan, the quick re-takeover by the Taliban and the appalling images of Afghan’s desperate to escape a tyranny they know only too well.

To the brave Afghani men and women who worked with our Canadian Armed Forces, the Liberal Government offered a mere 72 hours to apply online to come to Canada – a tall order when one is hiding for one’s life in a cave, has no electricity much less internet access and whose native tongue is Farsi, rather than the English the form required.

I was very disappointed that the situation in Afghanistan did not get more discussion during the national campaign, as I’m sure were the thousands of Canadians who served in that war. Seeing the Taliban sweep back into power while this Prime Minster posed for selfies, they must be asking themselves, what was it all for?

The Afghan people deserve better.

Our allies deserve better.

Canadians deserve better.

Canada’s Conservatives understand the threats our country faces. Conservatives will be there to hold Justin Trudeau and the Liberals to account for their foreign policy failures.