It would be both unfair and unwise to draw too firm a conclusion about the implications of Chrystia Freeland’s redeployment from her cabinet post as Canada’s foreign affairs minister and the elevation of the comparatively unaccomplished François-Philippe Champagne in her stead. For now, however, it would not be a stretch to say that for those of you who are concerned about Canada’s tenuous place in a world increasingly dominated by plutocrats, autocrats and theocrats, it’s not exactly welcome news.
Champagne comes to the job with no distinction whatsoever in the field of international human rights, corporate accountability, or the defence of democracy, and there’s little evidence that he’s ever shown any inclination to be particularly interested, even, in the most ominous and immediate threats to liberal democracies like Canada.
From Trumpism to Xi Jinping Thought, those threats are most obviously ascendant in the confluence of belligerent authoritarianism with the ugliest excesses of mercantile global capitalism. Facing these facts has been especially difficult for Canada’s Liberal party, which has tended to take its foreign-policy cues from those sections of the corporate class — most brazenly the China trade lobby — that counsel capitulation to democracy’s enemies.
The member of Parliament for Saint-Maurice-Champlain since 2015, Champagne is a protégé of former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien, “the little guy from Shawinigan” who embarked upon a lucrative sinecure in China as an advocate, corporate consultant and dealmaker immediately after resigning as prime minister in the wake of the Adscam scandal in Quebec in 2003. In Canada, Chrétien has served tirelessly as a pro-Beijing busybody ever since.
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See Also:
(1) This seems an odd time for Canada to switch from its nuanced policy on Israel
(2) As Russia and China step up their Arctic activity, Canada misses the boat
(3) Trudeau sides with Israel’s enemies
(5) Alberta wants a champion, Trudeau needs a saviour. Can Chrystia Freeland be both?
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