Floor-crossing Liberal MP downplays reports of forced labour in China (www.cbc.ca)

submitted 23 hours ago by ProudCanadianCitizen@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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Michael Ma was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada when he was 12. He was raised and educated in Vancouver

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ma

I can find no reference to his age, or to the year in which he immigrated to Canada. Hong Kong was transferred to China on July 1, 1997, 29 years ago, so I could not determine if he immigrated to Canada when Hong Kong was British, or part of China. But unless he is younger than 41, it was before Hong Kong was transferred back to China, and he would probably have been, rough;y interpreted, a British Subject in Limbo, (A British passport to the rest of the world but not really a British passport in Britain). This certainly goes towards addressing any issue of bias, and if he could hold a Chinese passport by birth.

https://passportia.org/en/uk-citizenship-hong-kong.php

This certainly does put an interesting twist on the Canada-China dialogue. It is really difficult to sort through fact-from-fiction, depending on where you were indoctrinated with your Chinese history knowledge.

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[-] ProudCanadianCitizen@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 hours ago

That is why the importance of understanding his background, and connection to China. Being from per-Chinese Hong Kong, he would not necessarily be a propagandist for China. That part is difficult to follow.

[-] Scotty@scribe.disroot.org 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

The way he was questioning this expert comes right out of the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda playbook. He didn't even try to understand what she said but rather aimed at playing down the issue and discredit the expert. It's deeply unethical, let alone for a democratic official.

Addition:

McCuaig-Johnston told the committee Thursday that Chinese vehicles are made with products that come from slave labour performed by members of the Uyghur minority.

Ma's suggestion that reports of forced labour amounted to "hearsay" prompted outrage from Conservatives on the committee, one of whom apologized on Ma's behalf.

Ma, in turn, demanded an apology from the MP who offered the apology. - Source

His reaction is very revealing I would say.

[-] ProudCanadianCitizen@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

The Conservatives are very upset that he switched parties, that is obvious. One would wonder what their reaction would be if he were still a conservative.