The motion comes days after POLITICO reported that Canadian officials had told HFX organizers that the government would withdraw its support from the event if the John McCain Prize were due to Tsai. Canada is a main sponsor of the forum.
Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan has since denied that the Trudeau government has threatened to withhold money over the organizers’ plan for the award.
However, Sajjan did not want to answer Monday when he was pressured by conservative lawmakers to say whether he would endorse Tsai for such a price. The minister said during a committee hearing that HFX is independent and free to make its own decisions regarding awards.
He was also asked if he would commit to funding the forum, regardless of who the HFX chooses to receive its awards from. Sajjan said he would look at the funding request as he does every year.
Prime Minister Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also been facing questions about the story in the House of Commons for several days.
Earlier Wednesday, during the question time, Trudeau was campaigning by Chong to maintain HFX funding, even though organizers were organizing the John McCain Prize to Tsai.
Trudeau replied, “The government has supported and funded the Halifax Security Forum throughout our tenure, and the Minister has participated in it every year and will continue to do so.”
The prime minister went on to say that he had always supported Taiwan’s “meaningful participation in multilateral international forums”.
“Canada continues to have strong and growing trade and people-to-people relations with Taiwan,” he said.
Trudeau ignored the preamble to Chong’s question in which he referred details from POLITICO’s story. “The government’s attempt to silence critics of China is shameful and it plays right into China’s desire to silence its critics abroad,” Chong said.
Ottawa did not provoke Beijing after bilateral relations fell more than two years ago. In December 2018, the Canadian authorities arrested on behalf of the US CEO of Huawei
Beijing, angry at her arrest, demanded that she be released. Mix, who is accused of violating US sanctions against Iran, has denied any wrongdoing and is fighting the extradition.
In an apparent retaliation, China arrested two Canadians – Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor – a few days later and has since charged them with espionage.
Several sources familiar with the matter told POLITICO that HFX organizers have decided to give the 2020 award to Tsai. Cindy McCain, a forum board member, approved the decision to honor Tsai with the award named after her late husband.
When Canadian officials became aware of the plans, they made it clear that if the organizers gave the award to Tsai, the Canadian government would seek their support – and funding – from HFX.
During Monday’s committee hearing, a disputed erasure suggested Sajjan had concerns about the organization behind the forum.
The back-and-forth begins when Conservative MP John Williamson Sajjan asks what he thinks of HFX.
‘I want to make sure you’re talking about the Halifax International Security Forum, not their Washington office. Is that correct? “Sajjan asked before receiving an affirmative answer from Williamson.” Okay, so just the event itself, not the office and not the employees who are former Conservative staff members who actually work in the office? is that correct? “