Sounds like he was told to resign, but let's not pretend to know what's been said between Mr. Chiang and the Prime Minister these past few days. Perhaps Carney saw this "less embarrassing exit" as the best option in the long term. The Chinese vote in Toronto is very important, and what happens in Markham could very well have a ripple effect on other ridings across the country with lots of Chinese Canadians. Many were calling for Carney to quickly fire him, but that could have made this a bigger issue than it needed to be.
Carney didn't make Chiang lose nearly as much face as he could have, and he really didn't have to do that either. I think a lot of the Chinese Canadian electorate will have have taken note on how this situation was dealt with. To me, it shows Carney knows a thing or two about Chinese culture, and how he's dealt with this situation has probably helped him in other ridings with a lot of Chinese Canadians. If Carney had gone out of his way to fire Chiang and it became even more of a national new story, Mr. Chiang could have lost a lot more face, and Chinese Canadians themselves would have seen it as something that could make all Chinese Canadians lose face. Carney avoided this turning into a larger controversy by letting Mr. Chiang resign.
Anyone trying to make a big stink about this for Carney, now that it's been dealt with, is just grasping at straws...just like most of the other CPC attacks against Carney have been so far anyways. If Poilievre and CPC supporters continue to attack on this, it's not going to help them gain support of Chinese Canadian voters, who they absolutely need in BC.
Even if BC has more Hong Kongers and Taiwanese than found in Toronto, there's still more Mainland Chinese Canadians than HKers and Taiwanese in BC... and Hong Kong and Taiwanese Canadians already know that Carney is
going to be anything but soft on China, based on what he's already said when asked about shifting the trade focus from the US to China. Carney wants to focus on Europe and reliable
partners in Asia that share our trade values.
However, if there was a chance to salvage the Canada-China relationship, I think its abundantly clear that Carney would be the far better option than Poilievre to negotiate with with the Chinese and work towards mending the relationship despite the fundamental differences that exist between Canada and China on trade, human rights, and other issues.
I don't think there will be too many Chinese Canadians, even those of HK and Taiwan extraction, who felt Carney wasn't tough enough on Mr. Chiang. Carney dealt with this issue fine. Had Carney swiftly fired Mr. Chiang, and made him lose more face as it became an even bigger national news story, that could have hurt the LPCs poll numbers with Chinese Canadians across the country. Carney dealt with the issue, but he didn't go out of his way to embarrass Mr. Chiang, which in my opinion, is the sign of a rational, balanced leader.
The only people who are going to pretend to continue to care about this issue past today are part of that 35+ percent, rock solid conservative base. For everyone else, the election moves on...
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