Those “Team Canada” trips in the ‘90s always seemed dodgy to me. The government flying select businesses to an oppressive corporate communist state to ink business deals that didn’t amount to a whole hill of beans. McCallum was up to his neck in that.
I am not sure if you remember in 2010 when then CSIS director went public with Chinese influence operations on Canadian politicians. Normally, McCallum looks like he’s half asleep. That day he was full of piss and vinegar and sputtering with fury that how dare Fadden suggest such a thing. He wasn’t named, but the way he took offence made me think he protested too much. The only other time I had seen McCallum that indignant was when PM Harper at the time wasn’t going to go kowtow to the leadership in Beijing as soon as he became PM. The Liberals and the corporate community were furious.
Since then, it was made public that at the time McCallum became ambassador, Beijing had gifted him several trips to China over the years worth more than $40,000. So to me, it was no surprise that he was actually Beijing’s representative to Canada. Gotta hand it to Freeland for telling Trudeau either he goes or she goes.