MPs pay tribute to John McCallum and Stéphane Dion

Former foreign affairs minister and one-time Liberal leader Stéphane Dion told MPs he has accepted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s offer to become Canada’s “senior diplomatic to Europe” by taking on the dual role of ambassador of the European Union and Germany.

Dion made the announcement while reading a farewell statement in the House of Commons, as MPs paid tribute to him and fellow MP John McCallum, who is also stepping down as an MP. Both were shuffled out of the federal cabinet earlier this month.

CBC.ca is livestreaming the statements live.

Dion said that after the cabinet shuffle he had to consider whether to return to teaching or to remain in public service. Thanking the University of Montreal for giving him a tempting offer, Dion said he had instead decided to join the diplomatic corps.

“I have accepted the prime minister’s offer to be Canada’s senior diplomat to Europe,” Dion said. “I will do my part to strengthen Canada’s relationship with Europe. It will be an honour to join the Canadian diplomatic corps.”

McCallum, formerly the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, also addressed the House. He is on his way to China to be Canada’s new ambassador to the country where preliminary talks over a free trade deal between the two nations promise to dominate his early years there.

Mixed emotions

“As I stand in this place for the last time, I naturally do with mixed emotions,” McCallum told his colleagues, adding that the more he thought about it “this China assignment is the perfect job for me and I am grateful to the prime minister for his confidence.”

McCallum said the immigration portfolio “is in good hands” because new minister Ahmed Hussen is a “quick study” and has a “big heart.”

Speaking of his most memorable moments in the House, McCallum spoke particularly of nominating the late South African president Nelson Mandela for honorary Canadian citizenship.

McCallum also said the work he did over the last year to bring nearly 40,000 Syrian refugees to Canada was another highlight of his political career, especially since it was done when so many other countries were “closing their doors” to refugees, he said.

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Looking to China, McCallum said he would work very hard as ambassador to help vulnerable Canadians in China who need consular assistance.

“Have the capacity to govern our country well, and have the wisdom to make Canada even better in years to come,” he said in his parting words to MPs.

Dion, most recently Canada’s foreign affairs minister and a one-time Liberal leader, was replaced at Foreign Affairs by Canada’s Chrystia Freeland, who had held the international trade portfolio.

Sources have told CBC News Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered Dion a unusual dual role as Canada’s ambassador to the European Union and Germany. Trudeau didn’t divulge specifics to reporters after the cabinet shuffle, saying only he offered Dion a “very important, senior position.”

Dion has been tight-lipped about his future, but McCallum seemed to let the news slip out in his farewell speech, saying he was happy he could look forward to continuing to work with Dion in the world of diplomacy, prompting a smiling Dion to wave his hands in denial.

Dion’s career in the House

Dion entered politics at the request of former prime minister Jean Chrétien on Jan. 25, 1996, “envisaging a brief parenthesis” in his life, according to a statement he released after he was replaced as Canada’s foreign affairs minister.

Chrétien had called on Dion soon after the narrow federalist victory in the 1995 referendum on Quebec sovereignty, and appointed him intergovernmental affairs minister.

Dion went on to write the Clarity Act to establish rules and conditions for any future attempts at secession. The Supreme Court backed his position — that Quebec could not unilaterally secede from Canada — with the bill passing into law in 2000.

Dion didn’t make it into former prime minister Paul Martin’s first cabinet but he returned to cabinet in 2004 as environment minister, presiding over tricky climate change negotiations in Montreal in 2005. He won the party’s leadership after Martin’s defeat in 2006, but lost the 2008 election and was forced out of the job.

After his return to the cabinet with Trudeau’s victory in 2015, Dion spent little more than a year in the role of foreign affairs minister before Trudeau moved him on. 

Economist goes to China

McCallum was first elected to the House of Commons in 2000 and held the defence, veterans affairs minister and national revenue portfolios under Martin. He was appointed immigration minister by Trudeau.

A former chief economist of the Royal Bank of Canada, McCallum also worked as a professor of economics at McGill University, Simon Fraser University, the University of Manitoba and the Université du Québec à Montréal.

In announcing his departure from cabinet, Trudeau applauded McCallum’s work in helping to bring in nearly 40,000 Syrian refugees to Canada.

“The Canada-China relationship will be well served by such a strong presence from our government,” Trudeau said in a statement when he announced McCallum’s new job.

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/dion-mccallum-china-ambassador-1.3960087?cmp=rss