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Guy Saint-Jacques: Mail Newspaper and Future Comments

guy saint-jacques: David Mulroney and Guy Saint-Jacques told The Globe and Mail newspaper last week they had been contacted by an official from Global Affairs Canada, according to National Observer. Mulroney said the official had asked him to check with Global Affairs before making future comments on China and that the request had come from the PMO. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has insisted his office did not direct the department to silence the former diplomats. Members of the governing party who comprise a majority on the Commons foreign affairs committee were on hand to fend off allegations that the Prime Minister's Office had attempted to pressure two former ambassadors to China over their public statements about Canada's ongoing dispute with the People's Republic. During Tuesday's special summer meeting of the committee, Liberal MPs framed the calls as part of the government's practice of consulting with experts and trying to enable an informed discussion. Liberals on the committee shot down an opposition motion that would have summoned Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, the two former ambassadors, and other witnesses to testify. Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, parliamentary secretary to the foreign affairs minister, said the contact with the two former ambassadors was part of an effort to ensure Canadians were speaking with an informed voice, but not one voice. ; There was an intention to inform, an intention to engage, it was misunderstood and heard as an intention to somehow direct, Oliphant said following the meeting. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.