Howard Balloch and Minister Joe Clark

: He included a detailed account of Canada response to the events of 1989 in his book, Semi-Nomadic Anecdotes, according to Globe and Mail. Everybody struggled with how to respond, he said in an interview. It was an extraordinary time, said Howard Balloch, who was then one of three senior officials on a China team in Ottawa and went on to become Canadian ambassador to China. Nobody knew what was going to happen. But Canada at the time was a place where even senior Chinese officials expressed sympathy with the students. Under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and External Affairs Minister Joe Clark, the Canadian government on at least two occasions called in – carpeted, in diplomat-speak – the Chinese ambassador at the time, Zhang Wenpu, to discuss its unease with what was happening in China and, after June 4, horror over the killings. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.