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By Guest Column Tuesday, April 15, 2008
(Queen’s Park) – On the front lawn of the Legislature Randy Hillier MPP joined approximately 200 members of The Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario to stand in protest of the McGuinty Government’s ambivalence and hypocrisy toward the ongoing situation in Tibet. On the eve of the Minister of Economic Development and Trade’s junket to China, Hillier stood in the legislature and spoke out against the McGuinty Government’s surprise motion seeking unanimous consent to move, without notice, and put to an immediate vote, without debate: “that the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, as a long-standing friend of China, express concern with the current situation in Tibet and encourage the parties to engage in meaningful dialogue.”
“...This is a weak, fluffy motion of no importance,” Mr. Hillier stated. “To ask that the Communist Chinese party engage in meaningful debate with the people in Tibet as they bring tanks in, as they use batons and beat people… You cannot have constructive dialogue when one side is so overwhelmingly powerful and the other side so overwhelmingly weak; when one side is willing to use force, when one side is willing to use violence and has no regard and no respect for freedoms, for justice, for any of our democratic values.”
“I ask this House to take further steps, to have the courage and not be fearful of China as a trading partner. Do not be fearful of China. Be a strong advocate for human rights and freedoms everywhere, for if we do not stand up and defend human rights…then who will?” Mr. Hillier demanded.
Photo courtesy Judy Baird
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