Juno News - Jean Charest on his connections to Huawei

00:00:00.000 The Conservative Party of Canada has taken, generally speaking, a very firm position against

00:00:04.980 the Chinese government and against Huawei and was very critical of a lot of what China did

00:00:11.200 throughout that. So how do you defend your record in the private sector advising Huawei with what

00:00:18.160 the Conservative Party and I think a lot of Canadians expect from a relationship with China

00:00:22.100 and companies connected to the Chinese state? Well, Andrew, and that's an important question.

00:00:27.060 And by the way, I'm very proud of the extensive private sector experience I have. And you know,

00:00:33.640 in the last 10 years, I've worked a lot in the private sector with very interesting files at

00:00:39.360 the highest level. And you said you were proud of your work with Huawei specifically, did you not?

00:00:44.240 I want to answer very directly your question. I worked, I did not represent the Communist Party

00:00:50.100 of China. I worked so that we could secure an agreement that would bring the two Michaels home.

00:00:56.480 That's what I did. I worked with Veena Najibullah, who is the spouse of Michael Kovrig. We talked over

00:01:02.800 the phone several times so that we could do everything possible to square away this issue

00:01:10.780 and bring the Michaels home. And I'm very proud of that. I'm not, I'm not apologizing for that,

00:01:15.800 not a minute, because I think that's what you do when, when you have this kind of responsibility

00:01:21.840 and an opportunity to be helpful to your country. So that's what I did. So, and, and then on,

00:01:27.480 I've never shied away. And, you know, I was on a panel after this was before the leadership race

00:01:32.360 in Montreal. And I said very clearly what I thought of what this situation was with the Michaels. It

00:01:39.200 was a government sanctioned kidnapping. That's what it was. Yeah. There's no other way to describe it.

00:01:45.320 And, and I'm, I never shied away. And this is before you and I talked in this leadership race

00:01:50.160 come up. So I've on the, on the issue of China, I've never shied away from saying what I think

00:01:55.180 and what I believe. And that's the way I'm going to be as the leader of the party

00:01:58.540 and as prime minister of the country.

Juno News - March 15, 2022