Canada-China Relations committee  No. The requesting country does not appear in court in extradition cases.

Canada-China Relations committee  No.

Canada-China Relations committee  That's correct.

Canada-China Relations committee  That's a yes to the first part of your question. Once there's a committal, you can't withdraw the authority to proceed, but the minister still has the power to end the proceedings by discharging at his stage. The withdrawal of the authority to proceed is handled by officials, and

Canada-China Relations committee  Yes, the minister has discharged, and yes, officials have withdrawn an authority to proceed in circumstances as I've described: where the evidence is no longer available or where the case has been withdrawn by the requesting state.

Canada-China Relations committee  I can't speak to whether cabinet can lobby, but what I can tell you is that there are very limited matters that the minister should be considering in making his decision, and those are issues relevant to the extradition process: the treaty, the Extradition Act and the Charter of

Canada-China Relations committee  The decision is made independent of cabinet and it's pursuant to the Extradition Act. The minister issues an order of either discharge or surrender. It doesn't go through the Gazette and it doesn't go through cabinet.

Canada-China Relations committee  No. I think that would be a question for Global Affairs.

Canada-China Relations committee  If I can go back to your first comment about the arrest, that is a decision made by the court. We bring an application to the court for a warrant.

Canada-China Relations committee  That's right.

Canada-China Relations committee  That's right, but the arrest can happen in one of two ways.

Canada-China Relations committee  That's what I'm trying to explain. The authority to proceed sometimes precedes the arrest.

Canada-China Relations committee  As a matter of practice, everything has been delegated in the Extradition Act. All the minister's discretion has been delegated to officials, with the exception of the decision to order surrender. That is done to insulate the minister for that very important decision he has to ma

Canada-China Relations committee  It's a consistent practice.

Canada-China Relations committee  No. You're correct about how you characterize the minister's decision. After the committal, if there's a committal at the extradition hearing, it goes to the minister. The minister then makes the decision about whether to order surrender, and it's the surrender order that will al