One obvious thing we should do is to adopt a policy where our initial approach doesn't necessarily involve flattery. I watched with dismay as Canadian officials were speaking about China's pandemic response in the early days and flattering China at a time when we didn't even have all the facts in, and in fact, there were a lot of things in China's response that weren't deserving of flattery. When in doubt, don't flatter; just stick to the facts. Stick to what you know. When we are obsequious in our behaviour with China, we encourage China to be even more abrupt and short with us.
China is no longer a foreign policy issue. It's increasingly a domestic policy issue, and we should do—and I have advocated this—what Australia has done and take a very firm stance on interference in Canadian affairs. They have set up a registry of people who are acting on behalf of China. You certainly can act on behalf of China, or any other country, in Australia if you wish, but you have to be transparent about it, and there are criminal sanctions if you aren't. That means people who are reading Chinese talking points or using student associations or other groups to harass Canadians. We need to shine a light on that and there need to be repercussions.
Dealing with the domestic issue, the safety of Canadians, people in this country, is a fundamental responsibility of any government, and I think we're failing it.