Mr. Chair, I will let the minister know that the member for Abbotsford is in hospital today having an operation. He is all heart and he kind of wore it out in these negotiations, but he will be back up and around in no time at all. We know that.
Again, this case, as I say, is not a consular situation. It is based on some concerns on under-reporting the value of these 2,000 cases of wine, and somebody has absconded with them. The family has been working for over a year to try to get someone at Global Affairs to take this seriously. I have been trying for the last number of days and weeks, and I keep getting the same runaround. We get chased around and chased around. We cannot get through to this one, and this one will not return calls, so I can understand their frustration.
He has a court date a week from Friday, and we will never hear from or see him again if we do not intervene now. This is going to take a phone call to the new ambassador to China to say, “Get on your horse, go to Shanghai, and find out what is going on.” There are allegations but never any real charges laid, but it completely contravenes a lot of the WTO agreements we have with China and, of course, the FIPA that we have signed. We can point to issues in there as well.
Will the minister take this seriously and make that call? It is 9:30 in the morning in Beijing. Take a moment, step out, call Ambassador McCallum, and get this under way.