KEEP THE PANDAS

UPDATE: Trudeau feds delay bamboo at the border, cute pandas starve?

The Calgary pandas are being returned to China after bamboo imports have been delayed for days by the federal government at the Canada-US border.

The Calgary Zoo announced that it plans to send back its two pandas to China, claiming that it’s having trouble finding enough bamboo for the two pandas to eat.

That’s laughable — bamboo is one of the most common plants in the world. More likely, China has demanded the creatures back as part of their hardball “panda diplomacy.”

Panda diplomacy is the name commonly given for China's use of its pandas as a strategic weapon — it loans pandas to countries that make political concessions to it, and demands pandas back from countries that offend it.

(Oh — and we still have to pay millions of dollars to “lease” the animals — China says it always owns them. That's quite something for a Communist country that doesn’t respect property rights.)

China is trying to bully Canada again — probably as punishment for the fact that Justin Trudeau finally thanked Taiwan for giving us hundreds of thousands of high-quality, hygienic face masks, unlike China’s faulty products. The mere fact that Trudeau thanked Taiwan by name surely sent the Chinese Communist Party into a rage, and made them demand their pandas back.

Well, we’re here to say: NO.

In fact, Canada should keep the pandas forever — until China releases the two Canadian hostages it kidnapped more than 500 days ago, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.

How outrageous that China would demand that we “release” these two animals before they release their two Canadian hostages.

The only thing more outrageous is that the Calgary Zoo — and Justin Trudeau — seem prepared to go along with China’s demands, yet again.

We are in a position to threaten Xi Jinping's global diplomatic strategy like never before: with two valuable, fertile pandas. 

Let's not let this moment go to waste.

So, to send a message to the government, please sign our petition, and let’s tell Trudeau that the lives of two Canadian citizens are stake here.

The pandas are legally Canada’s for three more years. Giving them to China now is rewarding their abusive, dictatorial behaviour.