VANCOUVER—For Brad West, it was a simple question: “Should a foreign government be able to buy access to elected politicians that are supposed to be working in the interests of our people and our communities?”When the mayor of Port Coquitlam, B.C., learned that the Chinese government had been hosting a cocktail party for the municipal politicians at their yearly provincial convention, he was, to put it mildly, perplexed.“The answer is, ‘No, they should not be able to do that,’” West says.“And you could go out and talk to just about any person on the street, and you would have got the same answer.”So West began speaking against the reception, which had first started in 2012.West asked how a country holding two Canadians, consultant Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, in apparent retaliation for the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, and which was simultaneously imposing sanctions on Canadian goods, could be welcomed by civic leaders.To make his point, he showed up outside this September’s reception with two boxes of Tim Hortons doughtnuts that had photographs of Spavor and Kovrig attached to them.He faced criticism for his actions. The 34-year-old father was accused of grandstanding to further his political career; others levelled what he described as “thinly veiled threats” that his city could suffer a loss in services or funding if he kept criticizing the reception and the Chinese government.But finally, this week, the Union of B.C. Municipalities’ executive adopted a policy that will no longer allow such events to be hosted by foreign governments.West said the opposition he faced still exists within Canada’s political structure and that he believes it is preventing the will of Canadians from being carried out when it comes to Ottawa’s relations with Beijing.During his fight, West said, he started being copied on what would become “thousands” of emai ...
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