Here's a job for Peter MacKay

The job is: stop faffing around in Kandahar and get over to Beijing smartly to propose and sign a bilateral agreement with the Chinese, the effect of which would void double jeopardy for citizens deported after completing their sentences. The Star brings up something I had wondered about on the Globe and Mail's "conversations"- what if China decided to execute Min Chen as a punishment for crimes committed abroad.

I learned from the Star article that the Supreme Court already forbids this explicitly, but has not spoken on lesser punishments. Should Chen be unable to be deported then having completed his sentence it would be difficult to avoid releasing him.

We should not wait until Chen is released in 2019 to make him another Karla Homolka, with whatever opportunist successor to Michael Bryant there is as AG in Ontario wailing on about the consequences of a plea bargain. We should have an assurance that Chen will leave federal prison in transportation that puts him on the next flight out, and if that means securing a legal agreement from China to do it, that's just what should happen.

Apparently there is a chance that China could refuse to accept Chen's return - this should also be ruled out by the treaty. We have a chance to demand this of China because of their rapacious demands for Canadian mineral resources and should use it.

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