Kenney Snaps Over Martin/CSL Interests In China

The verbal sparring took a personal turn when Kenney said human rights took a back seat during the Chinese sojourn because the Prime Minister was "defending the interests of CSL," an allusion to the Martin family's shipping interests in the country. "I raised the question of human rights with the president, I raised them with the prime minister, and I raised them with every single member of the Chinese government that I met with," Martin said. "The issue is when the honourable member had the opportunity to do so, he turned tail and ran." Kenny brushed aside Martin's remarks as "unadulterated nonsense" and outside the House of Commons said the "hypersensitive" PM was "off his rocker." "Maybe he has a guilty conscience about his downplaying human rights in China because quite frankly I think it's the narrow corporate interests of Canada Steamship Lines and his very close friends and business partners at Power Corp., that have far more influence in Canada's policy in China than our traditional concern for human rights and democracy," he said. "I think this Prime Minister's policy in China is compromised by commercial interests that benefit his family." More: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1107213017054&call_pageid=970599119419