Majority of Canadians want Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s fate to be left to the courts as opposed to politics, according to a new study conducted by Nanos Research on behalf of CTV News.
The poll found that 68 percent of respondents said Meng’s case should be dealt with by the courts. Interestingly, 22 percent said her case and fate should be decided by the government.
The study also found that the majority of Canadians are opposed to swapping Meng for the two Canadians currently imprisoned in China.
This comes as China’s foreign embassy floated the idea that if Canada were to release Meng, it would impact the fate of the two Canadians. Several former Canadian politicians and diplomats called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to stop Meng’s legal proceedings in order to ensure the return of the two Canadians.
Trudeau ruled out this possibility and stated that if this were the case, then other countries would believe that arresting Canadians is a way to get what they want from the Canadian government.
Data from the survey shows that the majority of Canadians agree with Trudeau. For instance, 40 percent of respondents said that they were opposed to the idea of prisoner exchange, and 16 percent said they somewhat opposed it.
Only 16 percent said they were in favour of the idea, while 19 percent noted that they somewhat support it. Nine percent said they were unsure.
The two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michal Spavor, were arrested in China days after Canada arrested Meng on behalf of the U.S. Their arrests have been seen as retaliation for Meng’s arrest.
Nanos Research conducted this study based on telephone and online surveys of 1,049 Canadians between June 28th and July 2nd. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percent.
Source: CTV News
