I had to go into Calgary for a meeting recently and as I was crawling my way through the big city traffic I couldn’t help but notice billboards everywhere advertising Huawei smartphones for sale. I had heard a little bit about this Chinese technology company but I didn’t realize that their products were available for purchase in Canada. It seemed so strange to me when I read the news the next day that Meng Wanzhou, the Chief Financial Officer at Huawei, had been arrested by the Canadian authorities in Vancouver. Not only is she the chief financial officer, she’s also the daughter of Huawei’s founder. My understanding of the issue is that she is to be extradited to the USA where she is facing allegations of fraud and breaching sanctions on Iran. It seems incredibly ironic to me that Huawei smartphones are being marketed profusely in Canada at the same time as one of their top executives has been detained here. Now we find ourselves between China and the USA as they fight out their trade war. I sure hope that we can duck and weave our way out of this before we take damaging blows from both sides. ****** “Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.” ~ Harlan Miller, writer.
