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Observers said McCallum’s remarks seemed to fly in the face of the government’s official line that the detention of Meng Wanzhou was not political and that it was simply following the rule of law in detaining her on behalf of the U.S.

he's said things that have caused the situation to be worsened rather than better. … He used very bad judgment

While McCallum may have been well-intentioned in wanting to smooth over the conflict between Canada and China, he only made things worse and the prime minister had no choice but to let him go, Burton said.

“McCallum now suggests this is a highly politicized matter whereas our official government position is it is not,” Burton said.

“He’s violated his mandate as ambassador and he’s said things that have caused the situation to be worsened rather than better. … He used very bad judgment.”

In announcing McCallum’s resignation, Trudeau said Jim Nickel, deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Canada in Beijing, would serve as Canada’s interim representative in China.

With McCallum’s departure, at least “we’re sending out the signal we should be sending out, which is this matter is not political, and that we are simply following the terms of our extradition treaty,” Burton said. “By firing Mr. McCallum we’ve removed any sense of ambiguity that the Chinese government may have perceived with Mr. McCallum’s statements.”

The role of an ambassador is to convey messages from your government, not to write the script or go off script as McCallum did

That said, McCallum’s remarks now make it more difficult for Canada to speak with credibility to the Chinese government and to its allies, Burton said. “Mr. McCallum’s words could well be used in Ms. Meng’s defence to suggest this is a political extradition and not one based on law.”