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If Canada wanted to dispatch two ambassadors for freedom of expression to Malaysia, it might have done better than the siblings who elected to take a strong and principled stance against clothing when posing for a photo on a sacred mountaintop.

Several Canadians with more illustrious diplomatic credentials come to mind. The Ford brothers, for instance. They’ve been on a plane before, probably. Or how about that Don Cherry? He can talk enough for two people, as Ron MacLean can attest, and wouldn’t part with a plaid wool suit even in the tropics.

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But just as you can’t choose your family (though our exhibitionist expeditionists probably would have chosen each other), Canada can’t choose its unofficial representatives abroad (and certainly wouldn’t have chosen these two anyway). Now that Canadian citizens have served prison time for exposing themselves to the elements in Malaysia, Canada might take the opportunity to invest more in local programs that promote free expression there.