Former Liberal Cabinet Minister and China Envoy John McCallum Dead at 75

Long-time Liberal MP and cabinet minister John McCallum has passed away at age 75, his family said in a statement.

McCallum, whose last public sector post was as Canada’s envoy to China, passed away peacefully on June 21, his family said. He is survived by his wife, their three sons, and six grandchildren.

The former ambassador was also a professor of economics at several universities, including the University of Manitoba, Simon Fraser University, Université du Québec à Montréal, and McGill University. In addition, he had served as dean of the Faculty of Arts at McGill University.

Following his academic career between 1976 and 1994, he worked for the Royal Bank of Canada as senior vice president and chief economist before entering politics.

McCallum first became an MP in 2000. He was a minister of national defence under former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and later a minister of veterans affairs and subsequently minister of national revenue under Chrétien’s successor, former Prime Minister Paul Martin.

He returned to cabinet after the Trudeau Liberals defeated the Conservatives in the 2015 federal election, taking on the post of minister of immigration, refugees, and citizenship.

McCallum stepped down as cabinet minister and MP in 2017 and was subsequently named by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Canada’s ambassador to China.

In 2019, McCallum was forced to resign his post at the request of the Trudeau government after publicly providing legal arguments in defence of the arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Meng’s arrest in late 2018 in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition request had led to China retaliating by arresting two Canadian citizens and imposing import restrictions on Canada.

McCallum, who was one of the heaviest users of sponsored travels to China while an MP, told the media at the time that Meng had a strong case to resist extradition to the United States and that her extradition “would not be a happy outcome.” Government officials usually don’t comment on cases before courts so as not to give the appearance of political interference.

After leaving the public service, McCallum reportedly worked as a speaker for the Wailian Group, a Chinese company that helped people immigrate to Canada and various other countries. His service for the Shanghai-based company prompted opposition MPs to ask for an investigation by the ethics commissioner.

Reacting to McCallum’s passing, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “deeply saddened” by the passing of the former cabinet minister and academic.

“John served Canada and academia with great distinction, helping us to find solutions to our biggest economic challenges, devoting his invaluable insights to the service of Canada’s democracy and diplomacy, and always doing so with good humour and grace,” Carney said on June 22.

Trudeau also said he was saddened to learn about McCallum’s passing.

“I will never forget how as a cabinet minister he helped me as a new Prime Minister steer the government through the rapid resettlement of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees,” Trudeau said on social media on June 22.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.