Canada ‘dismayed’ at PH recall of envoys over delay in trash return

Trash packed in container vans that were shipped from Canada in 2013 at the sanitary landfill of the Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. in Capas, Tarlac. MCWMC

OTTAWA — Canada expressed dismay at Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin’s Thursday decision to recall the Philippines’ top diplomatic officials because the Canadian government missed the midnight May 15 deadline for retrieving tons of garbage mistakenly shipped to Philippine ports.

“We shall maintain a diminished diplomatic presence in Canada until its garbage is ship bound there,” Locsin announce.

Locsin ordered Ambassador Petronila Garcia and the consul generals in Calgary, Toronto, and Vancouver to “get the next flight out” of Canada.

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The Canadian government, via a Global Affairs Canada spokesperson, in a statement expressed dismay over Locsin’s move: “Canada is disappointed by this decision to recall the Philippines ambassador and consuls general. However, we will continue to closely engage with the Philippines to ensure a swift resolution of this important issue.”

President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier threatened to go to war with the North American country for failing to retrieve some 2,000 tons of garbage shipped to the Philippines and remain in the country’s ports for past six years.

The Canadian government reportedly offered to pay for the return of the waste, but its finance department said “bureaucratic red tape” in the Canadian government was hampering the effort.

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