Next up is Greens MP Paul Manly, says the name of the event is "unfortunate". Says his main concern is freeing Kovrig and Spavor, and he has history of concern re: human rights in China. Disagrees with Noh: "Canada cannot unilaterally release Meng."

Some commenters not fans of this tack: "What is Manly doing in this panel? Just another pro Imperialist doublespeaker." Take that, capitalist running dog Greens!

Manly says the only way out of this is for the US to drop the charges against Meng

More rumblings in the comments: "Manly just equated the U.S. and China as 'both of these bullies'. How very sad."

"Further proof that the Green Party is just another wing of the Conservative Party." ok

I see NO SIGN OF NIKI ASHTON at this meeting. Maybe she is attending under anonymised account or via phone number. But there is still no mention of Ashton from mods. Yesterday's SCMP story here https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3111078/canadian-mps-join-campaign-release-meng-wanzhou-citing

Next speaker is union figure Cathy Walker, who is not happy that labour group exchanges between China and Canada have ceased since Meng's arrest

Walker says Meng's arrest has been linked to racism in Canada. Releasing her will help fix this, she says

Next speaker is Atif Kubursi, professor emeritus of economics at McMaster

Not sure where this is going. Hails China-Canada trade. Says there are many Chinese students here. OK. Sure. Literally has not mentioned Meng's name once yet

Kubursi: "You cannot expect China to respect human rights...unless we show them the respect they deserve". Still has not mentioned Meng by name

Entire address has finished without mentioning Meng.

"Our final speaker Niki Ashton has been unable to attend at the last minute"

Instead she wrote a speech, that someone else will read. Hoping he does so in Ashton's voice

Huh, no luck

Ashton's speech (via avatar) warns of "red-baiting dog-whistle politics"...

Also warns of "Trump-style Sinophobia"

"Now more than ever we need to be engaging with China...regardless of our differences. I believe we are entering a new cold war".

Hmm, that's it. "Of course we would have loved to see the real Niki" says mod.

I submitted a question asking why Ashton isn't here

I'm being stalked in the comments: "Hey Ian Young! Of course you're here. Sooo I'm curious, did you try to misrepresent and slander Cyrus Jannsen? What happened there?"

Christopher Black of Canadian Peace Congress says Canada is holding Meng Wanzhou hostage, part of efforts to create new world order

Call on "working people across Canada" to stand up to this. Also, FYI, "the Nato alliance is a trap, has committed supreme war crimes."

Commenters love Black. Knows his audience, that's for sure

Hmm Prof Kubursi just mentioned Meng for the first time. Called her "Wanzhou". Then called her "Mengzhou". Potato, potahto

Comment column is now commenting on this Twitter thread, commenting on the comments: "He is slandering speakers and misrepresenting the panel on his twitter." It's like Inception reimagined in the most boring way possible

I think I have been pegged as a narc

Paul Manly is now feeling the heat re comments, angrily says he's no supporter of US-China Cold War, pivots back to Spavor and Kovrig.

BUSTED! "Paul Manly sounds like a CIA asset. Rushan Abbas was an Uyghur activist, exposed on reddit as a CIA asset. Same tactics." Commenters CANNOT BE DECEIVED

For the record, I do not believe MP Paul Manly is a CIA asset

Others have views: "Paul is hoping his attacks on China will get him votes. nothing more to his nonsense"

Larry sez: "very disappointed with whoever invited pro Imperialist Paul Manly to speak tonight." This is a tough crowd

Lee: "when will you ask Ian Young's question?"
From Greg B. to Everyone: "Why should that hack get to ask a question?"

Now Speaker KJ Noh is going absolutely berserk at Manly. Accuses him of Sinophobia, lying beyond comprehension. "You are causing harm and pain and damage to Chinese communities"..."Your troops committed genocide on my family members"

Manly: "KJ, I'd like to know what you have done to get Korvig and Spavor out of prison". He's defending the World Uygur Congress, which Noh attacked. Manly is pissed

Commenter unimpressed by manly citing Amnesty re Uygurs: "Amnesty Intl is definitely an imperialist organization"

Greens MP Paul Manly has left the meeting early. This has been an interesting evening for him, I imagine

Wrapping up now. Attendance wobbled around 250 people, including this imperialist hack. Mod is urging attendees to sign Ashton-sponsored parliamentary petition to halt extradition proceedings against Meng

And that's it! My question about why NDP MP Niki Ashton pulled out was never asked/answered. Oh well. Everyone who liked a tweet on this thread now has to send me a dollar, because that's how we capitalist running dogs roll

My editor does not want a story on this. Now charging $2 per like