Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has confirmed that former Consul General to Toronto Fitz Huggins was in Canada for longer than Ottawa allows and that Kingstown asked permission for him to remain in the post for an additional three months.
There had been whispers surrounding what some members of the Vincentian community in Canada had told iWitness News was the apparently abrupt end of Huggins’ 12-year diplomatic posting.
Gonsalves addressed the issue on NBC Radio on Wednesday, and, in his usual style, attacked the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and their “propagandists”, saying they just can’t help themselves.
“They just traffic in such lies and ignorance and folly,” the prime minister said, without identifying the “lies”.
The prime minister confirmed that Huggins’ tour of duty in Toronto has ended and that Lasana Andrews has been appointed to fill the post in the interim, based on the recommendation of Kingstown’s ambassador to the UN, Rhonda King.
“Contrary to what the NDP propagandists are saying, Fitz Huggins was not fired,” the prime minister said, adding that his government also did not relieve Huggins of his consul general post.
The prime minister said that Canada is among the countries that limit the number of years that they will permit someone to serve in their country as a consul general.
“There’s a timeout period. In fact, we were beyond the timeout period, and the Canadian Foreign Ministry had written and said May or June was the last period for former consul general Huggins, who served with distinction,” Gonsalves said.
“You wouldn’t want to relieve a man who has served with distinction; you’ll prepare him for a similar or higher role, and when we return to office, you will see in the fullness of time what transpires.”
Gonsalves said Canada had written to his government even as “there were things which Fitz himself wanted to wind up from a work standpoint; tie up some loose ends.
“He had a few initiatives he wanted to complete, and he asked me if I could write to the Canadian government to extend the period till the end of September,” the prime minister said.
Gonsalves said he wrote to Melanie Julie, the foreign minister in Ottawa, and got an extension to the end of September.
“That’s all what happened. Left to us alone, Fitz will be still there. But they have their rules. They have their regulations,” Gonsalves said, adding that the United States also has regulations for consuls general and other people at certain levels in the diplomatic service.
The prime minister’s account varies from what Huggins said in a post on Facebook on Oct. 2, when he suggested that he would sue people who, allegedly, had been making certain statements about him.
I didn’t realise that I had to make this post to save some of my detractors from paying for my retirement. I worked for the government of SVG in Canada for 12 years. I came back on October 1 to help my party, the ULP, to hit a 6 when the elections are called soon,” Huggins said.
“Thanks to the government for entrusting me with such a noble assignment. Thanks also to the communities in Canada for your support,” he said, without mentioning that he had been in Canada for longer than he should have and that Ottawa had asked that his tenure end.
Vincentians at home might best remember Huggins’ tenure as consul general for the items he sent home, including containers of medical supplies to the hospitals, as well as decommissioned fire trucks and police cars.
He was also embroiled in a scandal over his purchase of a vehicle that the government of SVG had leased for him to use for his work in Canada.
Huggins defended himself, saying that he had saved SVG money as he had paid more for the vehicle than the government would have had to pay under the terms of the lease.
He further noted that the government has a policy of not buying second-hand vehicles, a statement that did not take into account the fact that the vehicle was brand new when leased for his use and was only assigned to his office up to the time that the lease ended.
Gonsalves had defended Huggins’ actions in acquiring the vehicle.
Huggins was appointed consul general in mid-2013 in what political observers said was a compromise amidst his apparent interest in becoming the ruling Unity Labour Party’s candidate for East St. George in the general elections of 2015.
Camillo Gonsalves, the prime minister’s son, emerged as the candidate and won the seat, which he has been representing since then.
This should be a lesson to Vincentian that all things must come to and end. Only in SVG that they keep a Government in their postion this long. Sir you have over stay your welcome.
Why Canada ask for him to be removed ? Is this a puzzle , something nar add up, eh na sound right 🤔,
The CJ Fitz Huggins while on official government duties is known to have politicize the good office. The office became an bonafide arm of the Ulp, rather than being neutral. A local writer, M.Bute made reference to it in one in one of his columns recently.
He will be remembered best for the acquisition of used vehicles, many of them were in derelict conditions suitable for the graveyard or junkyard. Did CJ Huggins do justice to his name while being here in Canada? He claims that he saved the government thousands of dollars. The jury is still out on his assertion.
It is rather ironic that Fitz Huggins was the victim of Canadian law. The question that would then be asked of any reasonable prudent man, is why the same law did mot apply to CJ Phillips who remained in Canada after his time had expired and is now a Canadian citizen in Montréal. You be the judge, or was the appointment of Fitz Huggins a political move to exile him, given that he was seen as a threat to the Comrade’s son Camillo? You be the judge.
Canadian law has limitations on how many years a diplomatic can reside in Canada. CJ Huggins has overstated this become according to Canadian law.
Is it fair to say that Fitz Huggins chickens have come to roost when he was asked by Canada to return home?