Liberal-appointed Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) in remarks published more than a week after the expulsion of a Chinese spy complained of “extreme anti-China sentiment” in Canada. Woo urged Canadians to sign a Commons petition against a registry of foreign agents.

“Our better instincts have been compromised by the extreme anti-China sentiment that has spilled over into the toxic stigmatization of Canadians who are associated with the People’s Republic of China because of their ancestry, business ties or professional interests,” Woo wrote in an Ottawa periodical Policy Options magazine.

The article was published May 16, eight days after cabinet ordered the expulsion of Chinese spy Zhao Wei for targeting the family of a Member of Parliament. It was the first expulsion of a diplomat from Canada in five years.