Former Canadian Ambassador to China John McCallum has landed a new position as senior strategic advisor at Toronto-based law firm McMillan LLP after being ousted from his overseas post in January.

The firm touted McCallum’s “unparalleled experience in building mutually beneficial Sino-Canadian connections” in a release Tuesday.

"Especially in this time of a challenged Sino-Canadian relationship, we look forward to John assisting our Canadian clients doing business in China and working with the business community to foster business-to-business contacts leading to opportunities in both China and Canada," said Stephen Wortley, an executive partner at McMillan, in the release.  

McCallum resigned in January from his position as Canada’s ambassador to China at the request of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after gaining media attention for telling Chinese-language media Huawei Technologies Co. CFO Meng Wanzhou had “strong arguments” against extradition.  

He later apologized for his comments.

Before becoming Canada’s China envoy, McCallum served in various roles under former Prime Minister Paul Martin, was defence minister under former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and had previously served as chief economist at the Royal Bank of Canada.