Canada tracked suspected Chinese spy balloon over Canadian airspace since last weekend: sources

[sl8]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-tracked-suspected-chinese-spy-balloon-over-canadian-airspace-since-last-weekend-sources-1.6259770

Canada tracked suspected Chinese spy balloon over Canadian airspace since last weekend: sources

Tom Yun
CTVNews.ca writer

Updated Feb. 3, 2023 10:33 p.m. EST
Published Feb. 3, 2023 8:43 p.m. EST

The suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was found floating over sensitive military sites in the western United States had been tracked by Canada's government since last weekend as it passed through Canadians airspace, sources tell CTV News.

Canadian officials have not publicly stated whether the massive high-altitude balloon entered Canadian airspace. But sources told CTV News it had passed over the Canadian Arctic, Alberta and Saskatchewan before it was spotted over Montana on Thursday, as it flew over a nuclear launch site. Sources told CTV News it was tracked the entire time it was in Canadian airspace.

After being flagged by Norad, the joint U.S.-Canadian agency responsible for air defence in both nations, U.S. fighter jets investigated the balloon and determined it wasn't fitted with any weapons, but was equipped with high-resolutions cameras.

[...]

Sources also told CTV News U.S. intelligence knows of a total of at least four of these balloons from China sent to other countries, beyond the one currently over the U.S. That includes the one the Pentagon confirmed late Friday night floating over Latin America.

[...]

[FrankTC]

1. Hm . . . What's the Play Here?

If the info from "sources" is reliable, it seems like the inspecting jet fighters from NORAD coulda shot the spy balloon down over mostly uninhabited Canadian wilderness, with little likelihood of hurting anyone. Which means that the operative rationale about not shooting it down now -- concern that falling debris might hurt someone -- is BS. Apparently there was a deliberate decision to let the balloon drift across the US. What's the benefit? Are we getting more intelligence from it than it's getting from us? Did Blinken need a convenient excuse to avoid going to China? Any DU people with spycraft expertise care to speculate?

[2naSalit]

2. I guess that...

Your first speculation is most likely, the second is less likely. I think Blinken wanted to go on that mission.

[Wibly]

4. "Uninhabited Canadian wilderness"

What are you talking about?
Same perspective that says North America was an "uninhabited wilderness" prior to 1492!
Canada's north is not unpopulated, and while it may be wild, there are people there.
Educate yourself.

[2live is 2fly]

3. What're the odds we could be using this to give China fake intel-data? Otherwise it's hard to find

any reason why we wouldn't shoot the damn thing down. Bet the majority (both Americans and Canadians) prefer a shoot-down.