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As the prime minister gears up to visit China, his parliamentary secretary, MP Kody Blois, says Mark Carney would like to “recalibrate” Canada’s once-frosty relationship with the Chinese government and look at economic opportunities for the two nations.
“The trip next week is a continuation of that turning point in the relationship,” Blois said in an interview airing Sunday morning on Rosemary Barton Live. “[Carney] believes there’s opportunity for partnership.”
During his trip to China, the prime minister will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to his office. Afterwards, he’ll visit Qatar on Jan. 18 and then Switzerland from Jan. 19 to 21 to attend the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos.
The visit to China will be closely watched by the Prairie provinces, which have called on Carney to lift duties Canada imposed on Chinese-made electric vehicles in 2024. China retaliated by slapping tariffs on canola, seafood and pork.
Blois, who will travel with Carney to China, said the federal government sees an opportunity to co-operate on agriculture and agri-food. But when asked whether Canadians should expect results next week, the Liberal MP declined to comment.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has committed to tackling ‘irritants’ with Chinese President XI Jinping as the two countries had their first formal leader-to-leader contact since 2017. Carney was invited by Xi for a state visit.
“What I would say, and what Canadians should understand, is that we know the importance of what the Chinese market means from an economic perspective,” Blois told host Rosemary Barton.
For Saskatchewan’s canola farmers, China’s tariffs have pummelled their farms.
Bill Prybylski, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, told Barton he estimates his farm has lost about $450,000 due to the tariffs.
“We’ve had good yields this past year, so we’re able to make our financial commitments,” Prybylski said. “But certainly going forward, we’re having a very close look at where we’re going to be spending our dollars because we know they are going to be limited.”
Chinese tariffs have effectively shut the door on Canada’s second-largest canola market, driving down prices and leaving 40,000 farmers uncertain about the future. For The National, CBC’s Lyndsay Duncombe breaks down how it got to this point and the impact it’s having on the industry.
Prybylski also said he’s not expecting immediate tariff relief after Carney’s visit, but he hopes it will be “the start of the end” and that both sides will negotiate.
That said, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is urging Carney to stand firm on the EV tariffs. On Thursday, he called on China to set up a manufacturing plant in Ontario and said Canada “can’t back down. Simple as that.”
Last year, China’s ambassador to Canada suggested the Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD has been interested in investing in Canada.
Wang Di told the Globe and Mail that BYD “had carefully thought about coming to Canada to make investment” but “met huge difficulties, restrictions and obstruction and they had to give up.”
Should Canada get closer with China?
Carney’s trip will mark the first visit to China by a Canadian prime minister since 2017.
Relations between the two countries became icy in 2018, when China detained two Canadians in what was seen as a tit-for-tat move after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, in Vancouver following a U.S. extradition request.
Jody Thomas, who was former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s national security adviser, told CBC Radio’s The House that she thinks it’s important for Carney to travel to China, despite the thorny history.
Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig have returned to Canada nearly three years after they were arrested in China under espionage charges. They arrived in Calgary aboard a Royal Canadian Air Force Challenger on Saturday morning, and Kovrig later flew to Toronto.
“I think Canada has to be in all the uncomfortable places having all the uncomfortable conversations, and we cannot exclude ourselves from the world order and certain parts of it,” she said.
“There is no future for Canada that doesn’t include relationships with the two largest countries on the planet [and] emerging economies, China and India.”
Michael Kovrig, who was one of the Canadians detained in 2018 along with Michael Spavor, told CBC News earlier this week that he thinks it’s reasonable for Ottawa to pursue an expanded trading relationship provided it does not compromise Canada’s national security.
“My concern is that the government makes concessions on national security and policy autonomy and mutes its diplomacy in return for economic benefits. It shouldn’t do that,” Kovrig said.
Blois said it’s important for Canada to have a dialogue with the Chinese government to find ways to partner together — though there will be “areas that we can’t.”
“If we haven’t had a leader-to-leader meeting, none of that happens. And so if we want to be able to engage in good faith, we have to be at the table,” he said.
