The Council of Canadians protested in front of the Prime Minister’s Office during the second round of exploratory talks this past April.
The Trudeau government continues to pursue a Canada-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) despite public concerns.
The Canadian Press reports, “A third round of exploratory trade talks is scheduled to start this month and [China’s Ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye] hopes formal negotiations will follow at an ‘early date’, Lu said. However, the spokesman for International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the government is still waiting on the results of its public consultations with Canadians. If the exploratory talks lead the government to conclude that formal negotiations should take place, Ottawa might launch another round of consultations, said spokesman Joseph Pickerill.”
The article adds, “The Trudeau government has been proactive in trying to develop closer ties with China and in pursuing a bilateral trade deal. However, a full-fledged trade pact is likely years away. Ottawa has said human rights and labour standards will be part of any trade agreement with China. China, however, doesn’t think issues like human rights and democracy belong in an economic deal.”
The Trudeau government’s limited public consultation on a Canada-China free trade agreement ended on June 2.
On June 5, Charles Burton, a former counsellor at the Canadian embassy in Beijing, wrote, “The so-called ‘consultation’ bore little resemblance to the process that Ottawa uses when it is serious about getting feedback on policy. People who are called to make presentations to parliamentary committees have their airfare, hotels and meals paid, and a transcript of the hearing is immediately made publicly available. In this case, officials will simply issue a summary report that likely supports the government in moving from the current ‘exploratory talks’ to binding negotiation of a Canada-China free-trade agreement.”
Earlier this year, Burton commented, “Opinion polls indicate most Canadians do not want further political-economic integration with China, but elements of Canada’s business elite, with lucrative connections to Chinese business networks, are lobbying the Prime Minister’s Office hard to push on.”
The Council of Canadians opposes a Canada-China FTA and sees it as detrimental to people and the environment in both Canada and China.
Further reading
Trudeau pursues ‘free trade’ with China, with implications for pipelines, Indigenous rights & water protection (September 2016)
