QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Canada-China Relations
May 1, 2019
Honourable senators, my question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate. I’m looking for enlightenment, Senator Harder.
China has been holding Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor hostage on dubious pretences since last year. They have been denied access to legal counsel and visits from family. China has sentenced Canadians Robert Schellenberg and Fan Wei to death on drug charges under a suspect legal process. Contrast that with Canada’s treatment of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, living in a $6 million mansion with her family and provided unfettered access to counsel and due process.
China has put a halt to the purchase, as Senator Plett just questioned you about, of $2.7 billion in Canadian canola seeds, dealing a serious blow to Western Canadian farmers. Canada’s former ambassador to China, David Mulroney, as I’m sure you read in this morning’s Globe and Mail, said China “. . . uses hostage diplomacy, economic blackmail and even the threat of execution to achieve its objectives.”
The government is still intent on handing over $256 million to the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, an investment that offers no guarantee of benefits for Canada. It allows China to expand its sphere of influence through its Belt and Road Initiative.
Senator Harder, when is the Prime Minister going to realize that Canada keeps getting slapped in the face, yet we’re prepared to hand over money?
Again, I thank the honourable senator for her concern and for raising these issues. They’re serious, and they deserve an answer.
The senator was seeking enlightenment. I can’t provide enlightenment, except to enumerate the number of steps the Government of Canada has taken to deal with the series of issues that have been raised in the question.
Let me begin by speaking with respect to Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. As I’ve mentioned on other occasions, Michael Kovrig is a close friend of my son, and I follow this case with some personal, as well as professional, interest.
This is a tragic situation, one that the Government of Canada and the minister involved, in particular, are doing an awful lot of work on, not all of it seen publicly, as is appropriate in these circumstances. The Government of Canada has rallied an unprecedented number of partners around the world in support of Canada’s position in this matter. We’ve won unprecedented support from Australia, the EU, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Spain, Denmark, the United States, and 140 international scholars and diplomats.
Obviously, this is raised at the highest level on a regular basis, including on the weekend, between the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Japan. The Secretary-General of NATO has called on China to address our serious concerns. But this is a matter, in a sense, that we cannot manage on our own. We are working collaboratively, as best we can, to provide the diplomatic pressure points to bring a resolution to these cases.
As I say, not all matters that are involved in this can and should be made public, but I do want to assure the honourable senator and all senators and Canadians that this is a matter of high priority to the Government of Canada.
There have been other aspects in the question that I would also like to address.
Clearly, Canada has an economic relationship with China that is very important, notwithstanding the challenges posed by the canola ban, and we ought to manage our economic relationships very carefully and prudently. That is why the Government of Canada continues to seek an economic engagement and to do so in a fashion that works with our stakeholders and partners, be they at the provincial or municipal level. Our economic relationship with China continues to be important.
Finally, I would like to respond to the reference to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. This is an important multilateral institution, one that Canada was late in getting into, regrettably, but one that is governed by transparency and rules of engagement that are of a high standard and ones that give us confidence, as the Canadian government, that participation in these projects is well worth it.
I would only reference, for example, the investment being made in Sri Lanka to prevent flooding, which is a project of this infrastructure bank. Surely that is one that all senators would agree Canada should continue to participate in.
