Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau wave to the media after the signing ceremony of a series of bilateral cooperation documents in Ottawa September 21, 2016.
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“We are willing to make China-Canada relations a leading model for China’s ties with major countries in the West”, Li told the forum in Montreal.
Trudeau also talked about that fact that two sides have agreed to double their bilateral trade volume by 2025. Two-way trade between the two was roughly 60.37 billion Canadian dollars (US$46.08 billion) in 2015, according to Statistics Canada data, trailing only Canada’s bilateral trade with the USA and with the European Union.
Li also praised the new security dialogue, saying it would help the two countries address “differences”.
Trade and political observers see bilateral talks between Canada and China as a good opportunity, especially with the USA signalling trouble with the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks.
“On economic and trade relations, we reached a lot of new agreements, and we stand ready to work with Canada to explore and to study how we can work to set up a free-trade area”, he said.
Both leaders acknowledged the thornier issues in their relationship – simmering political opposition in Canada to a potential extradition deal with China because it practices capital punishment and has a questionable human rights record.
The Montreal-based Canada-Tibet Committee greeted Li’s appearance in the city with a statement calling for a full human rights impact assessment of any free trade agreement between China and Canada.
Li also said China was lifting a ban on imports of beef under thirty months old that contain bone, a move that was immediately applauded by the Canadian Cattleman’s Association as a $10-million annual gain.
The Liberals are trying to turn the tables on Conservatives who’ve had a heyday with excessive moving expenses claimed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s two top aides.They revealed Friday that former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s office paid out nearly $325,000 in relocation expenses for 29 staffers – including a single move for one individual that came in at just over $93,000.
Hélène Laverdière, the NDP foreign affairs critic, said Canada should “engage China as much as possible on global issues”, including the situation in Syria, the South China Sea and North Korea.
Former Quebec premier Jean Charest said he interprets this sudden warming between the two countries as a result of the upcoming USA presidential elections with both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump talking tough on trade with China.
It appears Mr. Trudeau and company may have bought into some of their messiah-like hype.
Earlier this month, China revealed that at least one-third of the country’s corruption fugitives had been returned to the mainland since the country launched its multi-agency “Sky Net” campaign in 2014.
“As long as you put a mark, made in Canada, Chinese love it. People say bring Canadian products, what ever the dollar is for the worth, we’ll pay for it”.
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The Liberals are trying to turn the tables on Conservatives who’ve had a heyday with excessive moving expenses claimed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s two top aides.
