The largest and oldest shipyard in Canada says it didn’t stand a chance in bidding against a Chinese company to build four new vessels for B.C. Ferries.
It’s the latest criticism levelled at the ferry operator following its decision to purchase the vessels from Chinese-state owned CMI Weihai Shipyards. That criticism and China’s punishing new tariffs on Canadian agriculture products have renewed calls for the contract to be cancelled.
This stinks.
China’s announcement this week of a 75.8% tariff on Canadian canola seed, effective Thursday, is not an isolated policy shift — it’s the latest escalation in a trade conflict that Ottawa itself helped set in motion.
Earlier this year, on March 20, Beijing imposed 100% tariffs on Canadian canola oil, canola meal, and peas, along with an additional 25% on lobster and pork. These measures were already weighing on our agri-food exports.
Sam Cooper – In this sweeping conversation with Jason James of BNN, I discuss some of The Bureau’s biggest investigations of the summer — including the widening pattern of prosecutorial failures in major synthetic narcotics and money laundering cases in British Columbia. We spotlight the recent collapse of charges against a Chinese-state linked scientist accused of importing over 100 kilograms of precursors for MDMA production.
Canada has renewed funding for a bilateral scholarship program that requires Chinese candidates applying to study in Canada to show allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and uphold the party’s “socialist system.”
David Morrison, deputy minister of foreign affairs at Global Affairs Canada, on July 30 signed an agreement with his Chinese counterpart, executive vice minister Ma Zhaoxu, to renew the Canada-China Scholars’ Exchange Program. Through the program, Ottawa funds Chinese applicants to conduct research at Canadian universities as visiting scholars for 4–12 months.
Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland told MPs Friday she was “dismayed” by BC Ferries’ decision to purchase four new electric-diesel ships from a Chinese shipbuilder using a $1 billion federal loan — but did not call for the loan’s cancellation.
The House of Commons transport committee launched a study of the Canada Infrastructure Bank loan on Friday.
At the meeting, committee members voted in favour of a motion calling on the Canada Infrastructure Bank, BC Ferries and the federal government to show the committee several documents — including the complete bond purchase agreement and records of all options for the acquisition of the new vessels — by the end of August.
Don’t be surprised if Canadians never find out someone was getting their palms greased.
Some premiers expressed support for closer trade ties with China last week as a way to reduce Canada’s reliance on the United States amid rising tariff tensions. There have also been recent newspaper commentaries echoing Beijing’s position that Canada should forge a closer relationship with China.
Some observers say there appears to be forces pushing Canadian politicians toward China amid tensions with Washington. Catherine Swift, president of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses Canada, says profit may be a driving factor as corporations back closer ties with Beijing for access to economic opportunities and lower costs.
Ottawa is condemning Hong Kong’s announcement of arrest warrants and bounties for 19 pro-democracy activists, including several in Canada, as transnational repression that threatens this country’s sovereignty.
One of those targeted in Canada, Victor Ho, on Sunday warned Canadian politicians now urging closer ties with Beijing to be mindful of repression practised by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
OTTAWA — Taiwan’s ambassador to Canada has dismissed a series of full-page newspaper ads taken out by the Chinese Embassy as little more than sabre-rattling over the communist regime’s claims over the east-Asian nation.
The country is a NATO ally and G7 member. While the U.S.-U.K. relationship is often touted as Washington’s most “special,” the Canadian relationship is arguably the most critical to the future of the U.S. economy and soft power. The projection of U.S. hard power abroad depends in part on positive global public perception of Washington’s leadership. This stems from the United States being a beacon of freedom and arsenal of democracy in World War I, World War II, crises across the Taiwan Strait, the Korean war, and others. If after all of that, we now treat Canada with a lack of foresight for short-term trade interests, we lose at least some of our moral high ground, which negatively affects our soft power, and as well our long-term national interests.
A business coalition is raising concerns about calls from some of Canada’s premiers for Ottawa to strengthen trade ties with China in response to U.S. tariffs, calling the move short-sighted and contrary to Canada’s interests.
The Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses Canada (CCMBC) issued a statement on July 23, warning that the proposal overlooks China’s record of “unfair” trade practices, human rights abuses, and interference in Canadian democracy.
On June 10, B.C. Ferries announced it would buy four new vessels from a Chinese shipyard. Unsurprisingly, the decision was met with disappointment and frustration.
And for good reason.
Despite the massive public investment, there is little benefit for B.C. workers, local shipyards and domestic steel producers.
Canada’s shipbuilding industry has been hollowed out by decades of offshoring.
Say this for the outrage of BC Ferries preparing to spend an estimated $1 billion to buy four ferries from China, a country doing great injury to Prairie farmers and to fishers in Atlantic Canada and B.C. by imposing tariffs on roughly $4 billion of imported Canadian canola, seafood and pork.
It gives the Carney government a bargaining chip to help negotiate an end to our trade dispute with China by suspending the ferry deal at least for now.
Canada provoked the trade war last year when it put tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum.
OTTAWA/LOS ANGELES — Chris Meyer of Widefountain returns to question The Bureau on findings from The Quiet Invasion—a landmark timeline investigation into how Vancouver became a beachhead for transnational organized crime and Chinese hybrid warfare. What began in the late 1980s as low-profile infiltration by Chinese Triads has evolved into a full-spectrum crisis involving encrypted telecoms, fentanyl superlabs, and political access reaching Canada’s highest offices. In this episode, Meyer and Sam Cooper discuss the range of findings, including Canadian vulnerabilities now believed to be of deep concern to the U.S. government.
Federal infrastructure bank provided $1-billion in financing for BC Ferries purchase of four new Chinese-made ships
The federal government’s Canada Infrastructure Bank provided $1-billion in financing for BC Ferries’ plan to buy four new ships from a Chinese state-owned shipyard, a fact that Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland did not mention last week when she sharply criticized the purchase.
Ms. Freeland sent a strongly worded letter last week to B.C. Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth expressing her “great consternation and disappointment” with the planned purchase.
The letter referenced a previous $75-million loan by the CIB for four other ferries and Ottawa’s annual grant for ferry operations, but did not mention that the bank is also providing $1-billion in low-interest loans for the specific purchase she was criticizing.
B.C. Ferries has drawn the ire of federal Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland for its decision to contract a Chinese state-owned shipyard to build four new vessels for its passenger fleet.
Freeland also expressed concerns about security risks related to the contract.
In a letter to B.C.’s Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth released Friday afternoon, Freeland expressed her “great consternation and disappointment” with the ferry operator.
Guess she didn’t get her cut.
