At a press conference held Monday morning, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer had three suggestions for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on how to handle the canola crisis with China.

Scheer says Canada should immediately appoint an ambassador to China, increase financial aid to Canadian farmers through the Advance Payment Program (APP), and launch an official trade complaint with the WTO. He would like to see the maximum loan under the APP increase from $400,000 to $1 million and temporary suspend the interest collected.

"Clearly, Trudeau's response to the Government of China so far hasn't worked, because he's done nothing," commented Scheer. "There's been no reaction, there's been no consequences to the government of China for detaining our citizens and blocking our exports. I believe that when a country stands up for itself and shows that there are consequences to mistreating our citizens and blocking our exports, that that will be when China recognizes that they should not pursue this course of action. It's been the government of China that has augmented this situation and has increased tensions by moving from detaining citizens to blocking exports. It's time for Canada to act."

Scheer also believes the government should pull the $256 million investment that Ottawa has committed to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Scheer says the investment of Canadian tax dollars to support infrastructure projects in other countries was intended to improve trade relations between Canada and China, but he says it was a failed experiment. 

 

Send your news tips, story ideas and comments to jgiles@goldenwestradio.com