Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday he still planned to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser co-hosted by a Liberal MP who cast doubt on reports of China’s human-rights abuses against Uyghurs.
Mr. Carney also defended Canada’s efforts to block imports of goods made with forced labour as this country prepares to allow Chinese-made electric vehicles back into the market.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to attend a Liberal Party fundraising event at Markham, Ont., golf club Monday evening.
It’s being co-hosted by Michael Ma, the Markham-Unionville MP who in January defected from the Conservative caucus to join the Liberals. The other fundraiser co-hosts are Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree.
Mr. Ma sparked a backlash last Thursday after he challenged the existence of forced labour in China during a meeting of the Commons industry committee, which is examining Mr. Carney’s deal to allow 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into Canada at a low tariff rate.
...
Mr. Ma later said he was sorry for his remarks, which “inadvertently came across as dismissive of the serious issue of forced labour.”
The Prime Minister at a Toronto-area announcement Monday said he’ll “continue to work with” Mr. Ma, noting he has apologized.
Mr. Carney is the featured speaker at the Liberal fundraiser Monday. Tickets are listed at $1,775, or $925 for those aged 35 and under.
Asked if he believed there is forced labour in China, Mr. Carney said there is coerced labour in many places.
“There’s evidence, and there’s existence, I should say, of child labour and forced labour around the world,” he said.
He added however that Canada has to be vigilant because “there are parts of China that are higher risk” for forced labour.
...
In recent years, Canada has intercepted only two shipments of imports on the grounds these were made with forced labour, despite committing in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to prohibit forced-labour shipments from entering this country. ...
Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, had told the committee Thursday that electric vehicles are being made with Chinese aluminum products made by slave labourers in Xinjiang. A 2024 Human Rights Watch report also said major automakers including Tesla, BYD, GM, Toyota and Volkswagen are drawing aluminum from supply chains linked to Uyghur forced labour in Xinjiang.