OTTAWA—Dominic Barton, a corporate leader and special economic adviser to the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau, has been named Canada’s new ambassador to China ahead of a fall federal election at a time when Ottawa-Beijing relations are at their worst in 50 years.

Barton, a senior partner and former global managing director of the international consulting firm McKinsey and Company, has corporate connections and experience in Asia that could be helpful. But his Liberal ties may not stand up if the Conservative party, which vows a tougher approach to China, is elected to form government on Oct. 21.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer was not consulted in advance of the announcement, and his foreign affairs critic Erin O’Toole expressed surprise and dismay at the Liberal move on the eve of an election.

O’Toole said China is one of Trudeau’s foreign policy failures that the Conservatives will address “and we will certainly not be making any commitments on who or how we do it.”

In an interview, he said that Barton is an “accomplished” and “impressive” business leader, “but he is the wrong person” for the job when the Canada-China relationship is a “shambles” and does not need “another Liberal insider” to conduct sensitive diplomacy.

Instead, O’Toole said what is needed is knowledge of the cultural, linguistic and protocol requirements for the job, preferably someone with past diplomatic — not business — experience in China. Among the massive consular challenges ahead, he pointed to the democracy protests in Hong Kong.

“If there were ever a time for an experienced, adept, diplomatically savvy Global Affairs person, this would be it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a time for someone that knows Asian business very well and is close to the prime minister and some of his closest ministers. We’re not hiring him to run a trade office, we’re hiring him primarily to look after our citizens and that is a diplomatic and consular affairs process he will have to learn.”

Though business groups welcomed it, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was questioned about the suitability of the appointment given a New York Times exposé of his company’s swank retreat last year, held six kilometres from a massive internment camp built to detain and re-educate Uyghurs in China. Barton himself emphasized in a Bloomberg interview the need to keep focused on doing business in China, after Canada’s arrest of a Huawei executive enraged the Chinese, and led to the detention of two Canadians by China.

But Freeland defended the decision, saying Barton has been vetted to ensure there are no “conflicts of interest” in his new role. She said he is aware of the public service obligations of his position and she had “long discussions” with him “about the centrality of human rights, of women’s rights to Canada’s foreign policy.”

Freeland tried to make a virtue of Barton’s close ties to the Liberal government. She said she and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau knew him well, and she pitched Barton, like Trudeau’s former ambassador David MacNaughton in Washington, as someone who can pick up the phone and reach Trudeau and her.

“Dominic will enjoy the same direct access and I think this is also an important message to China of the importance that Canada places, that the prime minister places on this difficult and critical relationship.”

Barton chaired Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s advisory council on economic growth, and broke the ice for Trudeau, introducing him to business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos at the outset of the mandate.

Born in Uganda and a dual Ugandan and Canadian citizen, Barton has advised government leaders around the world, and is no stranger to China. He led McKinsey’s operations in Asia between 2004-2009, from Shanghai. Before that he headed the firm’s office in South Korea for four years. He also chaired mining giant Teck Resources, in which China Investment Corp. holds a 10 per cent share, and was a director of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

In 2007, Barton has written or co-authored books on leadership, financial crises, capitalism, and global markets, and wrote China Vignettes: An Inside Look at China. A Rhodes scholar who completed masters studies in economics at Oxford University, he serves as an adjunct professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Trudeau had tried before to recruit him for the ambassadorial role in 2016 however the then-London-based global leader of McKinsey’s, reportedly could not be persuaded to leave the private sector at the time.

Now, with two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, jailed in China on vague allegations of breaching state security laws, and two others on death row for drug charges, Trudeau is turning once again to Barton to try to thaw the diplomatic deep freeze between President Xi Jinping and the Canadian government.

Freeland reportedly advised China last month that Barton would be named. China is replacing its controversial ambassador Lu Shaye, who accused Canada of harbouring western supremacist attitudes. Lu reflected China’s fury at Canada’s arrest of one of its corporate leaders, Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, on a U.S. extradition warrant last December. Shortly after, China arrested two Canadian men, including a former diplomat, and slapped death penalties on two others, are seen as retaliation for Meng’s arrest. Beijing has also blocked Canadian imports of pork and canola, citing sanitary inspection failures.

Freeland stressed again Wednesday Canada will continue its objections to the “arbitrary detention” of Kovrig and Spavor.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Each country has warned its citizens about travelling in the other country. And China has blasted Canada for Freeland’s and Trudeau’s statements in support of Hong Kong citizens’ right to freedom of association and freedom of speech. Canada has urged China to use restraint, citing concerns for 300,000 Canadian citizens living there.

Barton is to replace former ambassador John McCallum.

McCallum, previously a cabinet minister in Trudeau’s government, was forced to resign at Trudeau’s request after blurting the Liberal government hoped a U.S.-China trade deal would drop an extradition request for Meng Wanzhou and lead to the release of the detained Canadians. The post was temporarily filled by the deputy ambassador in Beijing, Jim Nickel.

Read more about: