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Watt’s view was echoed by several HSBC officials, including president and CEO Sandra Stuart. While Stuart did not touch on the real estate tax, she said the Canadian economy, currently projected to grow 1.2 per cent this year and 1.7 in 2017, cannot afford to turn away from the Chinese market, even amidst its current slowdown.

“While the Canadian economy is not in recession, I don’t have to tell you it remains on a slow-growth trajectory,” Stuart said. “Despite this backdrop, there are opportunities for Canadian companies to grow, such as increased trade to faster-growing global markets like China, which would be one very effective avenue to secure Canada’s long-term economic well-being.”

Statistics show that, despite Canada’s multitude of free-trade agreements, only 10 per cent of Canadian companies generate sales in foreign markets, Stuart noted, adding that just 550 firms account for 70 per cent of Canada’s total exports.

“We know through our research that companies that do business internationally grow faster than those with strictly domestic businesses,” she said. “Even you, as a local business, know that you can face competition from abroad, and you should be alive to the opportunities presented through international trade.”

The forum was organized to give Vancouver investors and businesses an “on-the-ground” sense of the Chinese market. China has seen a rash of volatility in its stock markets, currency valuation and investor confidence in the last year, and its annual GDP growth rate fell to a 25-year low in 2015 of 6.9 per cent.