'Motivated by politics': China blocks major Canadian canola exporter

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Josh Dehaas CTVNews.ca Writer

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One of Canada's biggest canola exporters says its shipments are being blocked by China and the company’s vice-president suspects the move is politically motivated.

Richardson International senior vice-president Jean-Marc Ruest told CTV News that the company learned Friday that its customs registration had been revoked.

Ruest said he believes the decision was “motivated … by politics.”

Canada and China are currently at odds over the arrest of Chinese telecom executive Meng Wanzhou on behalf of the United States. Canada confirmed Friday that it will move forward with Meng’s extradition.

Although China has raised concerns about bacteria and pests in Canadian canola exports in the past, Ruest said he does not believe there is actually any quality issue.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was asked Tuesday in Montreal whether she believes the cancellation of Richardson’s registration is related to the bilateral dispute.

Freeland told reporters that she is “very concerned” and that she does not believe “there is any scientific basis for this.”

“Richardson is a great Canadian company with a storied history in our country,” Freeland added. “As the daughter of a canola farmer and as someone herself who has swathed many, many acres of canola, I take very personally our canola trade.”

Freeland said she believes the trade in canola is mutually beneficial and that the government is working “very, very hard with the Chinese government on this issue.”

Ruest said that although there are other markets for Canadian canola, China is a “very significant customer that’s no longer open for business.”

Indeed, China was Canada’s biggest importer of Canadian oilseeds, accounting for 40 per cent of the total in 2017, according to Statistics Canada. Other significant importers are Japan, Mexico, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and France.

The Canola Council of Canada says total exports of canola seed, oil and meal amounted to $3.6 billion that year.

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told CTV News in a written statement that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has conducted “further investigations” into canola and “confirmed they have not identified any pests or bacteria of concern.”

“We continue to be a supplier of high-quality canola to China and will work with China to resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” Bibeau added.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and any potential impact on Canada's agricultural trading relationship with China.”

Oil seeds (canola) and miscellaneous fruits and grains is Canada’s biggest single export category when it comes to China, making up 17 per cent of total trade, according to the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

Mulroney: ‘Take a deep breath’

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney told CTV’s Power Play that although the China dispute is a “very tough situation,” the government is “doing the right thing in British Columbia in respecting the rule of law.”

“The Chinese of course, for reasons we all understand, have taken severe exception to this,” he added.

“I think the prime minister and his colleagues have to step back and take a deep breath and take a look at this and perhaps send some prominent emissaries over there to start the dialogue again – people who have great relations with China.”

RELATED IMAGES People ride horses through a canola field near Cremona, Alta., on Tuesday, July 16, 2013. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)