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As Premier Rachel Notley travelled in China last week to court trade with the growing economic powerhouse, another signal was being delivered back at home.

Speaking in Toronto, China’s ambassador to Canada tried to allay concerns about a possible free trade pact between the two countries, addressing worries surrounding state-owned enterprises snapping up oilsands assets.

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“To be honest, Chinese enterprises buying Canadian oilsands enterprises are actually incurring (a) loss,” Ambassador Lu Shaye told the Canada China Business Council on Wednesday, according to a copy of his speech.

“Canadian oilsands is not competitive given the current international oil price. Even if Canadians did not disapprove of China’s investment in (the) oilsands industry, I do not believe that Chinese enterprises would still be interested in this.”

Ouch.

Like a splash of cold water to the face, the hard truth is the oilsands aren’t drawing much interest from Chinese buyers (or other foreign players) these days, regardless of our repeated trips abroad.