Prime Minister Mark Carney defended Canada’s efforts to keep products made with forced labour out of the supply chain as one of his newest MPs continues to face backlash for appearing to cast doubt on the practice in China.
Carney’s response to Michael Ma’s performance at committee last week comes during a sensitive moment in both Canada’s attempts to reset ties with Beijing and the ongoing trade war with the Trump administration — which is investigating whether its northern neighbour and dozens of other countries are failing to take action on forced labour.Â
“Canada has the most rigorous set of engagements on the issue,” Carney said Monday during a news conference in Toronto, where he was repeatedly questioned about his MP’s position on forced labour in China.
Last week Ma, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the government side in December, asked an aggressive set of questions at a parliamentary committee while questioning expert witness Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa who holds a master’s degree in international relations focused on China.
The committee is studying the federal government’s electric vehicle policies after it announced it would accept tens of thousands of Chinese EVs at a lower tariff rate in exchange for China slashing tariffs on Canadian canola and seafood products.
Ma asked her a series of rapid-fire yes or no questions that appeared to seek to question her credibility and undermine allegations of human rights violations against China. Â
Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was in Toronto on Monday alongside Ontario’s premier and Toronto’s mayor for a housing announcement, was asked if Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne will raise the issue of forced labour during a coming trip to China. Carney, who called forced labour a ‘global issue,’ said it would be part of discussions.
“Mr. Ma has apologized for his comments, as he should have,” said Carney. “He’s recognized the seriousness of the issue in that apology.”Â
He said Ma remains a member of the Liberal caucus and plans to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser co-hosted by Ma and two cabinet ministers Monday night in the Toronto area.
Ma later clarified he had been asking about forced labour in Shenzhen, a major Chinese automobile manufacturing hub, not Xinjiang, the province where the Chinese government has been accused of widespread human rights abuses, including forced labour, against the Uyghurs.
After the committee meeting, McCuaig-Johnston posted on social media that she had given Ma a copy of the Human Rights Watch report “Asleep at the Wheel.” The report says there’s a risk of Uyghur forced labour being used in carmakers’ aluminum supply chains.
McCuaig-Johnston said on Monday that she only saw Ma’s apology to her after she “went and searched for it.”
Finance minister heads to China
Carney said his government takes the issue of forced and child labour “incredibly seriously,” rattling off international conventions Canada has signed on, provisions in the country’s free trade agreements and recent funding to the border agency.
“We’re continually reviewing both the adequacy of that — it’s amongst the most rigorous, if not the most rigorous — but also compliance and enforcement mechanisms that are in place,” he said.
“We’ll continue to fight on that.”
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne was asked on Monday if he would raise the issue of forced labour — specifically regarding Canadian-bound Chinese EVs and parts — while visiting China this week to meet with government and business leaders. ‘The integrity of our supply chain is always something that we bring up in our discussions,’ Champagne said.
Despite the robust defence, the government’s own website acknowledges “there is a risk that goods entering the Canadian market through global supply chains were produced using forced labour or child labour.”
When asked to clarify if he believes there is forced labour in China, Carney said “there are parts of China that are higher risk” and therefore require due diligence.
The prime minister also stressed that forced labour is an issue around the world.
Carney said supply chain integrity, including forced labour, will be raised when Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne visits China later this week.
In a separate news conference, Champagne didn’t mention China by name when he said “integrity of our supply chain is always something that we bring up in our discussions.”
The longtime Liberal minister pointed to the creation of the Office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), set up under the Trudeau government to crack down on abuses by Canadian corporations abroad, including use of forced labour.
The top position has been vacant for months, raising questions about the government’s commitment to the office.
Conservative MP Michael Chong, the party’s foreign affairs critic, said Canada has a “terrible track record” of preventing the importation of products that have been produced using forced labour and called for stronger, clearer condemnation from Carney and his ministers.
At a parliamentary committee on Thursday, Liberal MP Michael Ma asked Margaret McCuaig-Johnston of the China Strategic Risks Institute if she has personally witnessed forced labour in China. ‘I work closely with Human Rights Watch where researchers did witness it,’ McCuaig-Johnston said. Correction: The description for this video originally said Michael Ma asked about forced labour in Xinjiang, China. In fact, he was asking about Shenzhen.
“I strongly disagree and I think many experts and many human rights groups would strongly disagree with the prime minister’s assessment that we have a rigorous system for preventing the importation of these products,” he said in an interview with CBC News.
Chong called Ma’s performance at committee “incredibly damaging for Canada’s reputation.”
“It signals to the [People’s Republic of China] that they can intimidate the government of Canada into silence,” he said.
Despite her run-in with Ma last week, McCuaig-Johnston said she was impressed that Carney named China as a source of forced labour.Â
“I do have some outstanding concerns about that, but I think the prime minister’s statement today has gone a long way to reassure Canadians that the government is taking forced labour seriously,” she said.
In a social media post Friday night, the Chinese Embassy in Canada pushed back on the allegation that forced labour is used in the production of electric vehicles, calling it a “blatant lie.”Â
U.S. probing Canada’s importsÂ
The forced labour dispute also comes as Canada finds itself once again targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda — with a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian exports at risk.
Canada has been included in a probe of countries suspected of allowing commodities or finished goods made with slave labour to enter its supply chain. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer embarked on the probe earlier this month under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Ma’s comments don’t represent the views of the government.
“The Americans, I think, know that,” he said.
“We obviously have taken note of the 301 investigation in the United States. We’re confident that Canada, like other countries, is doing what’s necessary to ensure that those goods aren’t imported into Canada.”
But he said that the government would be “happy” to further collaborate with the Americans “to reassure Canadians and the domestic supply chain.”
It’s not the first time Canada has been accused of allowing suspect goods into the country.
In 2021, CBC’s Marketplace probed evidence of forced labour in supply chains for clothing originating from North Korea and tomato products from Xinjiang.
