Prime Minister Mark Carney in Beijing in January. Mr. Carney said he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about human rights through direct conversations during his visit.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office says public servants are correcting information the government tabled in Parliament that suggested he did not “proactively” raise human rights or foreign interference during his visit to Beijing.
Carney met in January with Chinese President Xi Jinping and told reporters at the end of his visit to Beijing that he had spoken with Xi about human rights through direct conversations.
The Privy Council Office, which serves the prime minister, said in a recent parliamentary tabling that “human rights and foreign interference were not brought up proactively” by Carney when he met with Xi.
Carney’s office now says that information “was submitted in error and will be corrected at the earliest possible tabling opportunity,” and Carney “proactively” raised these issues with the Chinese leader.
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The document in question, tabled in response to questions from Conservative MP Ned Kuruc, noted that Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand discussed “sensitive issues such as human rights and foreign interference” with her Chinese counterpart.
Carney also met with Xi last November in South Korea and said afterwards that Beijing did not seem to understand how seriously Canada takes the matter of foreign interference.
