EDITORIAL: Don’t sacrifice security for trade with China

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said both that Canada must increase trade with China to reduce our reliance on the U.S. economy and that China is one of the greatest security threats to Canadian democracy.

How he keeps Canadians safe while upping trade with the country the Hogue inquiry described as “the most persistent and sophisticated foreign interference threat to Canada” is fundamental to Canadian security.

In a year-end interview with CBC, Carney said he will achieve this by putting “guardrails” around co-operating with China to exclude such key areas as artificial intelligence, critical minerals and defence.

If that’s the case, it begs the question of why the Liberals still haven’t set up a foreign lobbyists’ registry, recommended by Canada’s foreign interference inquiry, which the Liberals claim they have been “actively considering” for almost five years.

This despite Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree saying in August that a foreign interference commissioner would be named in September with the registry starting operations in the fall.

This delay is inexcusable given China’s ongoing attempts to influence Canadian politicians and officials at all levels of government far beyond normal diplomatic means, as well as threatening human rights activists in Canada for speaking out against Beijing’s dictators.

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Carney’s failure to implement the registry to date – just one of the many measures needed to counter China’s interference in our democracy – raises questions about how seriously the Liberals are taking its continuing threat of foreign interference in Canada.

Indeed, it will be a disaster for Canada if, in the desire to increase trade with China, the federal government returns to the bad old days of ignoring its attacks on our democracy in the interest of boosting trade.

As for Carney’s promised guardrails on national security, we’ve already seen how the Liberal government abandoned its previous guardrails on government spending in its November budget, by replacing them with less stringent ones going forward.

We agree with the Prime Minister that Canada has little choice but to increase trade with China, among other countries, if it hopes to achieve his promise of doubling Canada’s non-U.S. exports within 10 years.