Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands on Dec. 11 with MP Michael Ma, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals. Mr. Ma is facing backlash for recent comments that appeared to cast doubt on the existence of forced labour involving Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney is not oblivious.
He knows, as any reasonable person would, that it looks terrible for one of his MPs to try to undermine an expert witness on forced labour in China during a parliamentary committee meeting.
Last week, Liberal MP Michael Ma grilled Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa, about whether she has personally seen forced labour practices on the ground in China, as if foreign nationals are invited to privately interview Uyghurs working on factory floors. “Yes or no? So did you get that from hearsay?”
Mr. Ma humiliated himself and his party, though his prosecution in committee earned him glowing reviews in Chinese media. Most people know that one does not have to personally witness something to believe it is true. I know, for example, there are germs I cannot see on my hands, which is why I wash them before I eat. I understand there are kangaroos in Australia, though I have never been. And I know – and indeed, it is accepted as fact by Canada’s government – that ethnic minorities in China are exploited, oppressed and forced to work to produce cheap goods for global supply chains. Mr. Carney is a smart man. He knows this too.
Carney avoids describing China’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide
Mr. Carney also knows that he cannot throw Mr. Ma under the bus. If he did that, he would have had to cancel the $1,775-per-ticket fundraiser co-hosted by Mr. Ma Monday night, which Mr. Carney attended. He knows that sanctioning Mr. Ma would be noticed by Beijing, which would potentially jeopardize our new strategic partnership. And he knows that removing Mr. Ma from caucus a mere three months after he crossed the floor from the Conservatives would be an admission of a grave strategic misstep, and would risk the majority that is almost in the Liberals’ grasp.
So Mr. Carney brushed the comments aside when asked about them Monday, noting that “Mr. Ma has apologized for his comments and directly and unequivocally recognized the seriousness of the issue.” Mr. Carney was careful when he was asked whether he personally believes there is forced labour in China. “There is existence of child labour and forced labour all around the world,” he replied, not directly answering the question. “There are parts of China that are higher risk,” he added moments later, which again, did not directly answer the question. Because the Prime Minister knows what will happen if he puts the words “China” and “forced labour” together in a single sentence; how it will be clipped and replayed on WeChat over and over, and how it could somehow lead to Chinese inspectors “finding pests” in Canadian canola samples.
Conservatives are now demanding that Mr. Carney clarify his position, but most Canadians can reasonably infer where our Prime Minister stands on forced labour in China based on the sentence he refuses to articulate. They may also infer his position based on the number of shipments from China the Canadian government has blocked since 2021 on the grounds that they were made with forced labour. That number, according to the most recent data, is two. The U.S. government, by contrast, has blocked thousands over the same period of time. That means that not only is Canada’s Prime Minister refusing to explicitly acknowledge forced labour in China, but his government is also maintaining a market for its products.
China denies forced labour allegations after Liberal MP Michael Ma’s comments
Mr. Carney knows that the “power of the less powerful begins with honesty.” He knows this because he said so, to a crowd at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, where he said Canada will no longer participate in the fiction of a type of order that does not exist. “The powerful have their power,” Mr. Carney said. “But we have something too – the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home, and to act together.”
To name reality would be to admit that forced labour is a fact in China, but it is also a fact that Canada needs to engage with Beijing to keep our economy afloat. But to say that is riskier than allowing your MP to try to undermine an expert witness on Chinese forced labour in a committee. It is riskier than sanctioning or removing that MP from caucus on a matter of principle. And it is riskier than making vague comments about “forced labour all around the world.” So instead, Canada puts the sign back in the window and goes along to get along to avoid trouble – as someone on a stage in Davos observed months ago. Despite lamenting this approach then, this appears to be the Prime Minister’s position now. Of course, he is always welcome to correct the record.