Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, shakes hands with Michael Ma, MP for Markham-Unionville, at the Liberal caucus holiday party in Ottawa, on Dec. 11.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney attended a Liberal Party fundraiser Monday evening co-hosted by a Liberal MP who cast doubt on reports of China’s human-rights abuses against Uyghurs.
Mr. Carney also defended Canada’s efforts to block imports of goods made with forced labour as this country prepares to allow Chinese-made electric vehicles back into the market.
The event at a Markham, Ont., golf club was co-hosted by Michael Ma, the Markham-Unionville MP who in January defected from the Conservative caucus to join the Liberals. The other fundraiser co-hosts were Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree.
Mr. Ma sparked a backlash last Thursday after he challenged the existence of forced labour in China during a meeting of the Commons industry committee, which is examining Mr. Carney’s deal to allow 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into Canada at a low tariff rate.
MP Michael Ma cast doubt on reports of human rights abuses in China during a Thursday hearing at the House industry committee.
The Canadian Press
Mr. Ma later said he was sorry for his remarks, which “inadvertently came across as dismissive of the serious issue of forced labour.”
The Prime Minister at a Toronto-area announcement earlier on Monday said he’ll “continue to work with” Mr. Ma, noting he has apologized.
Mr. Carney was the featured speaker at the Liberal fundraiser. Tickets were listed at $1,775, or $925 for those aged 35 and under. The Liberal Leader has blocked media access to party fundraisers. This access was granted by former prime minister Justin Trudeau after a cash-for-access fundraising controversy in 2016.
Asked if he believed there is forced labour in China, Mr. Carney said there is coerced labour in many places.
“There’s evidence, and there’s existence, I should say, of child labour and forced labour around the world,” he said.
He added, however, that Canada has to be vigilant because “there are parts of China that are higher risk” for forced labour.
China denies forced labour allegations after Liberal MP Michael Ma’s comments
He said Canada has strong measures in place to stop goods made with forced labour from entering Canada. But he also said it’s up to companies to do their part. “There is an absolute requirement for companies, and I’ll put it there first, to know who their suppliers are, the conditions of their suppliers,” he said. “They have a public reporting obligation here in Canada for their supply chains. They have to comply with our laws.”
The Canadian government’s record on blocking imports of forced labour is under a spotlight now. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this month launched probes into whether 60 trading partners including Canada are failing to stop imports of goods made with forced labour – an effort that could lead to new tariffs imposed by Washington.
In recent years, Canada has intercepted only two shipments of imports on the grounds these were made with forced labour, despite committing in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to prohibit forced-labour shipments from entering this country.
Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, had told the Commons industry committee Thursday that electric vehicles are being built with Chinese aluminum products made by slave labourers in Xinjiang. A 2024 Human Rights Watch report also said major automakers including Tesla, BYD, GM, Toyota and Volkswagen are drawing aluminum from supply chains linked to Uyghur forced labour in Xinjiang.
Conservatives put pressure on Carney to clarify his position on forced labour in China
Mr. Ma then asked Ms. McCuaig-Johnston: “Your claim about forced labour in Shenzhen – have you witnessed this yourself? Have you been there ever?”
“I’ve been to China many times since 1979,” she replied.
He continued: “Have you witnessed forced labour in Shenzhen? Yes or no?”
“So did you get that from hearsay?” he added.
Reports from human-rights organizations and Western media outlets have talked of labour transfer programs where Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim minority people have been transferred from their home region of Xinjiang to factories across China by the government.
Ottawa amended the Customs Tariff Act on July 1, 2020, to prohibit forced labour imports in keeping with a pledge made under the USMCA.
The Canada Border Services Agency said March 13 that since 2021 it has detained multiple shipments because of concerns that the goods might be products of forced labour. Of these, two were ultimately blocked from entering Canada after CBSA determined they were produced with forced labour: a shipment of textile products in 2024 and a shipment of frozen seafood in 2025. Both were from China.
The agency said other detained shipments were either permitted entry after a review of supply chain information, abandoned by the importer or were shipped back to point of origin.
Outside of the fundraiser at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham Monday evening, a few dozen protesters held signs calling for Mr. Ma to be kicked out of the Liberal caucus and blue signs from his previous run for the federal Conservatives with an “X” over his name, as well as Trump signs.
The crowd yelled out at Mr. Carney when his security detail arrived on site.
Joe Tay, a Conservative candidate from the 2025 federal election, was among them. The Hong Kong-born Canadian, who has run a YouTube channel drawing attention to civil-rights violations in the former British colony, was targeted in December, 2024, by a Hong Kong police bounty. Authorities offered about $178,000 for information leading to his arrest for allegedly violating a national-security law imposed on Hong Kong by China.
Mr. Tay said he wasn’t satisfied with Mr. Carney’s response about forced labour.
“He was so, so fake, so muddy,” he said of the Prime Minister, adding that a lot of people in Markham-Unionville feel betrayed by Mr. Ma.