Chairman Harper
By Paul Wells - Friday, February 17, 2012 - 0 Comments
The prime minister’s trip wasn’t about trade, goodwill or pandas. It was about crushing his opposition at home.
Chris Wattie/Reuters
Foreign ships have been putting into the Cuntan port in Chongqing, on the Yangtze River 1,700 km west of Shanghai, since 1891. But these days the whole region has a new vocation. All of a sudden Chongqing has become a major assembly and export centre for cheap laptop computers designed in Taiwan. Very soon, 50 million laptops a year will be leaving the port, bound for the world.
Sometimes ships come into port too.
On Feb. 11, Stephen and Laureen Harper strolled along the Cuntan dockside, chatting with International Trade Minister Ed Fast while a Canadian television news camera crew recorded the moment for posterity. The Harpers paused next to a dirty white steel shipping container draped with a Canadian flag. Work crews opened the container’s steel doors. The Harpers watched as somebody opened one of the cardboard boxes inside the container.
“It’s pork,” somebody said. “From Canada!”
“All the way from Winnipeg,” the Prime Minister chimed in.
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Canada, China strike trade deal
By Richard Warnica - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:28 AM - 0 Comments
Canada and China signed an investment deal on Wednesday that, if ratified, will guarantee…
Canada and China signed an investment deal on Wednesday that, if ratified, will guarantee Canadian firms significant protections when operating in the Chinese market.
The deal was announced at the end of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s first day in Beijing and comes after nearly 20 years of negotiations.
However, “significant hurdles” remain before the deal–called Foreign Investment Protection Agreement–can become law, Postmedia reports. The process includes an exhaustive legal review by both parties that could take years.
A handful of other deals were also signed or extended on Wednesday, including one that gives Canada access to the “lucrative Chinese beef tallow market” (finally!), and another that provides a “roadmap” for the two countries to share expertise on national parks. (Have at that one, greenies.)
