Premier Scott Moe is set to head on a trade mission to China starting Sept. 6 to address the canola tariff situation, but it is still unclear if federal officials will join him.
Moe is travelling to China following its recent imposition of 75.8 per cent tariffs on Canadian canola seed, after earlier 100 per cent tariffs were placed on canola oil and meal. A provincial delegation is going, and an invitation was extended to federal officials to join as well.
On Tuesday, Moe told reporters they had reached out to several federal ministers, including Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“I’ve been in touch with a number of them,” Moe said. “We’ll be in touch with most, if not all of them, including (Agriculture) Minister (Heath) MacDonald, who we had a meeting with last week, how we can best find our way to a resolution with our trade relationship specific for us to canola and peas with the country of China.”
But Moe reiterated that for any deal with China to get done, it would ultimately have to involve the Prime Minister.
“My goal, and I think the expectations that I have for this particular mission, is to advance the opportunity for Prime Minister Carney and President Xi to come to an agreement. It isn’t going to be, as I said, Premier Moe and President Xi that are going to be signing a trade agreement on canola and peas and other items. It is going to be the Prime Minister of Canada — Prime Minister Carney and President Xi. So that is the goal for me is to advance the opportunity for that relationship and that meeting and that call to happen. And there are opportunities with the G20 and the ASEAN Summit where they’ll be in close proximity and I would hope that they would meet.”
Moe added that he has “every reason to believe that Prime Minister Carney will be reaching out and advocating” on the issue, noting Saskatchewan has much at stake. He again publicly urged Ottawa to make the canola tariff issue the highest priority.
“I would always ask our federal government to prioritize these relationships at the highest level and in the most urgent way, find our way to a resolution.”
When asked whether federal officials will attend, Moe said: “I don’t know if they’ll come or not. That’ll be their decision and that’s a question for them. We had opened up the invitation. We don’t want to be rude. And we understand that we’re going to have to work together with our federal government for this to come to a resolution.”
As for who they plan to meet in China, Moe said those details were still being finalized.
“We’re just going through the nuances of a trade mission to China, what it looks like and, you know, what we’ll communicate with respect to that. But I can assure you we’re working closely with the federal government on who to meet and … how to represent them in that market.”
Moe acknowledged the mission came together quickly, though it had always been under consideration.
He said he feels comfortable about the planning so far. As for what he would consider a successful outcome, Moe said it would be to “get the Prime Minister to the space where he can get it over the goal line.”
Moe also dismissed more criticism from the opposition NDP about the work of the China trade office and other international trade offices.
“Saskatchewan has always been focused on these global relations,” Moe said.
“We have nine trade offices around the world, often criticized by the opposition for having those trade offices. And we conduct numerous missions, again, often criticized by the opposition for conducting those missions and creating those trade relations. We’re going to go and we’re going to engage with some of those relations that we have through the trade office through my previous time in China. And I’m hopeful that it will bring our government and our Prime Minister to a deal of some type which will allow free and fair market access for Canadian canola peas, as well as the other products that are experiencing tariffs today.”
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