Yes.
Evidence of meeting #7 for Canada-China Relations in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was china's.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #7 for Canada-China Relations in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was china's.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:10 p.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
You are. Okay.
It's interesting that didn't come up in the introduction. My understanding of UBC's China council is that it's a body of administrators and faculty who advise the university on, among other things, how UBC can advance and protect its financial interests vis-a-vis China.
Do you think it's a problem for you to be responsible for working with the university, advising them on their financial interests vis-a-vis China, while also offering expertise to the public on Canada-China relations?
12:10 p.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
I need to correct one thing. The China council has no responsibility for financial issues. That is purely managed by the respective vice-presidents and the president. The China council is mostly an advisory group that meets not very often—recently, it's been about twice a year—to review certain broad questions and to have conversations. Then this advice is handed over to the vice-provost, the national and the team.
At the moment, the role of the China council is actually quite limited.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Let me ask some specific questions about the role.
Do professors on the China council at UBC ever consult with administrators on the council before speaking publicly? Do they ever ask for speaking points before offering public comment?
12:10 p.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
No, and the main reason is that the prime role of a professor in a university is academic freedom.
12:10 p.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
When I speak to the media, I don't speak as the China council, and I never mention that title. I speak as a professor of political science who has academic freedom, so those roles are separate, and I keep them very carefully separate.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Okay. Are professors on the China council ever involved in commercial negotiations with Huawei?
12:10 p.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Thank you.
Does the China council play a direct role in university fundraising or in providing advice related to fundraising?
12:10 p.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
Not in many years. There were some early discussions, going back five years, but in the last three to five years, there have been no such discussions.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Are discussions with the China council held about the implications of Canada's China policy on international student recruitment and on university revenue?
12:10 p.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
We have had some discussions about trying to have visibility about what could happen with students.
By the way, I also need to correct something else. In terms of exposure, the Vancouver summer program and Huawei contracts are very different things.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
12:15 p.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
The Vancouver summer program is under students.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
I understand I didn't mean to conflate those at all, so my apologies if I did. What I meant was to identify those as two very significant examples of multi-million dollar exposure at the university.
12:15 p.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
The bigger exposure is the flow of students. The summer program is a small part. There is a bigger number.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Because of time, here's my final question.
Would the decisions about the awarding of honorary degrees ever be discussed at the council?
12:15 p.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
No, because the honorary degree decisions are made by the senate. The senate has all prerogatives and is very strict about this.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Okay, I think that's my time. Thank you.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Geoff Regan
Thank you very much, Mr. Genuis.
Mr. Fragiskatos, the floor is yours for six minutes.
February 24th, 2020 / 12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First of all, let me just extend a message of respect to all witnesses, particularly Professor Tiberghien, who had to withstand that line of questioning and did so very calmly. We're very fortunate as a committee to benefit from the insights of witnesses, and today is no different.
Let me begin if I could with Mr. Dade.
Mr. Dade, I'm not sure if you were here for the previous testimony, but if you were, you would have heard Charles Burton from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, who made a statement that I thought was quite interesting and it surprised me. I'd like to get your insight and that of Ms. Sun, as well.
He said—and I'm paraphrasing—that if Canada wanted to shift its export focus away from China, global commodities could be sold elsewhere, and he implied that this could be done relatively easily. What you've presented to us here in terms of cold, hard data is just how entrenched the relationship is in terms of our economy vis-à-vis China, particularly on agriculture, and the western provinces figure quite prominently in that.
Would it be very easy to just shift quickly, as Mr. Burton implied?
12:15 p.m.
Director, Trade and Investment Centre, Canada West Foundation
Thank you for the question. I'll pass along your appreciation for witnesses to the others who preceded us, including the the ambassador.
You would have to pull in the private sector, the trading houses and those who are directly involved to get the definitive answer. Looking at the data and understanding commodity flows, long-term contracts, planting decisions, the massive investments that go to production, the massive investments that go for trade infrastructure, I would submit to you that the answer would probably be no, but I suggest that you call in the experts to get a first-hand confirmation of that.
12:15 p.m.
Trade Policy Economist, Trade and Investment Centre, Canada West Foundation
As you can see in the report, we excluded the U.S. in all of our datasets because our trade with the U.S. is still so large, even though we have a mandate for trade diversification. This is because shifting the supply chain is very costly and takes a lot of time. Countries will always be trading with other countries that are larger in economic size and closer in geographic distance.
Trade agreements and institutions that are in place do make a difference, but ultimately it's businesses that trade, so that is what determines the flow.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
I was also interested, Mr. Dade, when you began your presentation by saying that Canada's relations with China flow through the west. It is, I think it's fair to say, a very underappreciated element of the relationship, just how prominently the western provinces figure in that bilateral.
Could you expand on that? I see Mr. Paltiel nodding his head as well, if he wanted to comment.