“I want to make the Prime Minister look bad on trade and claim he supports forced labor. I want the government to ban products from Xinjiang to show we're against slavery.”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.
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International Trade
During question period, the Conservatives pressed the Liberals on forced labor in China's Xinjiang province and U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods. The Liberals condemned forced labor and touted existing measures to screen imports, but the Prime Minister avoided directly answering questions about Xinjiang, diverting instead to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Conservatives accused the Liberals of undermining Canadian workers and wages for corporate gain.
“I want to look like I care about stopping forced labor. Our government spent money on it. I want to say I'm doing something about the problem without taking the action the other side asked for.”
“The other party spent a lot of money to stop some imports. That party cares more about companies than Canadian workers. Canadian jobs go to bad countries with slaves instead of Canadians. Now there could be more taxes on Canadians. The Prime Minister won't say the bad country is doing bad things because he cares about companies. Will the Prime Minister say the bad country is bad?”
“I'm just going to say nice general words about how we care about workers everywhere. The $600 million we spent is just one of many things we're doing. I talked to China about it on Friday. Look how much our exports have grown! We will keep doing things to grow our economy.”
“You are dodging my question because your company's profits depend on China. Will you condemn forced labor in Xinjiang or not?”
“I'm saying nice-sounding words about condemning forced labor. I'm not actually giving a yes-or-no answer to the question about putting people over profits or standing up to China.”
“You won't condemn forced labor in China because you're invested there. Stop protecting your profits. Say yes to banning shipments from Xinjiang where there's forced labor.”
“Forced labor is bad. We're handling it. We're making trade deals with strict labor conditions. Trust us, we won't let shipments come from forced labor.”
“Donald Trump's tariffs are bad. Forced labor is bad too. The U.S. blocked many Xinjiang shipments. Canada only blocked two. The government should ban Xinjiang products.”
“Forced labor is bad. The government wants to reduce it in supply chains. We will put labor rules in trade deals.”
“The Prime Minister should ban all products from Xinjiang. Forced labor imports reduce wages and take jobs from Canadians. The U.S. puts tariffs on forced labor goods. The Prime Minister isn't doing enough.”
“Canada already has import controls and checks for forced labor. The border agency reports to Parliament every year. We'll protect Canada's interests and stand up for high labor standards for all workers.”
“Trudeau won't condemn forced labor and slavery because it goes against corporate interests. He helps Liberal insiders and multinational corporations get rich while everyone else suffers. Will he reverse his policies that caused Canada's recession?”
“I want to repeat that I'm against forced labour. We try to keep supply chains free of it. We make sure our trade agreements have labour standards. We will keep enforcing these laws to protect Canadian workers and workers abroad.”