SASKATOON, OTTAWA — It has been confirmed that there will be federal representation on Premier Scott Moe's upcoming trade mission to China.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister Kody Blois will join the mission, travelling to China from Sept. 6 to 9 as part of the Premier's trade delegation.
Blois had recently been in Saskatchewan where he attended the meetings with Moe and other officials on the canola tariffs issue in Saskatoon. That meeting was in response to the recently imposed 100 per cent tariff by China on canola seed.
According to the statement Thursday from the federal government: "Parliamentary Secretary Blois will join the delegation to engage constructively with Chinese officials on several trade irritants and demonstrate Canada’s commitment to supporting farmers affected by Chinese tariffs. Canada’s new government will work with provinces, territories, farmers, and businesses to build one Canadian economy and secure reliable trading partnerships for the trade of high-quality Canadian goods.
"We are taking action to protect hard-working canola producers, workers, and exporters, defend their fair access to global markets, and protect Canadian jobs. To that end, the government will announce additional measures in support of Canadian producers shortly."
Whether there would be federal representation was a major point of speculation prior to the China trip, which will also include a stop in Japan. Premier Moe will also be joined by Minister of Trade and Export Development Warren Kaeding on part of the mission, with Kaeding heading to South Korea first and then to Japan.
Premier Moe is scheduled to hold a news conference in Saskatoon this morning to provide further details about the China trade mission.
As the Moe government prepares for the trade mission the opposition NDP issued a statement blasting the province's export numbers. They pointed to data from Statistics Canada released earlier this morning showing Saskatchewan merchandise exports to China fell 21.1 per cent in July. They also pointed to year-to-date exports have fallen 28.8 per cent, and by 48.5 per cent for July compared to the same month in 2024.
In a news release Kim Breckner, NDP critic for Trade and Export Development, again accused the Moe government of a slow response to the canola issue. “It should not take six months of job-killing tariffs for this Premier to hop on a plane and start doing his job,” said Breckner.
“The Premier should have started planning this mission as soon as tariffs were threatened, not a year later during harvest.”
