Sask. Premier asking feds to do more in China canola dispute

Saskatchewan’s premier is putting a little more pressure on the federal government to deal with the escalating situation in China regarding Canadian canola.

According to the Canola Council of Canada (CCC), Chinese exporters are no longer willing to purchase Canadian canola seed.

In an emailed statement, Scott Moe said this is very concerning to the provincial government. He wrote the province is looking for clarity from the federal government on the CCC’s report.

Moe said he’s hopeful the federal government will continue dealing with this in a technical matter with the Chinese government – the Chinese have previously expressed concerns about the quality of Canadian canola.

The province is asking the federal government to engage on this at a diplomatic level as well.

“Saskatchewan remains very confident in the high quality of our canola products and has offered any and all assistance to the federal government to resolve this matter,” wrote Moe.

On Friday afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke at an event in Thunder Bay, Ont. When he was asked about the problem, Trudeau said the government is concerned about the canola situation but the government will do the same as it did in a similar situation in 2016 – work with Chinese authorities to resolve it.

Moe said the province has asked for a meeting between Saskatchewan’s agriculture and export ministers and the federal ministers for international trade diversification, foreign affairs and agriculture.

China is by far the largest importer of Saskatchewan canola. It bought $1.4 billion worth of Saskatchewan canola in 2017, nearly twice as much as the next-closest country.

—With files from Lisa Schick, Evan Radford and The Canadian Press