Liberal Party of Canada Leader Mark Carney was involved in several high-stakes meetings with top communist China officials while in his former role as the governor of the Bank of England.
Carney was joined at the 8th and 9th UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogues by former British chancellor Philip Hammond, then-Chinese vice premier Ma Kai, then-governor of the People’s Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan and others.
The UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue was established in 2008 as a mechanism for bilateral communication and policy coordination on strategic, long-term, and overarching issues in the economic and financial fields of the two countries.
The dialogues saw numerous policies reached between the two countries. Among the initiatives were investing in green technologies to achieve zero-carbon transport, market reform, and allowing foreign companies to operate in each other’s countries.
“Both sides welcome the continued cooperation between the UK’s and China’s regulators and welcome the first meeting of the Bank of England and People’s Bank of China Joint Symposium, chaired by Governor Mark Carney and Governor Zhou Xiaochuan to discuss UK-China regulatory cooperation, macro-prudential frameworks, financial stability and green finance,” reads the policy outcomes document for the 9th EFD.
One of the most notable outcomes from the 8th EFD was the decision to accelerate the Shanghai-London Stock Connect, a mechanism that allows Chinese companies to list depositary receipts on the London Stock Exchange while giving UK investors greater access to Chinese markets.
While no specific Bank of China executives were named in official documents, related institutions such as the Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank, Agricultural Bank of China (UK), and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank were referenced as participants in branch expansions or regulatory activity in the UK.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently accused Carney of being compromised by the Chinese government. The comments were made in response to Carney’s unwillingness to fire a Liberal candidate who suggested a bounty be collected from China for a Conservative candidate’s capture by Chinese authorities.
“Mark Carney will never stand up for Canada. He is keeping on a Liberal candidate who said that people should turn over the conservative candidate to a bounty by the Chinese government, which wants to kill him,” said Poilievre. “If Mark Carney won’t stand up for a Canadian against this foreign hostile regime now, how could we ever expect him to stand up for Canada after the election?”
Despite Carney defending Paul Chiang after he suggested kidnapping a Conservative opponent to collect a bounty from the Chinese communist government instead of forcing him to step down, Chiang took it upon himself to resign his candidacy.
Conservatives also recently dug up an old clip of Carney referring to the Beijing regime as “ambitious” with “many strengths.”
At the same conference, the Toronto Region Board of Trade, Carney celebrated how much more money he could make investing in China compared to the UK or Canada.
Carney recently came under fire for securing a $250 million loan from a Chinese state-owned bank.
The controversy surrounding Carney and his ties to China follows a similar scandal with former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Poilievre said that Trudeau meant what he said when he claimed to admire the Chinese communist dictatorship, proven by him violating the Charter, breaking the law, seizing bank accounts, and censoring the internet.
“There’s a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime,” said Trudeau.