CANADA’S Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is heading for his first official visit to China, seeking to reset relations and boost economic ties with Canada’s second-largest trading partner.

    Trudeau departed yesterday on a 10-day trip to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Hangzhou, where he’ll attend the Group of 20 (G20) summit. He’ll meet with Premier Li Keqiang, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Jack Ma and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, controlling shareholder in Calgary-based Husky Energy Inc.

    It’s a good time to be out of the country. While the prime minister is away, Statistics Canada is expected to report the economy shrank 1.5 percent in the second quarter. All the more reason for Trudeau to tackle issues such as the decline of Chinese investment in Canada’s energy sector.

    “What actually we need with China is to reset the relationship a little bit,” Trudeau told reporters Friday, the same day his predecessor, Stephen Harper, announced he was resigning from politics.

    It was Harper in 2012 who introduced rules restricting takeovers in the oil sands by state-owned companies. The measures were designed to prevent foreign governments from gaining too much influence over Canadian oil.

    Since reaching a record US$21.3 billion that year, including CNOOC Ltd.’s US$15.1 billion acquisition of Nexen Inc., Chinese investments in Canada’s oil and gas sector have cooled to US$2.19 billion this year. Purchases slumped to US$343 million in 2013, the year after Harper imposed the new rules.

    Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who will accompany Trudeau on the trip, hinted Aug. 21 the government was open to easing the 2012 restrictions. The Liberal government is focused on “ways we can enhance the Canadian economy,” Morneau said. “In that light, we seek to encourage investment in Canada and that’ll be something we’ll be bringing forward in meetings in China as we will in bilateral meetings with all the countries we meet.”

    Trudeau echoed that five days later, saying the issue of oil sands investment was one “that we’re certainly going to lean into” on the trip. He also said Canada would press against a change that would restrict China’s market to Canadian canola exporters.

    Trudeau will draw on his family connection with China, which dates back to his father. The younger Trudeau has tried to balance courtship and admonition of China.

    That said, Canada has sent mixed messages to China recently. British Columbia instituted a tax on foreign real estate buyers, a move aimed almost exclusively at wealthy Chinese driving up the Vancouver housing market, while Trudeau’s government has moved to collect more data on foreign home ownership.

    At the G20 meeting, Canada will be engaging European states to press for ratification of a trade deal with the European Union. International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, who will accompany Trudeau on the trip, appointed a new envoy last week to help ratify the pact, while saying the G20 talks overall will focus on ways to spur growth.

    Still, if Trudeau is going to diversify trade and spur economic growth, China will be a crucial partner. (SD-Agencies)