‘Credit to Prime Minister Carney’: Moe praises PM’s role in Canada-China trade deal

'He engaged earnestly, with at all levels of the Chinese government,' the Saskatchewan premier told reporters on Tuesday.

Canada and China have struck a preliminary deal to eliminate tariffs on canola meal and peas, an agreement Premier Scott Moe said was made possible through the efforts of Prime Minister Mark Carney and will benefit Saskatchewan producers and the wider Canadian economy.

At a news conference at the University of Saskatchewan on Tuesday, Moe unveiled the agreement alongside provincial ministers of agriculture and trade and export development and representatives from industry stakeholder groups.

“This agreement with China is one of the strongest agreements that I have seen in my elected time,” Moe told reporters.

“This is, make no mistake, a positive agreement for the Saskatchewan agriculture industry — as we produce about 55 per cent of the canola production in this nation,”  he said.

He said the agreement will be significant to Saskatchewan farmers, exporters, and to the processing workers in the province. “This is an industry. Canola alone employs over 200,000 people across Canada. It is a $44-billion industry,” the premier said.

Moe said he credits Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government, which he “hasn’t done a lot of in the last decade.”

“He engaged earnestly, with at all levels of the Chinese government.”

Former Regina Liberal MP Ralph Goodale who recently retired after serving 26 years in parliament told Global News he believes it was “absolutely essential” for Carney to pivot towards a trade deal with China.