Freeland to Give Testimony at Committee on Canada’s Support for Beijing’s Infrastructure Bank
A House of Commons committee is set to question Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland about Canada’s dealings with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which has been accused of being under the influence of Beijing. This comes five months after Ms. Freeland’s commitment to suspend collaboration with the bank.
MPs voted in favour of an Oct. 23 motion asking the House of Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations to invite the Minister of Finance to appear as a witness in its examination of “Canada’s freeze in government-led activity” with the AIIB, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
“The Communist Party hacks hold the cards at the Bank. They deal with some board members as useful idiots,” Mr. Pickard wrote. “I believe that my Government should not be a member of this PRC [People’s Republic of China] instrument. The reality of power in the bank is that it’s CCP from start to finish.”
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“I didn’t find a single tangible benefit to communicate back home here to Canada of what this bank does that is consistent with our values in a way that would benefit Canadians,” he said.
“All we’re doing with our membership in this bank is we’re making China look good as a country able to do multilateralism. We are effectively supporting the Chinese image campaign to show that they are ready to assume world leadership and, frankly, I don’t think that’s the country that we should support, especially in the current political environment.”
The Canada-China Committee plans to also extend an invitation to Mr. Pickard to appear as a witness.
The Epoch Times reached out to the finance department for comment about its review progress but didn’t hear back by press time.
The Canada-China committee is scheduled to convene a meeting to hear testimony from Ms. Freeland no later than Dec. 15.
