Chris Sorensen, National Post
November 27, 2007

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s outspoken criticism of China’s human-rights record will not hurt Canadian business opportunities, say Canada’s business leaders; a new survey finds big business supports Harper’s stance and believes it will produce benefits in the long-run.

The recent diplomatic dispute between China and Canada
is the latest in a string of incidents to have produced a
cooling effect between the two countries since Prime
Minister Stephen Harper’s government came to power
in February 2006, Canada’s National Post reports.

However, the most recent incident concerning Mr. Harper’s
tough stance towards China’s human rights record has won
the backing of Canadian business executives, according
to a new poll.

While previous governments have preferred to discuss China’s
human rights record behind closed doors, the Web-based study conducted by COMPAS Inc. for the National Post – a
Canadian national newspaper – found that 57% of executives
surveyed said they believed Mr. Harper’s outspoken approach
would have no impact on Canadian business opportunities in
China, while 13% of those surveyed believed the stance may
actually be a good thing for Canadian firms.

“Any short-term harm to Canadian business caused by speaking
up on human rights would be minuscule compared with the long-term
benefits to business of having China clean up their legal system,” one
respondent said.

Conrad Winn, president of COMPAS, said the poll’s results run
counter to the cold-hearted image of big business often portrayed
by the media or academics.

“Business for a few generations has departed hugely from the
19th-century robber baron mould,” he said. “Most business
graduates embrace the idea of human rights and liberal
democracy as much as anyone else.”

Earlier this month, Mr Harper hinted that an apparent snub by
Chinese President Hu Jintao, whom Canadian officials claim
requested a meeting with Mr Harper at the Asia-Pacific
economic conference in Vietnam only to cancel it at the last minute,
was probably the result of his plan to raise the question of China’s
human rights record.

At the time, Mr. Harper defended his position to reporters by
saying that Canada’s trade relationship with China is an important
one, but he won’t “sell out to the almighty dollar.”

The COMPAS poll suggests Canadian executives seem to believe
Canada is entitled to its opinion on China and a full 69% of
respondents said Mr. Harper’s willingness to address the sensitive
subject publically will help to advance the issue in the long-run.
Nearly 90% of respondents also agreed a law-abiding China
“can do a lot for world business,” while 74% agreed that “business
wins from any effort to improve the Chinese legal system.”

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/archives/story.html?id=83c58a04-3d8f-4f7d-9c64-7a6993dd5cea [PDFver here]