How the CCP exploits Canada’s regional fault lines.

By Omid Ghoreishi | The Epoch Times

“This ‘induce dependency, then weaponize it’ strategy is a hallmark of hybrid economic warfare,” says Scott McGregor, an author and intelligence professional.

In Brief by Probe International

Rooted in Cold War-era trade agreements, Canada’s economic relationship with China has evolved into a complex web of dependency that Beijing increasingly exploits to influence Canadian policy. Drawing on various experts from intelligence professionals to former ambassadors, this Epoch Times explainer unpacks the Chinese regime’s use of economic levers to advance pro-China positions.

While Pierre Trudeau’s 1970 recognition of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) marked a watershed moment in thawing Cold War tensions—paving the way for Western engagement with Beijing—it was Canada’s earlier, lesser-known economic gambit that entrenched a fraught dependency still shaping bilateral ties today.

Amid the horrors of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward famine (1958–1962), which claimed millions of lives, a modest grain purchase by China from Canada caught Ottawa’s attention as a glimmer of economic potential. Despite an American-led embargo against China following the Korean War, then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker—an avowed anti-communist—seized on the opening to green light a landmark $420-million wheat and barley deal in 1960, defying U.S. sanctions concerns. Though cabinet dissent simmered over aligning with a regime accused of mass starvation, the allure of a vast new market eclipsed ideological reservations. This pivot not only legitimized the CCP during its darkest hour but sowed the seeds of Canada’s enduring economic vulnerability to Beijing’s coercive tactics.

Today, as Canada’s second-largest trading partner, with agricultural exports exceeding $11.5 billion annually, the country’s lucrative relationship with China has come at a cost, argues The Epoch Times: Beijing routinely weaponizes economic leverage, as seen in its 2019 canola import ban (retaliation for Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou arrest) and recent 100% tariffs targeting Canadian exports during U.S.-Canada trade tensions.

Scott McGregor, an author and former Canadian Armed Forces intelligence operator and intelligence adviser to the RCMP, told The Epoch Times that Canada’s agricultural sector, and particularly canola, pork, and soy, is “highly exposed to CCP influence” due to the sector’s high dependence on exports to China.

Provinces like Saskatchewan, heavily reliant on canola and pulse crop exports, face intense pressure to advocate for closer ties with Beijing. Premier Scott Moe has urged Ottawa to prioritize trade with China, while Ontario’s Doug Ford echoed divisive rhetoric, calling the U.S. an “enemy” amid tariff disputes. Conversely, Alberta’s Danielle Smith warns that China deliberately exacerbates regional divisions to weaken national unity. Think tanks such as the Canada West Foundation amplify pro-trade messaging, emphasizing China’s importance to Western Canada’s economy, even as intelligence leaks reveal Beijing’s strategies to co-opt provincial leaders and exploit sectoral vulnerabilities.

Historically, figures such as Agriculture Minister Alvin Hamilton (hailed by Beijing as a “friend of China”) and institutions, including the Canadian Wheat Board, helped to legitimize the CCP through early trade deals. Today, China’s “induce dependency, then weaponize it” approach—targeting sectors tied to specific regions—forces Canada into a precarious balancing act between economic interests and sovereignty.

As federal leaders grapple with calls to diversify trade and resist coercion, the legacy of decades of economic entanglement underscores a stark dilemma: short-term gains versus long-term strategic autonomy in an era of rising geopolitical rivalry.

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