Region CAO leading trade mission to China

Niagara Region’s controversial chief administrative officer will be the face of local government during a four-day economic mission to China, The Standard has learned.

Carmen D’Angelo, whose 2016 hiring and contract extension are under investigation by the Ontario Ombudsman, will lead Niagara’s contingent to the China International Import Expo in Shanghai from Nov. 6 to 10.

According to regional spokesman Jason Tamming, the trip will cost $4,238 plus HST.

Tamming did not answer questions about what the cost includes and if Region employees will be filing expenses from the trip.

Round-trip flights from Toronto to Shanghai cost about $1,400, according to Air Canada’s website.

The expo is being hosted by the Chinese government to promote Chinese businesses and push back against American claims of unfair Chinese trading practices, according to official statements released by Beijing. The United States, which is locked in an increasingly tense trade dispute with Beijing, is not attending the expo.

Niagara is sending a group to the expo “in partnership with numerous private sector partners,” Tamming said in an email without naming those partners.

D’Angelo will be accompanied by a handful of staff from the

Region’s economic development office.

In his email, Tamming said the Niagara contingent will consist of up to 30 people and will have five booths at the expo that “will have materials at the Niagara Region Canada Foreign Trade Zone Pavilion” to promote local businesses.

D’Angelo is going, Tamming wrote, because Dominic Ursini, the director of economic development, is unable to attend. Tamming did not disclose why Ursini is not able to travel to China nor why D’Angelo, rather than a staffer from the economic development office, is the appropriate replacement.

Ursini declined an interview request from The Standard Thursday and directed all questions to Tamming.