Harper personally asked China for panda loan, memo reveals
Asked official during 2009 Beijing visit
Stephen Harper has a soft spot for two cute and furry pandas that are scheduled to arrive from China on Tuesday. But the government was hesitant to let Canadians know the full details of his efforts.
According to an internal memo, Harper and former environment minister Jim Prentice were instrumental in securing the deal that will land the pandas, Da Mao and Er Shun, in Canada for a 10-year stay at the Toronto and Calgary zoos.
“Attempts to strike a deal on pandas have been floated for more than a decade, but only began to progress quickly when Prime Minister Harper personally raised the matter with Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the National People’s Congress, in Beijing in December 2009, and former minister Prentice signed a letter of support on behalf of the Government of Canada,” said the memo, prepared for the office of Environment Minister Peter Kent.
The memo was released through access to information legislation, but only following an investigation by the office of Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault. The investigation concluded that Environment Canada had inappropriately responded to a 2012 request for the memo from Postmedia News, by denying access to sections that mentioned Harper as well as other details about the loan of the bears.
Environment Canada also attempted to redact the word “loan” from the memo’s title — “Giant panda loan for Canadian zoos” — and other references to the “loan” throughout the document. It revised these redactions following the investigation.
The newly released version of the memo, dated Oct. 25, 2011, suggested that the Chinese government wanted Harper to personally make a trip to China to announce the panda deal, which will also require the two zoos to collectively pay about $10 million over the next decade for panda conservation efforts.
“While the date for the announcement of the giant panda loan has not yet been confirmed, it is expected that it will be made jointly by Prime Minister Harper and Chinese Premier Wen during the Prime Minister’s proposed visit to China in December (2011),” said the memo, signed by Environment Canada’s associate deputy minister Andrea Lyon.
“Although the approval has been granted, China has advised that a public announcement should wait for a suitable occasion (i.e. a senior level visit). As China has already granted approval for the loan, the risk of a change in this arrangement is low and the loan process is expected to proceed without incident.”
The trip in which Harper announced the deal occurred in February 2012. His office declined to comment about whether China wanted him to be there in person to announce the panda deal, or whether that affected the timing of the trip in any way.
“The Prime Minister was pleased to be able to visit China in 2012 and make a number of significant announcements, including the announcement that two pandas would be loaned to Canada,” said Harper’s spokeswoman Julie Vaux in an email. “The arrival of the pandas is a signal of the strong relationship between Canada and China and we’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
The Chinese government’s embassy in Ottawa did not respond to questions.
The prime minister ended 2012 by saying on his social media Internet accounts that his favourite picture of the year was a shot of him sitting with his wife, Laureen, holding a baby panda at the Chongqing zoo in February.