Two pandas pursued by Harper
OTTAWA — 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 brings pandas, Da Mao and Er Shun, to 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.
“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.
The Chinese government’s embassy in Ottawa did not respond to questions.