PM says small, medium-sized business must go to China

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on Canada’s small and-medium sized businesses to embrace globalization and help deepen what he termed the “Canada-China friendship” by exploring the market potential of selling to its half-billion increasingly spend-happy consumers.

At a flashy Toronto conference hosted by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Inc., Trudeau took the stage in front of 3,600 Canadian business owners to urge them to “think big, think beyond our borders” as “much of the world is looking inwards, closing off, going protectionist every now and then.”

“Canada remains open and optimistic about the role we can play in the world . . . The world is going to realize that, ‘No, no, we need to be engaged and open,’ ” he said during a fireside chat with Alibaba’s CEO Jack Ma. “But if they are taking a lot longer to do that, then we have an advantage right now here in Canada.”

Trudeau’s comments come as Ottawa hosts the latest round of North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation talks amid increasingly protectionist sentiment coming from Canada’s largest trade partner, the U.S.

Meanwhile, the Trudeau government has been actively trying to develop closer ties with China and has been pursuing a potential bilateral trade deal.

The Prime Minister’s commentary throughout the day’s events, during which both Toronto Mayor John Tory and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne also took the stage, hit on a similar theme — globalization and inclusiveness and their role in positioning Canada for the long term.

Alibaba hosted a similar U.S.-focused event in Detroit in June as it actively expands outside China.