Carney did raise human rights with Xi, government clarifies, admitting earlier ‘error’

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said public servants have corrected information the government tabled in Parliament that suggested he did not “proactively” raise human rights or foreign interference during his visit to Beijing.

“The parliamentary return in question was submitted in error,” wrote Carney’s spokeswoman Audrey Champoux.

Carney met in January with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He told reporters at the end of his visit to Beijing that he had spoken with Xi about human rights in direct conversations.

The Privy Council Office, which serves the prime minister, said in a parliamentary tabling on March 13 that Carney had not raised human rights or foreign interference unprompted.

“Topics of human rights and foreign interference were not brought up proactively by the Canadian Prime Minister,” reads the tabling.

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Carney’s office said Monday that the information was “retabled” in the House that afternoon.

“While in Beijing, Canada’s position on areas of concern, including human rights, were raised proactively at multiple levels, including by the prime minister with his counterparts,” Champoux wrote. “Canada and China are building a bilateral framework to standardize engagements and address areas of concern pragmatically.”

The original document was tabled in response to questions from Conservative MP Ned Kuruc. It noted that Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand discussed “sensitive issues such as human rights and foreign interference” with her Chinese counterpart.

The Conservatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the government saying it had tabled incorrect information to Parliament.

Carney also met with Xi last November in South Korea and said afterwards that Beijing did not seem to understand how seriously Canada takes the matter of foreign interference.