{"id":145684,"date":"2025-09-15T13:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/145684\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T13:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:12:09","slug":"liberal-staffers-strategized-over-1-billion-loan-for-chinese-ferries-while-freeland-dismissed-federal-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/145684\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberal staffers strategized over $1-billion loan for Chinese ferries while Freeland dismissed federal connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland answers a question during Question Period in June. Ms. Freeland distanced Ottawa from a loan to BC Ferries before the Canada Infrastructure Bank had formally announced it.Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

As Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland was in the House of Commons distancing Ottawa from BC Ferries\u2019 plan to buy four new ships from a Chinese state-owned shipyard, senior Liberal advisers were debating how to manage a looming announcement that there was in fact a connection.<\/p>\n

Canada Infrastructure Bank, a federal Crown corporation, had provided $1-billion in financing for the purchase. <\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail has obtained internal e-mails involving senior Liberal political aides, including one sent at 2:17 p.m. on June 18 just as the daily Question Period was about to start.<\/p>\n

On that day on the Commons floor, Conservative MPs continued to question Liberal ministers about BC Ferries\u2019 plan, calling on the federal government to \u201cstand up\u201d against the B.C. government and oppose the purchase.<\/p>\n

At the time, Canada Infrastructure Bank\u2019s<\/a> (CIB) involvement had not been formally announced.<\/p>\n

Infrastructure bank CEO defends $1-billion loan to BC Ferries for Chinese boats<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Freeland said she shared \u201cthe concern and anger\u201d of other MPs, but brushed off the suggestion that the issue had anything to do with Ottawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere seems to be some confusion among the Conservative MPs about what is provincial jurisdiction and what is federal jurisdiction. There is no such confusion on this side of the House,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While cabinet ministers were in their seats in Parliament, senior Liberal aides in the Prime Minister\u2019s Office received an e-mail with the subject \u201cFLAG \u2013 BC Ferries\u201d from Mohammad Hussain, director of communications to Gregor Robertson, the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and the minister responsible for CIB. <\/p>\n

Mr. Hussain, a former PMO spokesperson under prime minister Justin Trudeau, wrote an e-mail to PMO strategic communications adviser J\u00e9r\u00e9my Collard, PMO deputy directors of policy Shaili Patel and Katharine Heus, and Mr. Robertson\u2019s policy director, Mary-Liz Power, with copies to a handful of other Liberal aides.<\/p>\n

The e-mail was about a coming CIB announcement that it had loaned BC Ferries $1-billion for the purchase and related infrastructure. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy immediate instinct is that we can move forward with this announcement as a paper release and refuse to wear any of the procurement choices,\u201d wrote Mr. Hussain, under a section titled \u201cpolitical opinion.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe BC government not stepping in also gives us cover,\u201d he wrote, pointing to B.C. Premier David Eby<\/a> saying that reopening the contract would mean delays and significantly higher costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main challenge here is that the Conservatives hate CIB and I think they will run with this. The project is likely not viable without our loan,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The e-mail also states that \u201cone of our ADMs asked us to consider the signal it sends to China if we were to cancel a $1-billion contract with them as we try to re-establish economic ties and remove tariffs. I am not sold on this line of thought, but I would appreciate your thoughts on it,\u201d he said, in reference to an unidentified assistant deputy minister in the department.<\/p>\n

The e-mail was forwarded to Ms. Freeland\u2019s office later that day. <\/p>\n

The House of Commons broke for summer recess on Friday, June 20, and sittings will resume Monday.<\/p>\n

On June 24, The Globe asked CIB about a BC Ferries corporate document from March that references a loan of up to $1-billion from CIB for new ferries and terminal electrification. The document had not received media attention.<\/p>\n

In response, CIB said it was planning to announce the loan and provided The Globe with an advance copy of a news release.<\/p>\n

Gary Mason: The B.C. shipbuilding controversy exposes Canada\u2019s shortcomings as a country<\/a><\/p>\n

The Globe first reported on the loan<\/a> on June 26 and CIB posted a related news release later that day.<\/p>\n

During the summer recess, opposition parties requested a special hearing of the House transport and infrastructure committee, which heard testimony from Mr. Robertson, Ms. Freeland, CIB CEO Ehren Cory and BC Ferries CEO Nicolas Jimenez.<\/p>\n

Ms. Freeland told MPs during the hearing that she was \u201cdismayed by this procurement,\u201d but did not directly respond when asked when she became aware of the CIB loan to BC Ferries.<\/p>\n

Laura Scaffidi, a spokesperson for Ms. Freeland, declined to comment directly on the e-mails. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn August 1, the Minister appeared before committee and spent an hour addressing questions specifically related to this topic,\u201d she said in an e-mail.<\/p>\n

Questions to Mr. Hussain were responded to by Mr. Robertson\u2019s press secretary, Ren\u00e9e LeBlanc Proctor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have anything to add to the documents provided to the committee,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

During that Aug. 1 meeting, the committee unanimously approved a motion requesting a range of government documents related to the issue. Mr. Hussain\u2019s e-mail was included in the government\u2019s response to that request.<\/p>\n

Documents and e-mails involving political staff in the Prime Minister\u2019s Office or ministerial offices are not typically made public because they are exempt under the Access to Information Act. However, parliamentary committees have broader powers to request documents.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s decision to release the records to the committee is an early test of how it will respond to such requests. The previous Liberal minority government\u2019s refusal to hand over all requested documents related to a green technology fund led to a standoff<\/a> between the government and opposition parties last year that essentially ground parliamentary business to a halt for months. <\/p>\n

The documents provided to the committee also include an exchange of letters between Ms. Freeland and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree discussing national-security aspects of the BC Ferries purchase.<\/p>\n

Ms. Freeland\u2019s letter, dated June 18, said she \u201cwas taken aback\u201d that BC Ferries does not appear to have mandated a Canadian-content requirement. <\/p>\n

She said she\u2019s asked her provincial counterpart to inform her about what measures BC Ferries intends to implement related to threats to security, including cybersecurity. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn closing, I am dismayed that BC Ferries would select a China state-owned shipyard to build new ferries in the current geopolitical context and I have asked the Government of BC to confirm with utmost certainty that no federal funding will be diverted to support the acquisition of these new ferries,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

The documents include an undated response letter from Mr. Anandasangaree, in which he says he can assure Ms. Freeland that his officials are engaging with BC Ferries \u201cto support them in addressing security risks as the building process moves forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland answers a question during Question Period in June. Ms.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-145684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}