Carney Erased "Forced Labour" from Canada's Foreign Policy — And His Floor-Crossing MP Wants a Trip to China to Check

Global Affairs Canada's 2026-27 departmental plan quietly removes all mention of "forced labour" — a reversal of explicit government commitments stretching back to 2021. At a parliamentary committee, the Liberal MP who crossed the floor to join Carney after a Beijing trip declared he doesn't "believe in reports" about forced labour and proposed a guided tour of China instead. Then Carney's own Privy Council Office filed a document to Parliament stating the PM did not raise human rights with Xi Jinping. His office later called it "submitted in error." Either version is damning.

What the Document Says — and What It Used to Say

The shift is not ambiguous. Compare Global Affairs Canada's departmental plans year by year, and the pattern is unmistakable:

• 2022: Global Affairs explicitly committed to "speak out against China's repression of the Uyghur and Tibetan peoples."
• 2025-26: The plan still pledged to "address environmental issues and forced labour" and "foster resilience of global supply chains."
• 2026-27: "Forced labour" is gone. The reference to Uyghur and Tibetan repression is gone. Both removed — not updated, not softened. Deleted.

This was not a typo or an oversight. This was a policy document that went through multiple layers of bureaucratic and ministerial approval. CTV News reporter Annie Bergeron-Oliver flagged the change directly, noting: "In his latest departmental plan, Global Affairs doesn't mention forced labour as a priority — a change from 2022, when the same kind of plan specifically said, 'Canada will continue to speak out against China's repression of the Uyghur and Tibetan peoples.'"

This erasure didn't happen in a vacuum. It followed Carney's January 2026 trip to Beijing, where he signed what he called a "strategic partnership" with China — a country his own party had called "Canada's biggest security threat" just months earlier during the election campaign.

The Floor-Crosser Who Doesn't Believe Reports

On March 26, 2026, Liberal MP Michael Ma — the Conservative MP who crossed the floor to join the Liberals in December 2025 — appeared at a parliamentary committee where the subject of forced labour came up. Expert witness Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a Senior Fellow at the University of Ottawa and former federal Assistant Deputy Minister, presented evidence of Chinese forced labour practices.

Ma's response was extraordinary. He questioned whether her evidence was "hearsay." Then he told her directly: "I don't believe in reports. I only believe in things that I can see with my own eyes." He then suggested they take a trip to China together — to check.

McCuaig-Johnston later described the moment: "I looked around the committee as if to say, 'Is he kidding?' Because no Westerner can go to China and see forced labour. They would never let you anywhere close to that."

Conservative MP Michael Guglielmin put the question directly to the committee: "It's just unclear if MP Ma's remarks are at odds with the Liberal party's position — or if he's soft-launching for the prime minister's new position on the Communist Party of China and their permissive view on enslavement."

An uncomfortable question. One the government still hasn't answered.

The Bombshell Parliamentary Report

Then came the Privy Council Office filing.

Carney's PCO submitted a report to Parliament stating that, during his January meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, "human rights and foreign interference were not brought up proactively" by the Prime Minister.

This is not a minor revelation. The House of Commons voted 266–0 in 2021 to recognize China's actions against the Uyghur people as genocide. Even cabinet abstained rather than oppose it. Canada's own government documents — from 2021 through to June 2025 — catalogued Beijing's forced labour, arbitrary detention, forced sterilization, and intellectual property theft. Carney's own party ran on being tough on China.

And now his office was telling Parliament: he sat across from Xi Jinping and didn't raise any of it.

The government's response? His office said the document was "submitted in error" and filed a corrected version.

Either way, it is damning. Either:

• The Prime Minister sat with the leader whose government Canada's Parliament declared is committing genocide — and said nothing about human rights. Or:
• His Privy Council Office filed a false report to Parliament, and "submitted in error" is the cover story.

Both are serious. The government wants Canadians to pick which version makes them feel better. There is no version that reflects well on the Prime Minister.

The Timeline of Appeasement

This didn't happen overnight. It was a managed progression:

• Dec. 11, 2025: Michael Ma crosses the floor. Carney welcomes him personally at the Liberal holiday party the same night.
• Jan. 16, 2026: Carney travels to Beijing, signs "strategic partnership" deal, allows 49,000 Chinese EVs into Canada at 6.1% tariff — down from 100%. Ma joins the official delegation.
• March 2026: PCO tells Parliament Carney didn't raise human rights with Xi. Then calls it "submitted in error."
• March 13, 2026: Global Affairs drops "forced labour" from departmental goals.
• March 26, 2026: Liberal MP Ma dismisses forced labour evidence as "hearsay" at committee. Suggests visiting China to verify.
• April 27, 2026: Chinese Embassy calls forced labour allegations a "blatant lie." Canada's official response condemns forced labour in general — but pointedly avoids naming China.

"We don't need to have public discussions about where we disagree. We make that clear — to our friends in China." — Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, March 27, 2026, when asked if Ma should remain in caucus

"Our friends in China." That is the phrase a cabinet minister used to describe a regime Canada's Parliament declared is committing genocide.

What This Means for Canadians

Canada's supply chains are directly implicated. Canadian consumers buy products made with — or contaminated by — forced labour. Canadian pension funds have invested in companies that benefit from it. Canada's 2020 Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act was supposed to address this. It cannot function if the government erases forced labour from its own foreign policy priorities.

More broadly: this is what "strategic partnership" looks like in practice. Not tough talk. Not values-based foreign policy. A quiet deletion of uncomfortable words in an annual report. A government that says it opposes forced labour — but won't say where.

Conservative MP Michael Chong published an open letter on April 27 calling on Carney to "urgently clarify his position" on forced labour and Beijing. As of this writing, no clarification has been forthcoming.

The government erased the words. The words were there for a reason.