My Take | Chinese ferries caught in political storm in a Canadian teacup

A contract for four new Chinese-built ferries has become the centre of a political storm in Canada. Why a simple purchase by a ferry service operating exclusively in the province of British Columbia (BC) should concern the federal government so much says a lot about the hysteria the Made-in-China label can generate among some Canadian politicians.

After all, we are not talking about Chinese electric cars, which agents of Beijing, according to some fanciful borderline sci-fi accounts, could extract personal data of drivers and passengers or lock and immobilise them remotely to cause traffic chaos. Nor is it 5G from Huawei Technologies, which could supposedly bring down the internet.

It is the humble ferry we are talking about. No one has yet suggested Chinese spooks may use the ferries for nefarious purposes. But that didn’t stop recently vacated transport minister Chrystia Freeland from making a fuss, or rather a mess, about it.

First, a bit of background. The former deputy prime minister and finance minister had fought unsuccessfully for the top job in the last election. Unfortunately, she was too closely associated with the unpopular Justin Trudeau, despite having abandoned ship in the most publicly disloyal way possible.

The new prime minister, Mark Carney, gave his one-time rival for the leadership of the Liberal Party the transport portfolio, which must have been humiliating. But you can’t keep such a would-be world leader down, even in her very short tenure with a humble cabinet portfolio, especially when it had Chinese written all over it.

The sorry business all started when Freeland suddenly questioned in June why BC Ferries – which is publicly owned but independently operated – made the purchase from the Chinese. This was despite the ferry company having given advance notice to Freeland’s top aides about the transaction in April.