Dingwall joins board of Canada China Business Council

Published on December 9, 2011
Dingwall, who was a Liberal MP in the former riding of Cape Breton-East Richmond and a cabinet minister, currently practises law with the Toronto firm of Affleck Greene McMurtry and was recently elected to the board of the Canada China Business Council.

Dingwall said he has had a longstanding relationship with China, both when he served as an MP and federal cabinet minister and in private life, has travelled there extensively and represents clients with an interest in the country.

He noted the council involves a cross-section of Canadian businesses as well as a group of Chinese business people

“We share with one another concerns that Canadian businesses would have, for instance in dealing in China, equally so what concerns Chinese businesses would have in terms of dealing in Canada,” Dingwall said. “The relationship that Canada has with China is pretty important.

“I think last year, 2010, there was about $14 billion that the Chinese invested in Canada. I think this year by October it was close to $20 billion, so it’s a significant amount of money that the Chinese are investing in Canada and as Canadian businesses and Chinese businesses, we want to make sure that the barriers that exist can be eliminated and the processes can be fast-tracked.”

Canada’s relationship with the United States remains its most important, Dingwall said, but Canada is among a host of other countries looking to improve relations with China, a country that is seeing tremendous growth.

“If Canada is to take advantage of our special relationship with China, businesses, governments — municipal, provincial and federal — all have to work together to try to improve upon our relationship with China in order to have them make more investment,” he said. “There’s a lot of self-interest here. The Chinese need our minerals and Canadians need markets for their products and for their services.”

Dingwall noted Canada and China are currently working on a foreign investment and protection agreement which should be finalized fairly soon. Among the challenges facing companies looking to do business in China are access to visas, how regulators work, copyright, technology and the delivery of product and services.

“Atlantic Canada has a great deal of energy which could be sold on the open market and if there are businesses or governments interested in fostering that relationship, which I think there is, I would be only too happy to try to facilitate and to be helpful to those enterprises, either in voicing their concerns in terms of how to deal with the Chinese or vice versa,” Dingwall said.

Dingwall said about 70 per cent of the energy currently used in China is generated with coal, and that country could learn much from Cape Breton’s mining expertise. Cape Breton University recently officially opened its new Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, which includes research chairs in areas including mine water management.

“(China has) an understanding of the coal industry and I think that they would appreciate a perspective and an expertise which I think the centre is attempting to develop and perhaps they could export and share that knowledge with other countries and other entities around the world,” he said.

http://www.capebretonpost.com/Business/2011-12-09/article-2831070/Dingwall-joins-board-of-Canada-China-Business-Council/1