Remarks for the 2017 China Green Companies Summit – Plenary Session – Finding New Economic Drivers 

April 23, 2017 - Zengzhou, Henan, China

Check against delivery. This speech has been translated in accordance with the official languages policy and edited for posting and distribution in accordance with the Government of Canada’s communications policy.

Hello and good afternoon to everyone.

I want to thank the China Entrepreneur Club [CEC] for the invitation to join you. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also asked me to share his best wishes for the success of this summit with CEC members and guests.

Canada’s great friendship with China goes back more than 100 years. Today it is stronger than ever.

Canada was proud to host several delegates from the CEC during their visit last fall.

Premier Li Keqiang and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also exchanged visits to our respective countries last year. Premier Li’s trip to Canada was the first official state visit in 13 years.

These exchanges have already produced substantial benefits for both our economies. During the two visits last year, our governments signed or announced more than 60 deals.

These deals demonstrate the scope of our commercial relationship as they represent a broad range of business sectors as well as a variety of export, investment partnership and collaborative ventures from clean technology to the rule of law to tourism.

And I believe that we can still do a lot more. We’re now working to double our trade by 2025—a commitment that our two countries made when Premier Li visited Canada in the fall.

We are opening Canada’s new Investment Hub, which will be a single window through which you can conduct business in any sector in any part of the country: simplified business to maximize our ability to conduct major transactions.

Both of our governments recognize that profound shifts around the world are reshaping how we do business, transforming how economies work and changing the nature of work itself.

This means helping ensure that all segments of society can take advantage of the opportunities that flow from trade and investment—especially women, Indigenous peoples, youth, and small and medium-sized businesses.

Our governments are also taking decisive steps to make our countries leaders in science and technology, and to implement innovation-driven development strategies.

For example, through our latest federal budget, the Government of Canada is introducing the Innovation and Skills Plan—a plan that focuses on people to make Canada a world-leading centre for innovation, creativity and sustainable and responsible economic growth to the benefit of society.

I know these are also core values of the China Entrepreneur Club.

Many Canadian businesses have embraced innovation. And they are doing so in ways that can support China’s growth and urbanization plans.

One case in point is Canada’s forestry sector. Canada’s forests are truly an astonishing resource: at 348 million hectares, they make up about 10 percent of the world’s total forests.

We are the world’s leading exporter of forestry products, exporting more than $33 billion every year.

Canadian wood is also known for its sustainability: our wood is logged in an environmentally conscious manner and we have more certified forest land than anywhere else in the world. We are the eco-friendly partner.

But today, Canadian forestry and wood industries are doing a lot more than just supplying raw materials for single-dwelling houses, safe schools, furniture and paper products: Canada is now a leader in the design revolution toward the construction of very tall buildings made almost entirely of renewable wood products—instead of concrete.

In fact, Canada’s University of British Columbia [UBC] is now home to the tallest wood-framed building of its kind in the world. This 53-metre building, which houses 400 students, has 17 storeys made of mass-timber construction.

Such wooden structures are generally less expensive, and easier and faster to build. They are also more environmentally friendly.

While concrete emits nearly its own weight in carbon dioxide during production, the raw material for tall wood buildings literally grows on trees.

In the case of the UBC student residence, the building will store over 1,750 tonnes of equivalent greenhouse gases, which is the equivalent of removing 511 cars from Canada’s roads for one year.

Today there are nearly 80 tall-wood building projects under construction across the province of British Columbia alone—placing Canada at the forefront of this emerging sector.

Another wood-related project that I am particularly excited about is happening here, in China.

Over the past few years, Canada’s Department of Natural Resources and China’s Ministry of Urban-Rural Development have been partnering to develop a “Sino-Canadian Low Carbon Eco-district Demonstration Project” in the Tianjin Binhai New Area.

The project incorporates Canadian wood, green building materials and energy-efficient technologies for the construction of 100 beautiful Canadian-style wood villas. I am told potential buyers are already lining up to own one of these new homes.

Canada’s wood and forest industries can also help support China’s commitment to environmentally sustainable growth through the development of innovative bio-products that can be used, for example, to make interior car panels, building materials and high-performance insulation boards. Get in touch with our Trade Commissioner Service to learn more about Canadian companies already producing these environmentally friendly bio-products.

My friends, in many ways, this summit and plenary session are about how we can adapt to change and how we can make change work for us.

I believe, however, that if we work in unison and leverage each other’s strengths, there is a world of possibilities ahead for both of our countries.

Thank you and goodbye.