b'WE OPEN OUR WALLETS TO CHINA ALL THE TIME. SO WHY ARE WE SO CONFLICTED ABOUT TRADING WITH THEM?A recent Ipsos poll finds eight in 10 Canadians believe Canada should reduce its reliance on trade with China. One expert says doing so is extremely impractical, if not impossible.Marc ZienkiewiczAS CHINA RAMPSup its seed industry, eyesChina was holding Canadians hostage. Ifsays.are on Canadas trade relationship withthe reality is that citizens, consumers andEven if you run away from China, the agricultural giant. But how can webusinesses are going to increase trade withyoure still going to be running into establish better relations with China inChina, then we had better manage it well. China.light of its continuing ban on CanadianDade has done some of the deepestWhat then, is Canada to do? The canola seed imports? And should we? research in Canada on the agriculturalanswer, Dade says, is to accept the real-The key, says Carlo Dade (who followstrade relationships between Canada andity that Canadas trade relationship with Canada-China trade for the Canada WestChina. He is co-author of the reportChina is an important one, and to begin Foundation), is for Canada to figure outWhen interests converge: Agriculture asto find a common interest.what it wants out of its relationship witha basis of re-engagement with China. ItWe know that China needs new seed Chinasnd then go after it despite whatfocuses on the potential of agriculturevarieties to increase agricultural produc-our American neighbours might say. and the need to place it front-and-centretion without destroying more land and We have to separate the aspirationalnow in anticipation of future change inwithout using more fertilizer. They have elements of what people want out ofthe Canada-U.S. relationship. to feed their population. If you want to trade from the reality of trade. Certainly,A recent Ipsos poll for Global Newstalk about a country preoccupied with with agriculture, China is our second-larg- finds that eight in 10 Canadians (82%)food security, thats China, he says.est agricultural market. Its roughly 13%believe Canada should reduce its reli- But you also have to look at the of our agricultural trade and has beenance on trade with China and diversifyenvironmental damage from agriculture, increasing at a faster rate, says Dade. to other countries. Dade says doing so isand Chinas contending with that. So cer-Canadians tell pollsters that they wantextremely impractical, if not impossible. tainly, something like seed varieties can less trade with China, yet in the nextPeople forget that China is a largerhelp. Its been identified by China in their instant they turn around and open theiragricultural producer and exporter than isfive-year Agricultural Green Development wallets to China, telling them they wantCanada. Its the largest producer of a lotPlan. Unfortunately, the only thing most more trade. Canadian consumers andof what we also produce here in WesternCanadians know about that plan is that its businesses have been doing this whileCanada. China moves markets, Dadea plan and its five years.2GERMINATION.CAINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2022'