MP Grilled on China Forced Labor Questions

0:00It's March 26th. Welcome in. This is Toronto News Today, where local news meets AI. I'm Corey with the story. Liberal member of parliament, Michael Ma, drew sharp criticism this Thursday during a house committee hearing on Canada's electric vehicle policies. He grilled expert witness, Margaret McQuague Johnston, with rapid yes or no questions. Pressing her on whether she had personally seen force labor in. China's Xinjiang region. McQuague Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa and former federal official, pointed to reports from human rights watch researchers who had witnessed it firsthand. The exchange came amid a new federal trade deal that lowers tariffs on some Chinese electric vehicles in exchange for China easing restrictions on. Canadian canola and other goods. Conservatives have already slammed the agreement for strengthening ties with Beijing, and Ma's line of questioning seemed aimed at challenging broader. Human rights concerns tied to Chinese supply chains.

1:01Opposition lawmakers quickly condemned Ma's approach. Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chung called it concerning and urged the liberal government to confirm its stance on weager force labor, including keeping sanctions in place. NDP National Security Critic, Jenny Kuan, accused Ma of either being uninformed or willfully ignoring established facts on the abuses. In 2021, Canada's Parliament labeled China's treatment of weagers in Xinjiang as genocide, of you shared by the United States, United Kingdom, and others. The United Nations has also raised ongoing alarms about force labor affecting minorities there, and Canada has imposed related sanctions. Modulator told reporters he believes force labor happens worldwide, but dodged specifics on China. His office described the questioning as a standard tactic to shift focus to a more favorable witness. McQuague Johnston called it a misguided effort to undermine credible evidence, noting the

2:01government's own strong anti-force labor laws. As calls grow for clarification from the Prime Minister's office, the debate underscores tensions in Canada-China relations.