FederAL GOVERNMENT & Agencies: 1)(Updated) Carney says meeting with Xi marks turning point in Canada-China relationship; 2) Money & Drugs: Financial intelligence agency stresses stepped-up role in fight against fentanyl

1)(Updated) Carney says meeting with Xi marks turning point in Canada-China relationship

Courtesy Barrie 360 and Canadian Press

By Sarah Ritchie, October, 2025

Carney, Xi meet on sidelines of APEC summit in South Korea

Prime Minister Mark Carney walked away from a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday with an invitation to China, but no movement on the trade issues that have plagued the relationship.

Still, Carney said he was “very pleased” with the outcome.

“We now have a turning point in the relationship, a turning point that creates opportunities for Canadian families, for Canadian businesses and Canadian workers, and also creates a path to address current issues,” he told reporters.

Carney and Xi spoke for nearly 40 minutes on Friday afternoon on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, South Korea.

The prime minister said he accepted Xi’s invitation to visit China, though he gave no indication of when that may happen. He is expected to travel to the country when it hosts the APEC summit next year.

The last visit by a Canadian prime minister was in 2017— also the last time the leaders of the two countries held an official meeting.

In a brief statement as the meeting began, Carney applauded the constructive engagement on both sides in the last several months.

“Distance is not the way to solve problems, not the way to serve our people with people-centred growth, as you have advocated for,” he said to Xi.

Carney did not answer questions Friday evening about whether the meeting yielded any change in the trade relationship.

Canadian canola producers, seafood exporters and pork farmers are dealing with steep Chinese tariffs in retaliation for the 100 per cent tariffs Canada imposed on Chinese electric vehicles, batteries and other goods last year.

China’s ambassador in Ottawa recently said Beijing would drop its levies if Ottawa cancels the EV tariffs.

An official statement about the meeting from the Prime Minister’s Office said the leaders directed their officials “to move quickly to resolve outstanding trade issues and irritants” and noted they spoke about sensitive issues including canola, seafood and electric vehicles.

Carney has overseen a shift in tone from the Trudeau government, which branded Beijing as a “disruptive global power” whose values don’t align with Canada three years ago in its Indo-Pacific strategy.

Now, Canada has identified China as a strategic partner in a turbulent world as the government aims to rapidly increase exports to countries that are not the United States.

The relationship between Canada and China collapsed in 2018, when Canada arrested Chinese telecom executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States.

China responded by detaining two Canadian men, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, detentions that Canada said were arbitrary.

In 2022, Xi angrily confronted former prime minister Justin Trudeau at the G20 summit and claimed his government was leaking information to media.

Canada’s concerns over foreign interference have dominated the relationship more recently. In January, a federal inquiry declared that “China is the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions” at all levels.

The inquiry report said Beijing “poses the most sophisticated and active cyber threat to Canada,” citing social media disinformation campaigns. China has rejected these claims, saying they lack clear evidence and echo tropes about Chinese people as malicious actors.

In April, Carney called China “the biggest security threat” facing Canada. But he has changed his tone drastically since then, saying in September that said Canada could “engage deeply” with China on energy and basic manufacturing, and that Beijing is “very sincere and engaged” on climate change because it’s “a country run by engineers.”

Carney has said sensitive projects that touch on national security should be off-limits to China, and his government is advancing an Arctic foreign policy that is skeptical of Chinese research in the region, as it often comes with military applications.

China’s foreign ministry has said Beijing wants to build ties with Canada through mutual respect, noting the two have “a broad space for co-operation,” in an Oct. 17 statement.

Both Xi and Carney say they want to uphold the rules-based order and international trading system, though each country has a vastly different understanding of what that means.

China executed four Canadian citizens in early 2025. Beijing said at the time all four were dual citizens and had been rightfully prosecuted on drug charges. Abbotsford, B.C., native Robert Schellenberg remains on death row in China since 2019.

Ottawa participates in naval exercises in the Taiwan Strait meant to signal the area remains international territory — exercises that particularly annoy Beijing.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has said while engagement with Taiwan is not going to end, Canada still adheres to its One China policy.

“Diplomacy is not walking away from tough issues. Diplomacy is being able to have the conversation about Canadian interests and Canadian values,” she told the House foreign affairs committee Thursday, as MPs challenged her on calling China a strategic partner.

— With files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa

2) Money & Drugs: Financial intelligence agency stresses stepped-up role in fight against fentanyl

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Jim Bronskill, October 30, 2025

The federal anti-money laundering agency says it made more than 100 disclosures of “actionable financial intelligence” in support of probes into illicit opioids between last November and the end of March of this year.

In its newly tabled report for 2024-25, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre says the disclosures to law enforcement partners were just one part of the agency’s efforts to curb the proliferation of deadly fentanyl, which has driven a devastating overdose crisis in Canada.

The federal centre, known as Fintrac, identifies cash linked to money laundering and terrorism by sifting through millions of pieces of data annually from banks, insurance companies, securities dealers, money service businesses, real estate brokers, casinos and others. 

The agency then discloses the resulting financial intelligence to its partners, including Canada’s spy agency, the RCMP and other police services.

The information also supports the work of the Joint Intelligence Operational Cell, a federal body bringing law enforcement and intelligence agencies together with government departments to counter transnational organized crime, money laundering and drug trafficking.

Fintrac director Sarah Paquet says in the annual report the agency shifted existing resources to set up a rapid intelligence production team to prioritize the disclosure of financial intelligence related to illicit opioids and transnational criminal organizations.

Fintrac also provided a financial crime expert to the office of Kevin Brosseau, Canada’s fentanyl czar, to support his efforts to tackle the illicit financing associated with the drug, Paquet says in the report.

The agency also helped businesses identify and assess the money laundering risks associated with illicit opioids, apply measures to manage those risks and report relevant transactions to Fintrac, the report says.

Fintrac has been highlighting the scourge of opioids for years.

In early 2018, it warned that traffickers were exploiting Canadian money service businesses to buy fentanyl from overseas and then launder the proceeds through banks and credit unions.

Its latest efforts followed the U.S. administration’s expressions of concern about the southbound flow of fentanyl into the United States — criticism it used to justify tariffs against Canada.

Brosseau has said while Canada is not a significant source of fentanyl entering the United States, even small amounts can have devastating effects.

Fintrac’s annual report says the agency’s financial intelligence also assisted more broadly in investigations linked to money laundering, including probes involving human trafficking, auto theft, terrorist financing and threats to the security of Canada.

That information led to more than 200 major investigations and hundreds of other probes across the country and internationally, the report adds.

It says Fintrac issued 23 notices of violation last year for non-compliance with legislation and regulations, with penalties amounting to more than $25 million.

The agency says it also disclosed 32 cases of non-compliance directly to law enforcement for potential criminal investigation — the largest number since Fintrac was created in 2000.

“Combating money laundering and terrorist financing is a moral and social imperative,” Paquet says in the report. “Whether it’s drug trafficking, fraud, auto theft, human trafficking or online child sexual exploitation, these crimes threaten our communities and our most vulnerable citizens.”