Freeland called back to testify on BC Ferries’ deal with Chinese shipyard

The controversy over BC Ferries making ship building deals with China doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

Former transport minister Chrystia Freeland is being called back to a committee to testify after emails suggested the ministry was given weeks of notice that BC Ferries was buying four new vessels from a Chinese shipyard.

The House of Commons transport committee unanimously passed the motion to have Freeland testify after The Globe and Mail reported on emails between BC Ferries CEO Nicolas Jimenez and Transport Canada deputy minister Arun Thangaraj.

Freeland had criticized the ferry deal after it became public in June, saying she was “dismayed” by BC Ferries’ decision to buy from state-owned China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank, a Crown corporation, loaned BC Ferries $1 billion to finance the purchase.

But the Globe said it obtained an April 29 email from Jimenez to Thangaraj outlining the potential issues including national-security concerns if BC Ferries went ahead with the plan.

In a subsequent email in June, Jimenez wrote to Thangaraj that he was “troubled” by Freeland’s reaction “despite my confidential heads up to you six weeks prior to the public rollout of our decision.”

A statement from BC Ferries said it would not be sharing the documents publicly and didn’t have anything further to add. But it referred The Canadian Press to the article in The Globe and Mail.

The transport committee motion, passed Thursday, calls for Freeland, other officials, and representatives for Canadian shipyards to be part of additional meetings.

Conservative MP Dan Albas told the committee Thursday that it was a “damning indictment” if Transport Canada was aware of the deal with the Chinese shipyard for six weeks and didn’t push back to protect Canadian jobs

He said it “blows a hole in (Freeland’s) narrative that she wanted BC Ferries to buy Canadian and was dismayed and upset about it.”

BC Ferries has said no Canadian companies bid for the contract to build the new vessels, following a five-year procurement process.

Freeland previously testified at an Aug. 1 meeting along with Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson and officials with the infrastructure bank.

She stepped down as transport minister this week to become Ottawa’s special envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine. She will remain in the House of Commons as an MP.

B.C. Premier David Eby was in Ottawa and said Thursday that concerns over the federal loan to buy the ships are “bizarre” given the amount of money Ottawa has spent on ferries in Eastern Canada, including from the same shipyard.

Eby said he met with newly appointed Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon and the BC Ferries deal was discussed.

Eby said he was disappointed there had not been more emphasis on what he called “the incredibly unfortunate treatment” of ferry users in British Columbia compared with those in Eastern Canada.

“The fact that the federal government paid for an entire ferry built at the same (Chinese) shipyard for Eastern Canada, and that it is somehow a problem that BC Ferries users get access to a low-interest loan, is bizarre,” he said.

“It is a situation where B.C. ferry users get, on average, $1 in federal subsidy, while eastern ferry users get $300 in federal subsidies. And so as a result, that disparity and that unfairness needs to be addressed.”

The Ala’suinu ferry was built by Weihai Shipyards and began sailing last year between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Like Eby, Jimenez reportedly said in an email that he couldn’t recall any “negative comments” when the same shipyard built Marine Atlantic’s ship.

Eby told a later news conference Thursday that both he and the federal government agreed Canada needs more shipbuilding capacity.

He said his message to Ottawa has been focused on fairness.

“British Columbians need to be treated fairly. If Eastern ferry-goers get their ferries paid for, so should we. If Eastern ferry-goers get $300 in subsidy, you know what? 50 bucks per ferry user in B.C. would go a long way for a lot of families and businesses.”

This report by Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press, was first published Sept. 18, 2025