The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says it has seized 4,300 liters of precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl and other illicit drugs in shipping containers coming from China and headed to Calgary.
The seizure took place in May at the Tsawwassen Container Examination Facility in Delta, B.C., but was publicly announced by CBSA on Thursday – a day before Prime Minister Mark Carney was scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
The border agency said agents inspected two shipping containers on May 13 and 15 and found 3,600 liters of 1,4-butanediol, which Canada classifies as a precursor for the production of GHB, also known as the “date-rape drug.”
Officers also found 500 liters of the fentanyl precursor propionyl chloride and 200 liters of gamma-butyrolactone from GBL, another date rape drug.
CBSA said the investigation is ongoing.
“This is yet another concrete example of the CBSA and RCMP’s relentless dedication to securing our border and stopping the flow of fentanyl,” Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said in a statement.
China is a major source of chemical precursors for the domestic production of illicit drugs, including fentanyl federal officials And independent experts.
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The US also accuses China of fueling the fentanyl crisis through the supply of precursors and opioids, and has sanctioned several Chinese chemical companies for this.
U.S. President Donald Trump met with Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Summit in South Korea on Thursday and said afterward that China agreed to “work diligently with us to stem the flow of fentanyl into our country.”
Trump said he will lower his across-the-board 20 percent tariff imposed on China on fentanyl precursor shipments to 10 percent after securing other economic commitments from Xi.
Carney said Monday that he and Xi will discuss “a wide range of issues, both in terms of the commercial relationship and the evolution of the global system” when they sit down together on Friday, but he made no mention of the fentanyl issue.
The meeting marks a significant thaw in relations and the first time the leaders of the two countries have formally met since Justin Trudeau met Xi during an official visit to China in 2017.
Foreign Minister Anita Anand said after visiting senior officials in China earlier this month that Canada now views Beijing as a strategic partner in a dangerous world — three years after Ottawa called China a “disruptive global power.”
Anand told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday that Canada and China are “in the process of recalibrating that relationship.” She said she continues to raise “important issues” with China, including transnational repression and human rights.
Carney’s meeting with Xi will come seven months after then-Foreign Minister Melanie Joly confirmed in March that four Canadians with dual Chinese citizenship were given the death penalty in China.
Joly said at the time that the federal government “strongly condemns” China’s actions for what they called “drug-related crimes.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said after Carney spoke with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in June that the leaders pledged to work together to tackle the fentanyl crisis while regularizing communications between the two countries.
The federal government says its $1.3 billion border security plan announced in December includes more than $355 million that “will help CBSA strengthen its front lines and obtain the latest tools and technology to stop drugs and guns.”
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