Canada Steamship Lines partnered with China in 1986

By Brian McAdam & Judi McLeod
Friday, December 16, 2005 

 

Flying flags of convenience is an image problem for Canada Steamship Lines, the company Canada Prime Minister Paul Martin turned over to his three sons. In order to save on taxes, CSL vessels ply the oceans under foreign flags, including the flag of Liberia.

The technology for the self-unloading dry bulk commodities transportation capability that sets CSL apart from other shipping lines has long been provided by China,canadafreepress.com has learned,

"A business cooperation agreement was signed here today between CITIC (China International Trust and Investment Corporation and CSL (Canada Steamship Lines Inc.). Under the agreement, CITIC will provide various support and assistance services for CSL in connection with its developing business interests in China, particularly in the area of dry bulk commodities transportation." (The Xinhua General Overseas News Service, May 8, 1986).

"The agreement was signed by CITIC President Xu Zhaolong and CSL Chairman Paul. E. Martin.

"After the signing, Martin told Xinhua that CSL is interested in transferring technology connected with self-unloading bulk vessels. The transfer would include technical assistance to Chinese shipyards related to the design and construction of self-unloading carriers CSL is also interested to invest in joint ventures in China in the area of water transportation of dry bulk commodities."

As a businessman set up by the Montreal-based, Desmarais family run Power Corporation, Paul Martin sold out to communist China some 20 years before he ever became Canada's prime minister.

The vessels of his former company, held in trust since he became prime minister and still operated by his three sons, would be more honestly run as sailing under the Red Star.

Now it makes sense why four years ago, Canadian Steamship Lines International, a CSL subsidiary, entered into a deal with Shanghai based Jiangnan Shipyards to build two bulk cargo vessels–at $45-million per ship.

The Sheila Ann, a bulk carrier named after Martin's wife, was built in China in 1999. A few days after Martin's June 28, 2004 election as Canadian Prime Minister, 83 kilograms of cocaine, with a street value between $12-million to $14-million was found in an underwater grate attached to the bottom of the China-built vessel.

This is not the first time the Montreal-based company has ordered new vessels from Asia, where shipyards are heavily subsidized by the government and free of many of the safety and environmental standards that constrain Canadian competitors.

According to the Calgary Herald, the PM's sons ordered new ships from China in June of 2005.

Martin and a partner bought CSL from the Montreal-based Power Corporation for $180-million in 1981. There is no doubt that as the owner of CSL, Martin became a wealthy man.

This is the background of the organization that Martin signed a deal with in 1986.

CITIC is a People's Liberation Arm (PLA) conglomerate whose subsidiaries Polytechnologies and Norinco are the world' largest manufacturers of arms and weapons of mass destruction, which they smuggle to rogue nations such as Iraq, Iran, North Korea etc, (Red Dragon Rising, by Edward Timperlake and William Triplett, pgs, 73-4,77,79,81.105,112,118).

This is a corporation, which answers to ruling political leaders in China, who are documented for an appalling human rights record.

When the Canadian connections to CITIC are examined, one wonders if Paul Martin wasn't bought and paid for in Chinese currency long ago.

Former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's son-in-law, Andre Desmarais, President of Power Corp, is linked to CITIC through his investments in this Communist Chinese conglomerate and by being on the CITIC (Pacific) board of directors.

Power Corp. purchased 4% of the shares of CITIC (Pacific) in May 2000. Beijing's CITIC derives nearly all its profits from the Hong Kong subsidiary, CITIC Pacific. CITIC and Power Corp, have several joint ventures in Canada and China and a CITIC executive acts as an adviser to Power Corp.

Unabashed China booster Maurice Strong is a former Power Corp. CEO, who hired Paul Martin during his Power Corp. tenure,

It was the Desmarais family, readers may recall, who sold CSL to Martin, and Martin who signed a deal with CITIC to take CSL to the self-loading bulk commodities transportation stage.

There's a stench here that smells more like nepotism than narcissus.