SCARBOROUGH, ONT.—Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has just returned from China, accompanied by a high-powered delegation of senior business and financial leaders, including the governor of the Bank of Canada. The visit follows Prime Minister Mark Carney’s own trip to China earlier this year.

At roughly the same time, coincidentally, one might say United States President Donald Trump has issued a new series of trade demands, among them concerns about forced labour in supply chains. It is a reasonable assumption that the president’s interest in forced labour is less about principle and more about leverage. He has already criticized Canada’s engagement with China, warning that we risk exposure to Chinese pressure; as opposed, presumably, to his own unique talent for insults and bullying.

Meanwhile, completing this circle of absurdity, China continues to deny the existence of forced labour in its supply chains.

Spare a thought for Prime Minister Carney, who must navigate this country’s interests while ping-ponging between these competing pressures. In his Davos speech back in January, Carney spoke of the need to “take the sign out of the window,” and move beyond comfortable compliance. That call now meets reality. The positions of both China and the U.S. reveal themselves for what they are: exercises in bully maximization.

So, how should Canada respond?

The answer is neither rhetorical defiance, nor passive accommodation. It is disciplined, coherent policy.

Canada already has the building blocks of a credible approach to responsible business conduct. These include the Forced and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, import prohibitions on goods produced with forced labour, and commitments under the OECD Guidelines and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Each of these tools addressed a real gap at the time it was introduced. But, taken together, they do not yet function as a system.

In practice, companies, communities, and policymakers encounter them as separate processes rather than parts of a unified framework. Transparency requirements are not clearly connected to prevention. Enforcement mechanisms are not consistently informed by complaints or findings. Access to remedies exists, but its relationship to regulatory tools remains uncertain.

The result is fragmentation where coherence is needed.

Canada does not lack policy instruments. It lacks integration and enforcement.

A modern framework for responsible business conduct should align transparency, prevention, enforcement, and remedy into a single, reinforcing system. This is not about adding regulatory burden. It is about designing a framework that is predictable, credible, and effective—for both companies and policymakers.

Global expectations are moving quickly in this direction. Key trading partners other than China and the U.S. are advancing integrated approaches to supply chain accountability and human rights due diligence. Canadian firms operating internationally are already adapting. A fragmented domestic regime risks placing them at a competitive disadvantage.

A coherent Canadian approach would do the opposite. It would provide clarity, reduce duplication, and support responsible companies seeking to meet rising global standards.

In a world increasingly shaped by pressure politics, this country needs more than good intentions. It needs a distinguishing strategy.

As we navigate between two global super powers, we should define ourselves not by their demands, but by our own discipline. That means putting substance behind Carney’s Davos message: we are no longer relying solely on the strength of our values, but on the value of our strength.

At the core of that strength should be supply chain accountability and the consistent defence and application of fundamental human rights.

If we fail to act with coherence and conviction, Canadian companies will bear the cost—caught between competing pressures without the benefit of a clear national framework.

But if we get this right, Canada can do more than withstand the pressures of others. We can stand up and stand out.

John McKay is the former Liberal Member of Parliament for Scarborough–Guildwood, Ont., and was the Canadian co-chair of the Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group.

The Hill Times