Canadian troops trained alongside China’s military — and now Conservatives want Canada’s defence minister and top soldier hauled before committee as Ottawa revives military ties with Beijing.
Conservative defence critic James Bezan announced Tuesday that his party will seek a House of Commons defence committee study into the two controversies when Parliament resumes next week.
The proposed motion would probe both the revived Canada-China Defence Coordination Dialogue and revelations that three Canadian Armed Forces specialists trained alongside China’s PLA during a 2023 multinational exercise in Mongolia.
The Conservatives want Defence Minister David McGuinty, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan and other expert witnesses called before the committee.
“One of the goals of the training exercise was allegedly to ‘improve interoperability,’” Bezan said.
“This is extremely disturbing given the PLA’s track record of threatening neighbours like Taiwan and oppressing its own people at home.”
Newly released government documents reportedly show then-defence minister Anita Anand approved the deployment of three CAF specialists to Exercise Khaan Quest near Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from June 19 to July 2, 2023.
The multinational peace-support exercise included PLA personnel.
The revelations come as the Carney government recalibrates Canada’s broader relationship with Beijing and reopens military-to-military communications.
Canadian and Chinese defence officials met in Ottawa on September 4 for the fifth Canada-China Defence Coordination Dialogue — the first such meeting since 2018.
China publicly announced the meeting the following day, while Ottawa confirmed it only after media inquiries.
“This story comes after Canadians learned, through Beijing’s own state-controlled media, that the Liberals had resumed defence coordination talks with the People’s Republic of China,” Bezan said.
National Defence has also said the renewed talks are intended to maintain military-to-military communication and reduce the risk of miscalculation, while maintaining limits on deeper defence cooperation.
However, the renewed engagement marks a shift from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s rhetoric before taking office.
During the April 2025 federal leaders’ debate, Carney called China Canada’s “biggest security threat.”
Carney later said Canada would not have a “deep relationship” with China in sensitive areas including defence, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.
Since then, Carney’s government has recalibrated relations with Beijing, launching a new strategic partnership and reviving defence talks. National Defence insists the renewed military dialogue does not amount to deeper defence cooperation.
“There is a clear demand from the government to recalibrate and realign our relationship with China,” Carignan said last week.
Bezan, meanwhile, accused Carney of reversing course.
“Canadians deserve answers from this Liberal government as to why the Prime Minister has reversed course after calling China ‘the biggest security threat’ to our country,” he said.
The Defence Coordination Dialogue had been dormant since April 2018.
Canada and China signed a non-binding defence cooperation plan in 2013 covering military dialogue, humanitarian assistance, search and rescue, maritime security and non-combat training.
National Defence previously identified February 2018 as the last formal bilateral CAF-PLA training activity, when Chinese personnel observed winter survival training at CFB Petawawa.
The 2023 Khaan Quest deployment, however, was a multinational exercise in Mongolia involving multiple countries, rather than bilateral Canada-China training.
Bezan’s proposed committee motion calls for the study’s findings to be reported to the House of Commons.