The Prime Minister`s visit to China continues a tradition established by Jean Chrétien and has culminated in the signing of a number of agreements designed to smooth trade and investment between the two countries. Of note, the Foreign Investment Protection Agreement has been 20 years in the making and still will require a couple years of work before it will be ratified. So in these aspects the visit extends the natural growth in the relationship between China and Canada even given the human rights focus that derailed the relationship for the first five years that Stephen Harper was Prime Minister.

But it would be a mistake to miss how the Prime Minister is positioning Canada as a stable supplier of China`s massive energy needs as a way of breaking down the considerable opposition to pipeline construction West across British Columbia that would be necessary to support the continued rise in tar sands oil production.

Opponents of tar sands production have understood that the best way to block accelerating production is to choke off transportation by working with environmental groups in the United States and in Canada with Aboriginal leaders and the environmental lobby. A titanic battle is about to begin and the Prime Minister has raised the stakes with his visit to China.

Over the next couple of years some of the great themes of Canadian political economy are going to play themselves out in the fight to harvest the oil sands and ship its product.

Those themes include foreign ownership, calls for a national energy strategy with self-sufficiency as a key goal, increasing the value added in Canada, balancing the country`s economic relationship between the United States and a rival country, federal versus provincial control of resources (wait to see the fireworks if the NDP win the next provincial election in British Columbia as every poll suggests they will), and the sanctity of the regulatory process.

Be prepared.

Attached are a few important background documents that are fueling the Prime Minister`s shift in strategy.

Pdf below -- Canada, China and Asia: A Strategic Proposal

Pdf below -- The Dragon Returns: Canada in China`s Quest for Energy Security

Pdf below -- Canada-China Building a Strong Economic Partnership

Pdf below -- Advancing Our Economic Ties with China

Some commentary.

National Post -- Panda Politics: It`s Tricker Than You Think

BC Free Press -- BC Be Damned: Alberta`s Intent to Clear a Path for Tar Sands

Huffington Post -- Harper Mixes Oil with Human Rights

New York Times -- The Poisoned Politics of Keystone

And don`t forget about seals.

Economist -- Canada and China: Sealing the Deal