Prince Albert's sister city, Jilin City, has a population of 4.5 million and is located in northeast China. (ID 157303908 © Ronald L | Dreamstime.com)

By Alison Sandstrom

Geopolitical puzzle

P.A. city councillors question partnership with Chinese sister city

Mar 3, 2021 | 12:49 PM

Canada’s strained diplomatic relationship with China has cast doubt on a two-decade-old partnership between Prince Albert and its Chinese sister city.

According to correspondence on Monday night’s Prince Albert city council agenda, Prince Albert and Jilin City have had an established friendly-city relationship since 1998 and have exchanged visits to discuss matters such as papermaking technologies and animal husbandry.

In the letter addressed to Mayor Greg Dionne, a representative from Jilin City said the municipality hoped to further strengthen the bond between the two cities.

Coun. Dawn Kilmer had other ideas.

She told council she wanted to see Prince Albert take a step back from the partnership until frosty diplomatic relationships between the two countries improved.

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“This is a federal government issue,” she said. “I feel that we should not be having any correspondence, especially until the two Michael’s are freed.”

Tensions between Canada and China escalated at the end of 2018 when China detained two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, in what is widely seen as retaliation for the arrest of Chinese business executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver.

Just last week, federal MPs voted to formally recognize China’s treatment of its Uighur population as genocide. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet abstained from the vote.

The connection between Prince Albert and Jilin City may be a very small piece of the geopolitical puzzle when it comes to Canada-China relations, but council decided to reach out to MP Randy Hoback’s office for advice on how to proceed.

“I feel that we should stop the sister city relationship and leave it to our federal government to further guide us,” Kilmer said.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom