Group pushing businesses to stand up to China

Two months after it started, the impasse between Canadian canola farmers and the Chinese government seems far from over.

But the founder of a group called Suits and Boots, Rick Peterson, is tired of waiting around.

His group has launched a campaign called Stand up to China.

“It takes courage to stand up to a large entity like China, but it’s got to be done,” Peterson said.

Peterson wants people across the country to apply pressure by emailing and phoning key people who may be able to affect change in the dispute.

“We’re just simply saying to the ambassador, and the four consul generals, who are in Canada on behalf of China, ‘this is unfair; you can’t continue with business as usual,'” Peterson said.

He said that’s only part of the campaign.

“We’re launching the next phase of our campaign. We’re going to be targeting some of the Canadian organizations that are doing business with China, asking them to step up and stand up to China.”

Peterson wants companies who do business with China to realize while the impasse remains that companies can’t carry on with business as usual.

Peterson said Suits and Boots was started in April 2018, as a partnership. The group wanted to stand up for the resource sector voices that he said “never get heard.”

“The suits are the business people in the investment community. The boots are the people who work in the resource sector and now the agriculture sector across Canada,” Peterson added.

Suits and Boots has also voiced strong opposition to Bill C-69, legislation many worry will hurt the resource sector and future pipeline projects.