Minister of Finance Zbyněk Stanjura in Canada: Direct flights and correspondence vote

The Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic, Mr. Zbyněk Stanjura, visited Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver from the 27^th to 31^st of October, 2024. In each city Minister Stanjura held talks with Canadian counterparts, met compatriots and held business meetings with investors and trade partners.

Among his political partners, Minister Stanjura met with the Speaker of the House of Commons of the Canadian Parliament, Mr. Greg Fergus, who subsequently participated in the celebration of the Czech Republic's National Day in Ottawa. Furthermore, Minister Stanjura met with the Canadian Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Development Ms. Mary Ng, the Deputy Minister of Finance Mr. Chris Forbes, the Chairman of the Canadian Parliamentary Group of Friends of the Czech Republic and Member of Parliament Mr. John Brassard, and the Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister of Finance Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan. In British Columbia, Minister Stanjura met with the Mayor of Vancouver, Mr. Ken Sim. The topics of the meeting included economic and trade cooperation between the Czech Republic and Canada, including investments, joint support of Ukraine, as well as energy, strategic and critical raw materials and technologies.

Minister Stanjura also held talks with business and investment partners. In Toronto, he spoke at an economic seminar attended by representatives from Canada’s financial sector. In Ottawa, he negotiated with the management of the Canadian flag carrier Air Canada about a direct air connection between the Czech Republic and Canada. In the first phase, direct flights will be operated by Air Canada in the summer of 2025, and negotiations have focused on steps towards its possible expansion. In Vancouver, Minister Stanjura acted as the keynote speaker at an economic conference aimed at strengthening trade between Canada, especially its western provinces, and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, within the CETA free trade agreement. He also met with Euro Manganese Inc. from British Columbia, which is preparing a project to extract manganese from mine tailings in Chvaletice in the Czech Republic. Additionally, Minister Stanjura visited Quantum Technology, a company developing new technologies in for the production and processing of hydrogen and helium. Notably, Quantum Technology sources hi-tech components from the Czech company European Cryogenics, and discussed possible involvement of other Czech companies, universities and research centers, including within the EU’s Horizont Europe and EUREKA research frameworks. He also personally visited Pacific Rim Engineered Products in Surrey near Vancouver, which was acquired by the Czech engineering firm Wikov Industry last year and supplies industrial gearboxes from the Czech Republic for a number of projects in the oil, gas, mining and maritime industries in the USA and Canada.

Minister Stanjura also met with compatriots in Canada, with whom he discussed the correspondence election, which was approved in the Czech Republic this year. Czech citizens will have the opportunity to cast their ballots in a correspondence manner for the first time in history during the Czech general elections next year. Due to the huge distances in Canada, the second largest country in the world, and the fact that, previously, Czech citizens could only vote in the Czech elections at the offices in Ottawa and Toronto, it was largely compatriots from more distant parts of Canada who called for the possibility of voting by correspondence.

Along with technical discussions with the Czech community, Minister Stanjura opened a series of Czech music concerts and receptions for the national holiday of the Czech Republic in Toronto and Ottawa, which provided an opportunity to meet compatriots, but also Canadian partners and friends of the Czech Republic. In Vancouver, Minister Stanjura opened the first ever Czech National Day Reception in the history of the west coast of Canada, which was further enhanced by the exhibition "The Story of Hančina Kufřík". It depicts the sad story of Hana Bradyová, the little sister of Czech-Canadian Jiří Brady, who was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz. The silver lining of this sad history is the fact that the book about this story and the resulting exhibitionhave become sought-after resources for teaching of the dangers of the Holocaust and the efforts to prevent such horrors from being repeated. The story is also connected the Czech Republic, Canada, Israel and Japan through their ties to the Brady siblings.

On the west coast, Minister Stanjura also symbolically reopened the Czech Honorary Consulate in Vancouver, newly headed by Mr. Russel Banzet, which will provide help and support to compatriots and Czech tourists in the province of British Columbia (except for the Vancouver Island area, covered by the Honorary Consulate of the Czech Republic in Victoria).

During his visit to Ottawa, Minister of Finance Stanjura personally congratulated Mr. Otto Jelinek, Czech-Canadian medalist in figure ice skating and later Canadian Minister of Sport and Finance, as well as the Canadian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Ambassador Martin Tlapa who presented the Medal For the Merit in Diplomacy, awarded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Mr. Jan Lipavský.

The visit of Finance Minister Zbyňek Stanjura strengthened the visibility and presence of the Czech Republic in Canada and will contribute to greater economic cooperation. The Czech Republic has an excellent name in Canada thanks to music, culture, architecture and ice hockey and to an increasingly thanks to Czech universities. In Canada, which is the 10th largest economy in the world, a number of Czech companies such as Wikov and Litostroj Power, Colt CZ Group, LINET, and Czechvar (Budvar) are already operating; HUTIRA, TŘINECKÉ ŽELEZÁRNY, Škoda Group and many others also export to Canada. Priority and growing sectors for Czech-Canadian cooperation include engineering, transport infrastructure, mining and chemical industries, energy, aviation, life sciences (primarily the pharmaceutical industry and medical technology), service sector, construction and ICT. Thanks to the application of the CETA free trade agreement, which was negotiated as a result of the 1st Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2009, Czech exports to Canada have increased by 92% over the last 9 years and reached 1 billion Canadian dollars, while EU-Canada trade increased by 65%.