Canadian Government Discreet About Participation in WEF Davos Meeting

World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab delivers a speech during the "Crystal Award" ceremony at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, on Jan. 16, 2023. (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland met with her colleagues on the board of trustees of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Jan. 20, but beyond this piece of information contained in a succinct itinerary released by her office, the government is remaining mum about its participation.

The Epoch Times has throughout the week contacted several departments several times to obtain basic information about Canada’s involvement, such as the delegation’s size and associated costs, as well as the government’s objective.

Requests to Freeland’s press secretary and the Privy Council Office were left unanswered by publication time.

Global Affairs Canada, which had its Minister of International Trade Mary Ng participating, deferred to Finance as the department with the lead.

Finance told The Epoch Times it wouldn’t answer and leave it to Freeland’s press secretary.

No department apparently issued any press release about this year’s WEF meeting.

Last year, Innovation Canada had issued a short media advisory to announce that its minister François-Philippe Champagne would be attending the forum in May.

Trustee

Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland appears as a witness at a Senate committee on national finance in Ottawa on Dec. 7, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Freeland’s official role as a WEF trustee has garnered public interest in recent years, as Canada’s involvement in WEF initiatives is scoped out.

The Trudeau government signed-on to at least two WEF projects, the Agile Nations and the Known Traveller Digital Identity (KTDI).

The Agile Nations seeks to usher in the WEF-promoted “Fourth Industrial Revolution” by streamlining regulations to allow the proliferation of new technologies such as gene editing and artificial intelligence.

The KTDI, as its name indicates, relates to the use of digital credentials to travel across borders. Transport Canada said last October the project had stalled and an inquiry about its status is open with the department.

Concerns about MPs and ministers participating in the WEF have reached the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner numerous times.

The office said in its latest annual report having received over 1,000 requests to investigate on the matter in February and March 2022.

The commissioner wrote that the requests “did not provide sufficient information to warrant an investigation.”

Minister Freeland’s official involvement with the WEF is disclosed in the office’s public registry and has been cleared by the commissioner as not violating the Conflict of Interest Act, which applies to ministers, or the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons.

Filings by elected officials and opinions of the commissioner on the matter are confidential.

ATIP

If government media relations teams have not been keen on addressing the WEF, going through the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) route has not been more successful.

The Epoch Times filed an information request with the Finance Department to obtain all communications between Minister Freeland and her leadership colleagues in the WEF.

The request produced a single email invitation from a redacted sender.

“The EDISON Alliance and Giga Initiative are pleased to invite you to a high-level roundtable co-hosted by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) during the upcoming World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters,” says the May 2022 email.

“Given your crucial role and demonstrated leadership in advancing development globally, your contributions to the discussion would be most valuable.”

A similar ATIP request sent to the Finance Department by lawyer Daniel Freiheit had also produced a single letter written to Freeland by WEF president Borge Brende, which Freiheit posted on Twitter in September.

The letter thanked Freeland for joining the board of trustees and invited her to the annual meeting.

“The Forum will work closely with your office to ensure that your participation is of the highest relevance to your work,” it says.

The Epoch Times specifically asked for all communications between Freeland and Brende, but our ATIP did not return related results.