On June 25, as the G20 met in Toronto, the grand, century-old Chateau Laurier in Ottawa became the stage for an unprecedented display of Canadian-Chinese economic knot-tying. Roughly 150 political dignitaries, executives, and legal counsel were herded into a ballroom for signing ceremonies related to 11 separate energy and natural resources investments by Chinese state-owned companies. After short speeches by ministers from both countries, the Chinese and Canadian executives were called up front to sign various deal documents.
Watching from the audience were lawyers from most of Canada’s elite law firms, who had shepherded the deals to this point. “It was this giant blowing of kisses,” says one of these lawyers.
