Message from the Chair of CanCham
A very Happy New Year to all members of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, our colleagues at the Canadian Consulate in Shanghai, the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, our new Jiangsu Chapter, our friends at CanCham PRD, our colleagues at CCBC in Beijing and Toronto and, of course, all Canadian citizens at large – living in China or with special interests in China – and, finally all friends of Canada, everywhere.
As Founding Chair of CanCham Shanghai, I coordinated the creation of a solid, democratic business and community organization in 2008 to assist Canadians doing business in and with China achieve success. Our guidelines are clearly stated in our CanCham Constitution, a document devised to assist in upholding Canadian ethics and business practices while we do business with our country’s second-largest trading partner, China.
As guests in China and as long-time contributors to Canada-China trade ties, we represent on-the ground experience and expertise that is invaluable in reporting back to policy makers in Ottawa and elsewhere and in leading the way in persevering through difficult times and prospering during good times. My deepest respect and admiration goes out to the companies, entrepreneurs, educators, entertainers, inventors, bankers and others who have demonstrated commitment to the China market. Many of you are long- time members of our Chamber and, in 2026, we plan to engage others of you, bringing you into our Canadian community and bolstering our National pride as innovative, intelligent, industrious and resilient contributors to business growth.
I would like to take this opportunity, on New Year’s Day, to thank the people who form the backbone of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai – our Board of Directors, our Advisory Council and our dedicated staff who execute the activities that support the goals of the organization, as determined by the Board of Directors and supported by the Advisory Council. Thank you – Willy Wang, Novax Mao, Alex Cérat, Lin Zhang, Eric Rupert, Eunice Wang, Daniel Cheng, Paul Moysiuk, Simon-Pierre Turcotte, Matthew Chiang, Kevin Tsui, XiaoJia Guo, Donghai Du, Olivia Zhou, Tony Fong, Robert Martin, Alix Li, and Dominic Desmarais – thank you for volunteering your time and energy and dedicating yourselves to the betterment of Canada-China relations and trade.
And also, a very big thank you to the team in the CanCham office who work tirelessly and loyally to ensure that our programs are well-planned and executed and that the needs of our members are being addressed. Thank you, Sherry Chui, Susan Bi, Sissi Slaney, Lulu Wang, Diovanna Negeski, Émile Pelletier, Fartun Said and our Advisor, Donghai Du. We are especially blessed this year to have increased visits by members of the Board of Directors to the CanCham office to ensure that actions are aligned with our goals.
It has been a wonderful, collaborative Autumn of alignment which is taking us into 2026 with round tables, symposiums, networking events and business meetings already in place. And we will be reaching out to every single member to make sure that we understand and address your needs. Additionally, we are hoping for more high-level visits from our government leaders. I spoke recently in Ottawa with the Parliamentary Secretary to our Prime Minister and it is very possible that we will be seeing Mark Carney in Shanghai soon. All this to say, as we enter 2026, all is going well at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. We’re engaged with the Canadian Government, with the Chinese Government, with all stakeholders in the Canada-China relationship, our membership is climbing and our services are expanding, even into new areas.
Happy New Year to you all. I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming Canuck Connection Networking events, which will be a regular feature of every month – to share camaraderie, business knowledge, and a drink.
All my best to you all,
Mark Ceolin,
Chair, CanCham Shanghai.
