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Beijing’s ambassador to Canada insisted in his “crude” remarks that China’s just as eager to learn the oil business as it is to import Canada’s oil.

Is Canada getting played by its (ostensible) new best friend? It looks like it to me, and many Canadians are skeptical of China’s motives.

And China certainly doesn’t want to be cast as the oil-sucking villain who despoils northern British Columbia’s pristine environment with pipelines leading to its oil tankers. The envoy’s remarks could be seen as China getting political cover for proposed pipeline projects