The move comes as Canada faces criticism from Donald Trump’s administration over its “unacceptable” efforts to combat forced labour.

The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (Core) was established by former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government to investigate the use of forced labour by industry. At the time, much of the focus was on China’s use of the Uyghur ethnic minority for what critics say was forced labour. Despite years of public reports from human rights groups, Beijing disputes claims it engages in modern day slavery.

Over its six years, however, Canada’s watchdog has only launched five investigations, including against three US clothing companies with operations in the country – Ralph Lauren, Nike and Levi Strauss – as well as two mining companies: GobiMin and Dynasty Gold Corp.

Uh huh. So politics then.