Canadian businesses say they've lost deals with Chinese companies because the Conservative government hasn't worked hard enough to court the Asian economic superpower.

"Our members have told us that over the course of the last few years some of the contracts they were hoping to win, they have not won, that our competitors in other countries have won," said Peter Harder, president of the Canadian Chinese Business Council.

"There is certainly a view held by Canadian businesses, in some cases, that the absence of a political relationship did not help our business cause."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper leaves this morning for a five-day visit to China. It will be the first time Harper visits the economic powerhouse.

In opposition, Harper was critical of China's human rights record and famously failed to attend the 2008 Beijing Games, a move many said harmed Canada's business interests.

CIBC's chief economist Avery Shenfeld says China is unlike other economies because much of the business interests there are controlled by the state.

"The prime minister meeting the president of the United States won't really open any business deals," Shenfeld said. "But in China, it's important to have official ties at high levels before you do business."

In 2008, Canada exported $10.3 billion worth of goods to China. Canada, however, imported four times that amount from China.

Most of Canada's exports are resource related, but Canadian banks are keen to use their sound financial management credentials, earned during the most recent financial crisis, as a way to open the door to retail banking and other services.

"Financial organizations like to go where the money is and there is a lot of money in China, their savings rates are extraordinarily high," said Erik Nilsson, a senior international economist at Scotiabank.

PETER.ZIMONJIC@SUNMEDIA.CA