Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire arrive with his cabinet before his swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Nov 4. Chris Wattie / REUTERS

It was the father of the newly elected Canadian prime minister who opened relations with Beijing decades ago. Now a renewed diplomatic effort is underway, Eddy Lok and Na Li report.

A new chapter in onetime frosty but now steadily warming Canada-China relations has opened with Canada's new Liberal government promising to unleash the full potential of more fruitful years to come for both countries in a host of areas including trade, economic cooperation and other common goals.

Expected to improve and develop are the government-to-government relationship between Ottawa and Beijing, socio-cultural exchanges, trade and investment opportunities, economic and technological cooperation, tourism and education.

Under a new and younger Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the outlook appears reassuring and bright for Canada-China relations, which were established by none other than his late father Pierre Trudeau when he was prime minister decades ago.

Today, challenges remain.

"We are already seeing a marked change, more respectful of partners and adversaries, welcome for refugees and a restoration of Canada's past efforts to build bridges of understanding," said Professor Wendy Dobson of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a former associate deputy minister of finance in the Canadian government.

China and Canada are unequal in size when it comes to their economies and markets as well as populations, but the new prime minister is poised to pursue stronger relations with Beijing. Those relations experienced hiccups in the early years of the previous Conservative government, but had picked up a weak but steady momentum in recent years, Dobson said.

The youthful and telegenic Trudeau, 43, set the tone to forge stronger ties when he met President Xi Jinping at the recent G20 Summit in Turkey, saying he wanted a fresh approach for greater cooperation, since his late father forged diplomatic relations with China in 1970 and made a historic visit to Beijing in 1973 as prime minister.

"I am well aware we have an opportunity to set a fresh approach in our relationship right now. I certainly hope this is going to be an era of greater cooperation and mutual benefit for both Canada and China," Trudeau told Xi on the sidelines of the summit on Nov 16.

Trudeau touched on developing and strengthening economic, political and cultural ties with China during the meeting.