Howard Balloch

Howard Balloch is a former Canadian diplomat. He was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to China, Mongolia and North Korea. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador, he served for two years in the Privy Council Office as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet for National Unity, a key position in the federal government up to and during the Quebec referendum on sovereignty of 1995. He was appointed to that position shortly after the Liberal Party won the federal election of 1993, and up to that time had been serving as Assistant Deputy Minister for Asia Pacific in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and had served in Jakarta and Prague.

Balloch is from Newfoundland. At the end of the 19th century, his grandfather, a tea merchant had resided in Fuzhou for over two decades. His grandfather's paintings and photos sparked Balloch's interest in China. Balloch served as Canada's ambassador to China between 1996 and 2001, assuming the role after his predecessor, John Lawrence Paynter, died in 1996. He became the ambassador to North Korea in 2001 while retaining his China ambassadorship. Balloch wrote the 2013 memoir Semi-Nomadic Anecdotes, which he self-published. Paul Wells said regarding the 1995 Quebec referendum, the book provides "the most detailed account we have of the federal government’s actions in that historic campaign". During the referendum, Balloch was the deputy secretary to the Cabinet for National Unity.

Following his retirement as ambassador in 2001, he founded The Balloch Group, a Beijing-based investment advisory and merchant banking firm. In Canada, reaction to the firm's founding was mixed with people both praising his bravery and labelling him as "nuts". The firm's goal was to help businesses operate in China. Balloch was the president of the Canada China Business Council in 2005. After Canaccord Genuity purchased The Balloch Group, he became a company director and assumed the role of chairman of Canaccord Genuity Asia.