Beautiful writing. Someone asked "How did we get here?" I'll tell you, cause you're asleep and if you wake up you'll be called a name like "racist". Next question.
There's a lot of that, I'm afraid. The NDP has been useless on this file, sadly, although lately Heather McPherson's been okay as foreign affairs critic. Dawn Black was pretty good back in the day too. But more than one NDP MP has told me they keep quiet because they don't want to be called "sinophobes." This drives my Chinese friends crazy.
I feel my disillusionment with the "left" (or whatever you want to call it) can't go much further, and then it does. Not that the conservative parties in Canada/US/UK are offering much better.
Exactly, remember when COVID hit, it was go to a Chinese restaurant, don't be racist. Tam was more concerned about our potential of being racist more than protecting our Seniors. We need to question our Politicians and shut down anyone who pushes don't be racist. This is National Security not a social issue...
You’re the main reason I started reading Substack so good for you folks still flying the flag of investigative journalism.
I’ve seen the impact of state and non-state Chinese businesses in the trenches of the oil patch but now realize that was just a small piece of CCP influence in Canada. Keep drawing back that curtain because we need some serious changes to protect our country.
This reporting has moved me to become a paid subscriber. Do you think there is any hope of getting rid of these crooks before Canada is completely destroyed?
As for hope: I think there's hope that the Trudeau government has disgraced itself so badly on this file that it won't be survivable without a 180-degree turn, which we're seeing now. I've been covering this stuff for years, and I always said that China would be Trudeau's undoing. That hasn't happened. It may nto happen. But I genuinely believe the Liberal establishment's agenda crashed and burned when Beijng abducted the Mikes.
They reckoned quite reasonably that they could get away with it, that Trudeau would cave on Meng Wanzhou. They'd been given every reason to think they could pull it off because they listen to Chretien and Yuen Pau Woo and McCallum and Peter Harder and John Manley, and Canada's "Friends of China" were telling Trudeau to cave. Freeland said no, we're rule of law people, we aren't going to cave. Abd Trudeau had just come through that whole SNC Lavelin episode where hed5been shouting that he had faithfully abided by the rule of law. So we didn't cave. If we had, no country would have ever trusted our extradition laws again, and we'd be sitting ducks for any thug state with a penchant for hostage diplomacy. I've never encountered any evidence to suggest that Beijing was merely gambling. They really thought they could pull it off.
Didn't start with Trudeau. It goes all the way back to the 'missionary kids" generation of the Pearson era. It was put into high gear in Chretien's time. Harper couldn't stand it, but he used to get beat up in the business press every time he raised his voice, especially by the Globe when Greenspon was the editor (Greenspon went on to work for the Trudeau Liberals doing p.r. for the China lobby (I'm not making this up). There have been Conservatives in on it, too. Some comically. Stockwell Day once compared Beijing's belt and road to the invention of the wheel and the discovery of fire (not making that up either). The Conservative cabinet was split on the CNOOC-Nexen bid. The compromise was 'ok this time, but that's it.' The Liberals are fond of saying, 'yes but Harper signed a FIPA with Beijing!' forgetting that the Liberals voted with the Conservatives against an NDP motion to scrap the agreement. I was just as hard on the Conservatives about this as I am on the Liberals. It's not my fault that the Liberals are way, way worse on this file, and they're the government now, after all. The Chretien-Trudeau Liberals are the political wing of the Canada-China Business Council, basically.
An excellent potted summary of the situation in this comment. This circus has been operating in all three rings since the "Mish Kids" era. I saw no noticeable pullback on China during the Harper government. And drilling down to the provincial and municipal level it only gets uglier.
The Harper cabinet was split, especially on Chinese SOEs sloshing all that money around in the oilpatch. Harper started out a serious hawk on China, and to be fair he was open-armed with the Dalai Lama - can you imagine Trudeau embracing the Tibetan leader now? Of course you can't. The thing is, Harper kept getting beaten up by the business press for this, especially when Greenspon was editor of the Globe (the Globe's been great on China since Greenspon left; and he left to run interference for the Canada-China trade crowd). So Harper did what he said he'd never do, 'go along to get along.' He did let CNOOC-Nexen through, but was clear it'd be the last SOE acquisition in the oilpatch on his watch. China punished Canada for this - FDI dropped by something like 90 percent in a single year. And Harper did sign the FIPA deal. Liberal partisans love to bring up to change the subject, coveniently avoiding the fact that the Liberals voted with the Conservatives to uphold FIPA against an NDP motion. I was just as hard on Harper as I am on Trudeau on these issues, by the way. You can look it up.
I agree. Harper did start out with an anti-China slant. He didn’t get far with it. The business lobby was too strong and to be fair it wasn’t really obvious yet which way things were going to go in China.
Hey buddy. I work for Postmedia. I'm "conflicted" about the media subsidies because if Postmedia didn't take any cash and everyone else was taking cash, there'd be no Postmedia. But my preference would be - nobody gets money, and if the CBC is to be subsidized, they can't take commercial ads. I used to say, 'don't cut the CBC budget, double it, just go through the whole place like a wolf through a flock of sheep.' I'm beginning to think I was wrong. . .
As my wise Scottish grandmother said, "he who pays the piper, calls the tune." If the government is paying the piper, guess who's tune he is going to play.
I hear that. On the other hand, you've got phony "journalists" like Jesse Brown, Glenn Greenwald, and Aaron Mate positioning themselves as courageous, independent "truth tellers" unafraid to tackle the big questions and have the tough debates because they don't receive government funding (at least not Canadian funding, with the latter two.)
I subscribe to Post Media and other outlets because it's important to do so. Big tech has changed the playing field so we need to find a way to preserve local journalism that works for all of us and not just for the powerful. I do not pretend to know how we will get there.
I'm beginning to think it might be better to knock the public-money struts out from underneath all media organizations and pass a simple law requiring institutions that claim to be journalism enterprises to divulge their funding sources. I spend (last time I filed my taxes) more than $3,000/yr on news subscriptions of various kinds, but it's my job, so I have to. I can't expect normal people to do that.
Hmmm. Could Canadian media really survive with no public funding? Wouldn’t it be swallowed up by American and foreign media? On the other hand, while I have always fiercely believed in the value of public broadcasters, when I look at English CBC, I wonder what the hell is going on (there are still some really top notch journalists though, like Natasha Fatah.)
Good questions. I wonder too. I suspect that it would be bedlam in the first innings, but a great number of people really *do* prefer at least a handful of places where there is consensus across the spectrum about what the truth is, regardless of the differing opinions they might form about common understandings of the facts. I expect a great swathe of Canadians will also want "Canadian" news, by and about Canadians. But that may be wishful thinking on my part.
This and your latest in the NP are absolutely wonderful, Terry. I hope that you won’t be offended by my pointing out that the Macdonald-Laurier Institute has been a pretty lonely but relentless voice in the wilderness on this issue for a decade and longer. It’d be nice to see some credit given where credit is due. Disclaimer: the Managing Director of the Institute is my husband. We’ve spent many white nights discussing Beijing’s poison in Canada.
Beautiful writing. Someone asked "How did we get here?" I'll tell you, cause you're asleep and if you wake up you'll be called a name like "racist". Next question.
There's a lot of that, I'm afraid. The NDP has been useless on this file, sadly, although lately Heather McPherson's been okay as foreign affairs critic. Dawn Black was pretty good back in the day too. But more than one NDP MP has told me they keep quiet because they don't want to be called "sinophobes." This drives my Chinese friends crazy.
They sacrifice democracy because they don’t want to be called a name!
I feel my disillusionment with the "left" (or whatever you want to call it) can't go much further, and then it does. Not that the conservative parties in Canada/US/UK are offering much better.
Exactly, remember when COVID hit, it was go to a Chinese restaurant, don't be racist. Tam was more concerned about our potential of being racist more than protecting our Seniors. We need to question our Politicians and shut down anyone who pushes don't be racist. This is National Security not a social issue...
Well done piece. Looking forward to part two.
You’re the main reason I started reading Substack so good for you folks still flying the flag of investigative journalism.
I’ve seen the impact of state and non-state Chinese businesses in the trenches of the oil patch but now realize that was just a small piece of CCP influence in Canada. Keep drawing back that curtain because we need some serious changes to protect our country.
I can't believe it....a Canadian more diabolical than Maurice Strong.
Ha! Good one.
Thanks Terry. Really appreciate your work. Give me a glimmer of hope.
Rio Tinto..didn’t they get a cheque from Ottawa a couple of weeks ago.. it’s all to cozy for words..
Yep. Mentioned that in my column.
The liberals and others have been too tight with China for too long. Is it too late for a sleepy Canada?
This reporting has moved me to become a paid subscriber. Do you think there is any hope of getting rid of these crooks before Canada is completely destroyed?
Thanks for taking u a paying sub!
As for hope: I think there's hope that the Trudeau government has disgraced itself so badly on this file that it won't be survivable without a 180-degree turn, which we're seeing now. I've been covering this stuff for years, and I always said that China would be Trudeau's undoing. That hasn't happened. It may nto happen. But I genuinely believe the Liberal establishment's agenda crashed and burned when Beijng abducted the Mikes.
Was the kidnapping of the two Michaels an example of China taking it one step too far?
They reckoned quite reasonably that they could get away with it, that Trudeau would cave on Meng Wanzhou. They'd been given every reason to think they could pull it off because they listen to Chretien and Yuen Pau Woo and McCallum and Peter Harder and John Manley, and Canada's "Friends of China" were telling Trudeau to cave. Freeland said no, we're rule of law people, we aren't going to cave. Abd Trudeau had just come through that whole SNC Lavelin episode where hed5been shouting that he had faithfully abided by the rule of law. So we didn't cave. If we had, no country would have ever trusted our extradition laws again, and we'd be sitting ducks for any thug state with a penchant for hostage diplomacy. I've never encountered any evidence to suggest that Beijing was merely gambling. They really thought they could pull it off.
Luckily we had Charest negotiate their return!
And luckily we had a Judge like Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes hearing the case with intelligence and courage.
Butts, Barton, Trudeau et al... and people pretend their is not Laurentian elite than scratch each others backs while they rob the rest of us.
How in the world did we get here? Did it start with Justin Trudeau’s Liberals 7 years ago? Or has this been going on a lot longer than that?
Didn't start with Trudeau. It goes all the way back to the 'missionary kids" generation of the Pearson era. It was put into high gear in Chretien's time. Harper couldn't stand it, but he used to get beat up in the business press every time he raised his voice, especially by the Globe when Greenspon was the editor (Greenspon went on to work for the Trudeau Liberals doing p.r. for the China lobby (I'm not making this up). There have been Conservatives in on it, too. Some comically. Stockwell Day once compared Beijing's belt and road to the invention of the wheel and the discovery of fire (not making that up either). The Conservative cabinet was split on the CNOOC-Nexen bid. The compromise was 'ok this time, but that's it.' The Liberals are fond of saying, 'yes but Harper signed a FIPA with Beijing!' forgetting that the Liberals voted with the Conservatives against an NDP motion to scrap the agreement. I was just as hard on the Conservatives about this as I am on the Liberals. It's not my fault that the Liberals are way, way worse on this file, and they're the government now, after all. The Chretien-Trudeau Liberals are the political wing of the Canada-China Business Council, basically.
Wow. There's enough for a book there, if it hasn't already been written.
An excellent potted summary of the situation in this comment. This circus has been operating in all three rings since the "Mish Kids" era. I saw no noticeable pullback on China during the Harper government. And drilling down to the provincial and municipal level it only gets uglier.
The Harper cabinet was split, especially on Chinese SOEs sloshing all that money around in the oilpatch. Harper started out a serious hawk on China, and to be fair he was open-armed with the Dalai Lama - can you imagine Trudeau embracing the Tibetan leader now? Of course you can't. The thing is, Harper kept getting beaten up by the business press for this, especially when Greenspon was editor of the Globe (the Globe's been great on China since Greenspon left; and he left to run interference for the Canada-China trade crowd). So Harper did what he said he'd never do, 'go along to get along.' He did let CNOOC-Nexen through, but was clear it'd be the last SOE acquisition in the oilpatch on his watch. China punished Canada for this - FDI dropped by something like 90 percent in a single year. And Harper did sign the FIPA deal. Liberal partisans love to bring up to change the subject, coveniently avoiding the fact that the Liberals voted with the Conservatives to uphold FIPA against an NDP motion. I was just as hard on Harper as I am on Trudeau on these issues, by the way. You can look it up.
I agree. Harper did start out with an anti-China slant. He didn’t get far with it. The business lobby was too strong and to be fair it wasn’t really obvious yet which way things were going to go in China.
I seem to remember PET as an early China minion.
Longer I would say. The need for a press/ media not dependent on taxpayer funds is critical to our survival as a free country.
Hey buddy. I work for Postmedia. I'm "conflicted" about the media subsidies because if Postmedia didn't take any cash and everyone else was taking cash, there'd be no Postmedia. But my preference would be - nobody gets money, and if the CBC is to be subsidized, they can't take commercial ads. I used to say, 'don't cut the CBC budget, double it, just go through the whole place like a wolf through a flock of sheep.' I'm beginning to think I was wrong. . .
As my wise Scottish grandmother said, "he who pays the piper, calls the tune." If the government is paying the piper, guess who's tune he is going to play.
I hear that. On the other hand, you've got phony "journalists" like Jesse Brown, Glenn Greenwald, and Aaron Mate positioning themselves as courageous, independent "truth tellers" unafraid to tackle the big questions and have the tough debates because they don't receive government funding (at least not Canadian funding, with the latter two.)
You were.
I subscribe to Post Media and other outlets because it's important to do so. Big tech has changed the playing field so we need to find a way to preserve local journalism that works for all of us and not just for the powerful. I do not pretend to know how we will get there.
I'm beginning to think it might be better to knock the public-money struts out from underneath all media organizations and pass a simple law requiring institutions that claim to be journalism enterprises to divulge their funding sources. I spend (last time I filed my taxes) more than $3,000/yr on news subscriptions of various kinds, but it's my job, so I have to. I can't expect normal people to do that.
Hmmm. Could Canadian media really survive with no public funding? Wouldn’t it be swallowed up by American and foreign media? On the other hand, while I have always fiercely believed in the value of public broadcasters, when I look at English CBC, I wonder what the hell is going on (there are still some really top notch journalists though, like Natasha Fatah.)
Good questions. I wonder too. I suspect that it would be bedlam in the first innings, but a great number of people really *do* prefer at least a handful of places where there is consensus across the spectrum about what the truth is, regardless of the differing opinions they might form about common understandings of the facts. I expect a great swathe of Canadians will also want "Canadian" news, by and about Canadians. But that may be wishful thinking on my part.
Taking the money and not turning into gov't recording secretaries would have been somewhat less objectionable, wouldn't it?
This and your latest in the NP are absolutely wonderful, Terry. I hope that you won’t be offended by my pointing out that the Macdonald-Laurier Institute has been a pretty lonely but relentless voice in the wilderness on this issue for a decade and longer. It’d be nice to see some credit given where credit is due. Disclaimer: the Managing Director of the Institute is my husband. We’ve spent many white nights discussing Beijing’s poison in Canada.
In a comment attributed to Lenin, "When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will rush to sell us the rope."