Harper's Selling Canada?

Smoky Lake Signal Article no. 236 (September 12, 2012) Whispering in the Wind IS CANADA FOR SALE? When it comes to dealing with the Peoples Republic of China (PRC); I advised the Prime Minister of Canada a couple weeks ago that: CANADA IS NOT FOR SALE! I guess he didn’t read my article (ha-ha) because on Sunday, Prime Minister Harper and China’s President, Hu Jintao (while at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in Vladivostok, Russia) signed the “Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement.” After reading the reviews and the interviews with the PM, the main issues became a little clearer. According to the PM the new Agreement will better protect Canadian businesses operating in China – apparently the laws and business practices can and are being applied differently opposite foreign owned businesses – so if the Agreement reduces discriminatory practices in the PRC then that’s good news for Canada, only time will tell. As well, the Agreement will apparently offer greater reciprocity for Canada in terms of market access – for me this reciprocity element of the Agreement is by far, the most important part and possibly the most dangerous part of the Agreement. In my view, Mr. Harper’s government has been far too generous with Chinese state owned companies and how they are operating in Canada, particularly when it comes to their oversight, ownership and management practices in the resource sector. When questioned in Vladivostok about Chinese human rights practices Mr. Harper responded with: “In terms of the Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement, [it] is an instrument focused precisely on that, and I’m not aware of any such agreements with Canada or with any other countries that try and include other broader issues but those things, as I say, are part of our relationship and dialogue with the Chinese at every opportunity.” Now I’m not one to criticize politicians for evading a question and the use of political speak, but this one takes the cake – if anyone can sort out the issue and explain what Mr. Harper said or what he meant, please let me know. Apparently the prime minister did raise human rights and consular cases in his discussions with Mr. Hu – I suppose that’s some good news. If I were to sum up the present economic / political relationship between Canada and China, it would go something like this: Canada wants market access to the world’s largest centrally planned market system and to gain that access Canada has already allowed heavy investment, ownership and management by Chinese state owned companies in parts of the Canadian resource economies – without appropriate conditions. The big question for me has become; will this new Agreement address and meet Canada’s social and economic goals or are we just selling off the country?