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Category: Chairman’s Desk

Canada needs to take Chinese threat seriously

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Canadians must understand Chinese actions threaten our democratic institutions, economic independence, national security and, yes, our way of life.

 

This past week, disturbing revelations were made painstakingly clear to Canadians: the People’s Republic of China and its intelligence apparatus threaten our nation’s security and our democracy.

On the evidence, the authoritarian dictatorship in Beijing has interfered in our elections to the benefit of Trudeau’s Liberals and the detriment of Canada’s democratic foundations. While their tactics demonstrate a blatant disrespect for our way of life, they also show our inability to respond effectively.

Having engaged in diplomatic gaslighting, they are now laughing at us from behind the protected walls of the Politburo in Beijing.

It should not take a front-page exposé for Canadians to understand that the actions of the Chinese government threaten our democratic institutions, economic independence, national security and, yes, our way of life.

It is time that we understand our politicians have proven incapable of addressing Chinese state influence. Chinese aren’t just at our gates, they own them. And they’re standing idly by flipping us the bird.

Currently led by an aggressive, ambitious, and paranoid government, China exhibits all the characteristics of a hostile state. The détente that followed Chairman Mao’s rule lulled many Westerners into a false sense of security but under Xi, China is once again under the thumb of an ideological despot with, given the situation with Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, even more capacity to throw his weight around on the world stage.

Just this past week, the Globe and Mail reported news from CSIS that Canadian politicians, government officials, business executives and Chinese Canadians all have been prime targets of Chinese government espionage.

This espionage has deployed blackmail, bribery, and sexual seduction. The range and nature of the tactics used are usually reserved for spy novels, but national security experts now deem China’s espionage infrastructure to go far deeper than even the Soviet’s efforts at the height of the Cold War.

Spying has become a pillar of Chinese statecraft and thuggery, accompanied by denial and obfuscation, a hallmark of its government.

So, what’s the objective of this brazen approach given that it risks further alienating China from the international community — especially when it needs to make friends to increase trade and boost economic activity after its crippling pandemic lockdowns?

Clearly, it is to obtain political, economic, scientific, and military intelligence from Canada so they can stifle Canadian critics and hamper our own economic and political clout.

Just like a domestic abuser, China slaps our face with one hand then wraps an embracing arm around our shoulder with the other to comfort us when it wants something.

Sadly, these revelations were just the most recent development in an enduring crisis.

After all, Canada and the United States are still unpacking the implications of the Chinese spy balloon incident. And there is, of course, more.

Only a few months ago, Western media outlets and governments were seized with news that China was operating covert police stations abroad and that their consulates were developing suspicious relationships with domestic politicians. Who can forget the Chinese state’s kidnapping and arbitrary imprisonment of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig?

For the past two decades, China has built up an impressive portfolio of assets in Canada’s critical minerals and mining sector, real estate, and oil and gas. Trade with China remains a lucrative proposition — in 2021 alone, two-way trade between our nations totalled $94.7 billion.

It is, after all, the world’s second-largest economy. But, as Canadians, we must ask ourselves, has it been worth it?

All of that said, we cannot allow the actions of the Chinese Communist Party to undermine the integral role the over 1.8 million Chinese Canadians have played, and continue to play, in shaping our country. We are a better country because of their endless contributions.

Canada stands up to bullies, and China’s actions disrespect the soul of our nation. The prime minister’s response has been watery and self-effacing. Economic factors be what they may, now is the time to say enough is enough.

This article first appeared in the Toronto Star on February 26, 2023.

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Ignorance is far more dangerous than any spy balloon

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In a dangerous world, what we need is a little humility. And what we don’t need, most especially, is politicians fanning the flames.

More valuable than any of the signals it intercepted or military assets it observed, the Chinese spy balloon uncovered something else: a snapshot of the flaws and vulnerabilities in our public discourse. Somewhere in Beijing, someone is saying the risk was worth the reward.

The official narrative on both sides of the Pacific is that these spy balloons are nothing new. Pentagon sources have confirmed that at least three suspected Chinese spy balloons entered U.S. airspace during the Trump presidency, while Beijing claims U.S. balloons have flown over China 10 times since 2022. Only the naivest amongst us would not know that this kind of mutual surveillance has been standard operating procedure, even in the post-Cold War era.

What’s new is how the news of this balloon (and the apparent false alarms that inevitably followed) led to needless paranoia, controversy and social discord.

In the 2016 presidential election, Russia learned that conducting political interference through covert means could have profoundly destabilizing effects on the American political process. Famously, Russian intelligence ran “troll farms” that saturated social media with propaganda and misinformation. But in this case, the Chinese had no need to go so far.

Right across North American airwaves, we saw astonishingly imbecilic posturing and finger-pointing. Republicans lambasted the Biden administration for failing to keep Americans safe by not shooting down the first reported spy balloon straightaway as it traversed over land. Of course, doing so would only have put citizens below in harm’s way. Republican Rep. Michael Turner of Ohio told CNN that he would prefer to see the Biden administration be “trigger happy than to be permissive.”

I wonder how quickly his tune would change if an object as tall as the Statue of Liberty with a payload the size of a jetliner fell in his backyard? Meanwhile, here at home, armchair experts prattled on about a U.S. aircraft downing an object in Canadian airspace, even though this is exactly how Norad is supposed to function.

When it comes to matters of international security, a little grandstanding based on incomplete information is about as predictable as spring following winter. The problem is when such behaviours not only grow in prominence but become the norm. As we have seen time and again on Twitter and other online platforms, on the web ambiguity does not lie still, not for a moment. Rather, it metastasizes into outright conspiracies that sow mistrust and become accepted as fact.

Make no mistake, that we have the freedom to speculate and air bad takes, is a necessary feature of our political system, not a bug. But, in a dangerous world, what we need is a little humility. And what we don’t need, most especially, is politicians fanning the flames.

More valuable than any of the signals it intercepted or military assets it observed, the Chinese spy balloon uncovered something else: a snapshot of the flaws and vulnerabilities in our public discourse. Somewhere in Beijing, someone is saying the risk was worth the reward.

The official narrative on both sides of the Pacific is that these spy balloons are nothing new. Pentagon sources have confirmed that at least three suspected Chinese spy balloons entered U.S. airspace during the Trump presidency, while Beijing claims U.S. balloons have flown over China 10 times since 2022. Only the naivest amongst us would not know that this kind of mutual surveillance has been standard operating procedure, even in the post-Cold War era.

What’s new is how the news of this balloon (and the apparent false alarms that inevitably followed) led to needless paranoia, controversy and social discord.

In the 2016 presidential election, Russia learned that conducting political interference through covert means could have profoundly destabilizing effects on the American political process. Famously, Russian intelligence ran “troll farms” that saturated social media with propaganda and misinformation. But in this case, the Chinese had no need to go so far.

Right across North American airwaves, we saw astonishingly imbecilic posturing and finger-pointing. Republicans lambasted the Biden administration for failing to keep Americans safe by not shooting down the first reported spy balloon straightaway as it traversed over land. Of course, doing so would only have put citizens below in harm’s way. Republican Rep. Michael Turner of Ohio told CNN that he would prefer to see the Biden administration be “trigger happy than to be permissive.”

I wonder how quickly his tune would change if an object as tall as the Statue of Liberty with a payload the size of a jetliner fell in his backyard? Meanwhile, here at home, armchair experts prattled on about a U.S. aircraft downing an object in Canadian airspace, even though this is exactly how Norad is supposed to function.

When it comes to matters of international security, a little grandstanding based on incomplete information is about as predictable as spring following winter. The problem is when such behaviours not only grow in prominence but become the norm. As we have seen time and again on Twitter and other online platforms, on the web ambiguity does not lie still, not for a moment. Rather, it metastasizes into outright conspiracies that sow mistrust and become accepted as fact.

Make no mistake, that we have the freedom to speculate and air bad takes, is a necessary feature of our political system, not a bug. But, in a dangerous world, what we need is a little humility. And what we don’t need, most especially, is politicians fanning the flames.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once stated:

… as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.

I disagree with Rumsfeld’s tortuous assessment that the most dangerous category is “unknown unknowns.” In our social media era, the most significant threat is rather the utter collapse of the second category, “known unknowns” — that which we’re aware of but don’t understand.

When confronted with complex information, many in our society prefer to accuse or theorize rather than simply confess ignorance. Before long, that tendency will prove to be more dangerous than any balloon could ever be.

This article first appeared in the Toronto Star on February 19, 2023.

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An American fan writes to Tucker Carlson about Canada

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I await your presidential bid and call-to-arms against Canada with keen anticipation

Gee, Tucker, you’re always saying the stuff most Americans are afraid to say.

Like this invading Canada idea you’ve floated. Dude, this time, you’ve hit the nail on the head. I’m so glad that before you got back to your obsession with the sex appeal of M&M characters, you turned to our northern neighbour. I, for one, am sick of the Canadians and all their wokeness and think it’s time we did something about it.

You’re absolutely correct that Canada is a Justin Trudeau dictatorship. Hardly surprising given he is the offspring of Fidel Castro. You have to be careful because the Canadians will have you believe they have a parliamentary system where their political leaders are freely and fairly elected every five years. But, as we know all too well, the globalists have hijacked these systems to install whichever puppet they see fit. Being naïve as they are, the Canadians failed to perceive what was so obvious to educated minds like mine and yours. Those Boy Scouts didn’t even try to Stop the Steal!

On the question of liberation, I’ve no doubt once they are greeted with our trademark American charm and the promise of our glorious dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness the Canucks will welcome us with open arms. As you observed, liberating dictatorships is what we do! They’ll learn that American intervention is a gift from the heavens, just like the Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, Haitians and Chileans have done.

This one will be even easier — I hear they all speak English anyway.

Tactically, we will need some help putting this together. While I’m all for a “Bay of Pigs operation,” we might want to model this invasion on something that actually worked, as Trudeau’s true father managed to scupper us on that occasion.

I like your idea that we could probably complete a successful invasion without the armed forces and that “just a couple college kids with sled dogs could do the trick.” While you might have been joking, this could be effective. After all, the Canadians whooped our ass back to Washington and set fire to the White House in 1812 when we tried with the Army, so why not try something more clandestine to finally right that wrong?

Of course, the hard work will come once we’ve successfully invaded, and we must introduce Canadians to real freedom. That will mean limiting the autonomy women have over their own bodies, letting every citizen have access to military-grade weapons to protect themselves against the deep state and ridding them of their Marxist belief in universal health care.

Given Trudeau and his communist cronies have been repeated violators of human and democratic rights, it’s important we install our system of voting rights, world-renowned for its openness and fairness. What’s more, they seem to have this strange belief in welcoming vast amounts of immigrants and refugees. Don’t they realize that free societies impose travel bans on Muslim countries and bus their refugees around state borders until someone caves in and takes them?

All this reinforces your point that “Canada is a sick society.” Wokeness, after all, is a virus. But not the fake kind that Dr. Fauci warned about. This one is far deadlier. There’s no vaccine for it (I wouldn’t trust it anyway) but there is such thing as a little shot in the arm of American freedom.

Seeing as you’re effectively the GOP kingmaker these days, why not run in 2024 so we can make this invasion a reality? I’ve always liked the idea of a for-the-people revolution led by a commander-in-chief in a polka-dot bow tie.

Anyway, I await your presidential bid and call-to-arms against Canada with keen anticipation. In the meantime, I’m going back to my regular routine of testicle tanning, then spending some alone time reminiscing on the good old days with some vintage M&M packets.

Yours faithfully,

A loyal viewer.

This article first appeared in the Toronto Star on February 12, 2023.

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Having found its nerve, the Bank of Canada must hold it

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The Bank of Canada must stay the course on high interest rates in the face of a frenzied appetite for them to come back down.

 

After being shelled with political fire for the past year, one might think the Bank of Canada would avoid differentiated forecasts until the noise around inflation began to abate. Instead, last week Canada’s central bank deviated from all others in G10 economies by explicitly signalling that a pause to interest rate hikes might be on the horizon.

While the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and European Central Bank were reluctant to make similar prognostications as they hiked rates this week, Gov. Tiff Macklem has boldly chosen to stick his head above the parapet.

In doing so, he has taken a significant risk; distinguishing himself from his counterparts gives his critics more fodder to misconstrue Macklem’s intentions.

Like its counterparts, the Bank of Canada was slow in acknowledging the deeply structural nature of inflation. Since then, it has remained steadfast in tightening monetary policy but now may have decided to move more quickly to a much hoped for endgame.

While Macklem was clear a pause doesn’t mean a pivot, his conditional commitment feeds an increasingly persistent notion that we are turning the corner on inflation. Speculative assets are up with markets champing at the bit for a return to cheaper money while the public, goaded by political criticisms that central banks are hell-bent on causing a recession, are ready to call it a day.

But people need to be reminded what the reality is rather than what they want it to be. While inflation has declined, it still sits at 6.3 per cent in Canada — a far cry from the target 2 per cent rate. Behaviour has a powerful effect on economics and promise of a pause risks playing into a yearning for sunnier alternatives.

Many underlying price pressures, such as wages, are proving persistent in the face of rate hikes. Meanwhile, uncertainty over the state of our federal finances is growing. Former Bank of Canada Gov. David Dodge recently issued a report concluding federal deficits are unsustainable for the decade ahead.

The Bank of Canada is a sophisticated and historically patient institution and its latest announcement certainly poured cold water on the idea that it is a blind follower of the Fed. Without further comprehensive employment and consumer price reports for a while, the central bank is probably just trying to temper expectations — but markets and the public are never that rational.

Einstein once famously defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. In the 1970s, after a temporary ease, inflation bit back more harshly than ever, with prices dropping then soaring — graphically looking like a McDonald’s M — with drastic quantitative tightening eventually bringing them under control. Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker is remembered as the man who saved the global economy, but was seen far less favourably at the time.

Having found the nerve to raise interest rates to battle inflation, the Bank of Canada must now hold it in the face of frenzied appetite for them to come back down. Should Macklem end up reneging on his conditional commitment, I am confident he will do so firmly and without fear of reprisal with monetary and historic responsibilities as his north star.

We have seen the Conservatives and the NDP quite willing to target the Bank of Canada. Although Macklem was clear this was a conditional commitment that fact will inevitably get lost as more Canadians struggle to make their mortgage payments.

Before their next rate announcement in March, it would be best if the bank worked to drown out the noise that will precede it and aggressively assert that a pause will only come if specific criteria are met, and that more hikes may have to follow if they are not.

Failure to do so will put Canada in a very difficult position to tackle inflation and failure to do that will result in pain for generations to come.

This article first appeared in the Toronto Star on February 6, 2023.

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A health care deal with the province can be Trudeau’s legacy

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A crumbling health care system cracks at the very foundation of not only this country but who we are as a people.

Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who kept on trying.

For first ministers across Canada, their road to redemption may well run through Feb. 7. That’s when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and premiers will gather to start negotiating a new deal on the federal government’s funding for health services.

Hope, for this reason, is in the air as a sense that previously insurmountable differences will — at last — be cast aside for the greater good. And yet, many can only muster the most cautious sense of optimism. Because, let’s face it, Canadians have been let down on this issue countless times before. Politics has interfered; talking points have prevailed.

As a result, our health care system is now beyond the breaking point. Patients are suffering. Doctors and nurses are exhausted and burnt-out. Wait-lists are surging. Innovation is stalling and investment is falling to dangerous levels.

What most of us feel, at best, is hope of a kind: like the branch you cling to before the current carries you over the falls. The reality is this: none of the significant problems in our health care system will fully get fixed until the federal government returns to its role and pays its share. Point finale.

While there are few reference points for the kind of selfless political leadership required to solve the health care crisis, one does come to mind: the efforts to patriate the Constitution and entrench the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the early 1980s.

Memorably, Bill Davis played a leading role in negotiations between the provinces and federal government, helping to bring his fellow premiers into the fold through skilful diplomacy and good old fashioned Canadian compromise. This struggle would cost Davis politically. His support for Pierre Trudeau’s ambitions upset not only his federal cousins but his own caucus. And yet, today, his contributions are universally celebrated. Why? Because he put the good of his country ahead of partisanship.

In negotiating the future of health care in Canada, Davis’s successors should replicate his example. And there are signs this just might happen. When The Star’s Susan Delacourt recently asked the prime minister about Premier Doug Ford’s plans to clear Ontario’s surgery backlog by delivering more operations through private clinics, he chose to call it “innovation.”

Make no mistake, Trudeau’s answer was a momentous break with decades of orthodoxy. But the cliché that politics makes strange bedfellows is a cliché for a reason. The PM well understands that there is no deal if the lines of distinction are drawn too sharply before formal negotiations even begin. Crucially, he recognizes that Ford will be a vital partner in this upcoming negotiation and, that with Ontario’s support, he has a powerful ally in bringing other provinces along.

Some opposition parties will, predictably, try to upset progress. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, desperate for oxygen, has said he’ll consider pulling support for the Liberals if they do not insist on no-privatization conditions for health care funding. While that might be in his narrow political interests, this is not the time for such considerations.

All of which is not to deny that getting this right will be a win for those who do, which raises the question of legacy, specifically the prime minister’s. Achieving this deal will produce very close to immediate results.

A crumbling health care system cracks at the very foundation of not only this country but who we are as a people. So the point is this: It won’t matter if Trudeau puts a Canadian on the moon. His accomplishments will count for nothing if he misses this once-in-his-premiership shot to repair our national foundation. If he does miss, his legacy is in deep trouble. But if he makes this crucial fix, his legacy will have a new cornerstone.

Make no mistake, Trudeau’s answer was a momentous break with decades of orthodoxy. But the cliché that politics makes strange bedfellows is a cliché for a reason. The PM well understands that there is no deal if the lines of distinction are drawn too sharply before formal negotiations even begin. Crucially, he recognizes that Ford will be a vital partner in this upcoming negotiation and, that with Ontario’s support, he has a powerful ally in bringing other provinces along.

Some opposition parties will, predictably, try to upset progress. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, desperate for oxygen, has said he’ll consider pulling support for the Liberals if they do not insist on no-privatization conditions for health care funding. While that might be in his narrow political interests, this is not the time for such considerations.

All of which is not to deny that getting this right will be a win for those who do, which raises the question of legacy, specifically the prime minister’s. Achieving this deal will produce very close to immediate results.

A crumbling health care system cracks at the very foundation of not only this country but who we are as a people. So the point is this: It won’t matter if Trudeau puts a Canadian on the moon. His accomplishments will count for nothing if he misses this once-in-his-premiership shot to repair our national foundation. If he does miss, his legacy is in deep trouble. But if he makes this crucial fix, his legacy will have a new cornerstone.

This article first appeared in the Toronto Star on January 30, 2023.

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