Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to a question from the opposition during Question Period on March 22 in Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Interference call
Re “MP Han Dong leaving Liberal caucus, denies allegations related to conversation with Chinese diplomat” (March 23): We’ve seen this picture before with now-retired vice-admiral Mark Norman and guess what happened: He was exonerated and it cost Canadian taxpayers more than $1.4-million.
Maybe Han Dong is guilty of the allegations, but innuendo and hearsay should not be considered proof. Canadians should be demanding a fair hearing.
David Chalmers Toronto
Canadians are pitted against Canadians, and queries into Chinese influence raise the spectre of racism over our multicultural country.
Yet sovereignty derives from the people’s determination of what our country is and the policies we want our governments to adopt; if we continue to turn a blind eye to foreign political influence because we fear that redressing our policies is racist, we leave ourselves open to espionage and attacks on our sovereignty.
We have before us the opportunity to shore up Canadian sovereignty and multiculturalism by enacting policies and enforcement that provide better constraints, oversight and disclosure around politicians and their rapports with foreign governments. We can draw lessons from our multiculturalism: We are not in an either-or endgame.
Better policies that hold all politicians to account is as non-partisan and fair as it gets. In the interim, I believe strong words of support for Chinese-Canadian citizens are overdue from our government.
Emmanuelle Deaton Ottawa
Re “Good move” (Letters, March 23): A letter-writer states that Justin Trudeau’s retreat on election interference issue took courage. On the contrary, it looks like he retreated only after denial, deflection and obfuscation failed to put the issue to bed.
Courage and proper leadership would have been to institute immediately a serious non-partisan investigation into the foreign intrusions that threaten our precious democracy.
Kathryn Vogel Toronto
Chinese influence
Re “An arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin will have consequences for China” (March 21): Contributor Michael Byers suggests there may be risk to China’s coziness with Russia that could jeopardize the success of Chinese companies, many of which have had decades of profitable access to Western markets. The flip side to that is also interesting.
As we watch hundreds of cargo ships sailing between Chinese and Canadian ports, bringing all the goods we have come to rely upon, where would we be if those ships stopped coming? Have Canadians been shopping lately?
Take small appliances: Most, if not all, that appear on store shelves are “made in China.” Tasks as simple as our ability to make toast or turn on a fan indicate a reliance on China for the most basic of daily functions.
Is this not reminiscent of the quandary Europe finds itself in with Russian oil and gas?
Bob Grant Centre Wellington, Ont.
Concrete action
Re “Putin props up China’s proposal for peace in Ukraine during state visit, despite lack of details” (March 22): The best prospect I see for ending the war in Ukraine lies not in China’s vague peace plan, but rather the rising tide of Western weapons flowing into Ukraine and its long-anticipated counteroffensive. While total liberation of Russian-occupied territory is the ultimate aim, partial success – achieved with a prospect of eventual victory – should be enough to ensure the continued flow of military aid.
For Russia, defeat would almost certainly lead to regime change and, with it, the best chance since the collapse of the Soviet Union to implement the political, social and economic reforms needed to lift the county into the league of leading democracies.
Not only would this provide a basis for a durable peace but, with any luck, China may also follow suit.
Patrick Bendin Ottawa
You first
Re “Actions to stave off climate breakdown are possible but urgent, UN report says” (March 21): Canada should stop using fossil fuels right after China, India and Russia stop burning coal and oil. Not a moment sooner.
R.J. Holloway Oakville, Ont.
Money for nothing
Re “Quebec owes Newfoundland nothing for the Churchill Falls power contract” (Report on Business, March 21): As a person born in Newfoundland, it’s not surprising for me to read a Quebecker’s pronouncement that Quebec owes Newfoundland nothing.
His argument centres on Quebec’s risks. There were many moving parts influencing the deal, including antics around its extension (tons of literature on it). Regardless, the undisputed end result is a woefully lopsided deal in favour of Quebec that was upheld by the Supreme Court.
I suggest that if Churchill Falls were in Quebec and Newfoundland was reaping lopsided profit, then it would be a national crisis. The parties can no more approach the Churchill Falls negotiations from a “clean sheet” than Canada can on Indigenous issues.
As a negotiator by trade, my view is that one needs empathy to be successful (there’s plenty of literature on that, too).
Ward Jones Richmond Hill, Ont.
Churchill Falls had only one route and one buyer. One would expect any contract to reflect such, but the terms forced on Newfoundland were extreme.
Hydro-Québec paid 0.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, a fraction of the market, and sold the product to U.S. buyers at a multiple many times over. I believe it was pure and simple greed, extracted at the cost of one of Canada’s poorer provinces.
And it amounted to billions of dollars: Newfoundland’s share was a tiny fraction.
Frank Potter Toronto
Power play
Re “Thomas d’Aquino’s Private Power, Public Purpose challenges next generation to build on the ultimate Ottawa insider’s legacy” (Arts & Books, March 18): Thomas D’Aquino inadvertently reveals a fundamental problem I have with the annual Davos gathering of the very rich and very powerful.
Mr. D’Aquino describe a 1995 Davos dinner with George Soros and Peter Munk, two of the world’s wealthiest men. Together they decide to warn then-finance minister Paul Martin that Canada’s deficit was (according to them) dangerously high and the country must decrease spending. Only a few weeks later, Mr. Martin’s budget made some of the most drastic cuts to public spending ever.
There happens to be another way to decrease a deficit: increase taxes, especially on those most able to pay. Heaven forbid at least one of the wealthiest men in the world volunteer to pay higher taxes to save the country.
Thanks to Davos for facilitating this way of running the world, where it seems the very rich get to tell the less powerful what to do.
Olga Eizner Favreau Montreal
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