There is a growing understanding in Canada that our nation must cultivate its strength while also deepening ties with like-minded partners. This realization has come about because the U.S. President is willing to throw away signed trade deals and use tariffs, threats, and annexationist rhetoric to try and weaken our nation.
The unfortunate reality is that we are far too dependent on the U.S., giving a ruthlessly transactional U.S. President the ability to inflict significant damage on our economy if he so chooses (and if the U.S. Congress surrenders its power over tariffs as the current Congress has).
The response to such overdependence however is not to advocate for submission, but to instead seek to escape that overdependence through deeper interprovincial trade, expanded research and development funding, a military buildup, the approval of major projects, and a more pro-business environment, and closer trade ties with likeminded nations in Europe and Asia.
However, if there’s one thing we shouldn’t do, it would be to try to escape dependence on the U.S. by becoming more dependent on China. Disturbingly, that is the course of action being advocated for in a recent editorial in the Globe & Mail, written by Julian Karaguesian and Robin Shaban in a piece titled “Let’s free ourselves of the U.S. and forge closer ties with China”.
In the editorial, the authors claim that China being an unstable trading partner is a “made-in-Washington narrative,” and call for a “more reliable political relationship” with China.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire
This would be a horrendous error. We are seeking to escape ties with the U.S. due to the danger of centralized power, unstable leadership, and concerns regarding individual rights and sovereignty. China is far worse than the U.S. on all those counts.
Power in China is much more centralized than in the U.S. China’s leadership only looks stable because of how the CCP suppresses information. Individual rights are an afterthought in China – just ask the over one million Uyghurs locked away in camps. And China has little respect for the sovereignty of other nations.
Have we forgotten that China kidnapped two Canadians?
Have we forgotten that COVID spread around the world because China censored those within the country who warned about it early on and lied to the world?
Have we forgotten that China routinely threatens other nations and cuts off trade of specific items for political reasons on a whim?
Have we forgotten that China is undertaking the largest military buildup since the end of the Second World War?
To reduce our dependence on the U.S. only to become more dependent on China is laughably naive and dangerously misguided.
Canada needs stronger internal trade, and we need more trade with fellow democracies like the nations of the European Union, India, Japan, and South Korea.
Overcoming weakness
Just as those who advocate for submission to the United States are demonstrating weakness, those who advocate for more dependence on China are also showing a weakness of mind and spirit. For far too long, this country has looked to others for our opportunities and strength, rather than cultivating that strength from within.
That must change. Canada must move toward sovereignty, not subservience.
Spencer Fernando
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