Chinese and U.S. flags: The U.S. central bank sent a strong signal on Friday, Dec. 21, 2018 that it would be willing to reconsider expected interest rate hikes amid new data showing President Donald Trump's multi-front trade wars are dragging on the American economy and shaking up investors.FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images
Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com
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Unprincipled giants
How is it possible to have a productive relationship with a partner that doesn’t respect the rule of law? China is cited with violations of normal state-to-state relations: hacking to steal military, government and industrial data; the unlawful detention of Canadian citizens.
It seems absurd that the Canadian government is still attempting to negotiate a free trade agreement with China when the Chinese government has demonstrated on multiple occasions its unwillingness to follow international legal conventions. Even if a free-trade deal could be concluded between our two nations, China has consistently shown it will simply disregard inconvenient rules when it suits it.
As much as I am reluctant to admit it, former PM Stephen Harper’s security warning against Huawei appears justified. Our government must re-evaluate its position with respect to China and at least recognize that normal trading relations with a dictatorship must be handled differently than those with another democracy, however flawed.
James McCall, Toronto
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With luck, China’s lawless detention of Canadian citizens may save Canada from itself. It is unimaginable why Canada would want a free trade agreement with another big, unprincipled bully.
Has our government not learned from the big, unprincipled bully next door with which we’ve at least been friends for decades, and which has similar labour conditions and standards? China does not respect weakness; its leaders govern with an iron fist. They treat Canada like they treat their own citizens.
To see what Chinese investment and “friendship” looks like, check out Africa – China’s newest colony and a huge debtor. Canada needs to lessen its exposure to the unprincipled giants of the world, not increase it.
We must be much more restrictive about allowing investments from non-citizens who see Canada as an emergency refuge in case they run afoul of their own government. When it suits China to do so, China will demand their return as well, and be quite prepared to take more hostages to impose its will.
China needs a new government, and we should not be helping to legitimize the existing one.
Tony Fricke, Calgary
Face it, Facebook
Marshall McLuhan’s pronouncement that the medium is the message has been proven true. Facebook’s medium of communication is not its social-networking internet technology, but the user, and Facebook’s most valuable content is the user’s identity (Facebook And Privacy Are Not Friends – editorial, Dec. 20).
A true quid pro quo symbiotic relationship between a consenting user and the used is not necessarily inherently bad. Deception is what makes it bad. Clearly, consenting to terms and conditions that are false invalidates a social contract. So Facebook should stop claiming its reason for being is to bring people together. It’s clear now that its main social purpose online is to deliver people’s perceptions to advertisers.
Face it, Facebook. Out yourself. Put on a brand new face: Call yourself Face Capture, admit you’re not a communication company but an advertising company. Users, sign in to Face Capture if you like, but be aware that you are selling out your soul’s data to, “Attention Merchants.”
Tony D’Andrea, Toronto
Classically Canadian?
How about we stick with the current contract with Saudi Arabia for armoured vehicles, but not enter into any further deals? Would that not be the classic Canadian compromise?
Adam Plackett, Toronto
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Canada’s former ambassador to Saudi Arabia says ending the sale of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia will be a useless gesture that will cost jobs here but will have no impact “at all on their behaviour. None” (Ending Saudi Deal Will Be Futile, Former Envoy Says – Dec. 18.) A letter-writer in the same edition says, “Trying to do ‘good’ in the eyes of other nations is a fool’s game. Other countries will step up to build the armoured vehicles.” But Brian Gable’s editorial cartoon that day was more on-point than either of them. It showed a Canadian trying to celebrate the peace of the season while a trainload of personnel carriers rumbled past.
It’s our own cognitive dissonance we’re dealing with, never mind how we look in the eyes of the world. It’s really not the behaviour of the Saudis that we can control, it’s our own. That’s true at the personal level, and it’s what we aspire to as an effective nation – however we hash that out among ourselves.
Philip Street, Toronto
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Is the job of a Canadian worth more than the life of a Yemeni? If this arms deal is not cancelled, I will be ashamed to call myself a Canadian.
Tom Chambers, North Bay, Ont.
Equalization fairness
Re Why Equalization Is Not Unfair To Alberta (online, Dec. 18): I appreciated getting an added perspective on equalization reading Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe’s column. After all the explanations though, I was still left wondering why Quebec is in the situation of having such low productivity per person. The province has abundant natural resources, it has large corporations headquartered there, it is in close proximity to huge U.S. markets and has easy access to ocean shipping for import/export. What am I missing?
Dave Nickel, New Westminster, B.C.
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Trevor Tombe suggests Alberta “has an easier time raising revenue.” I have never heard anything so absurd. What makes him think there is anything “easy” about getting oil and gas revenues? What with paid protesters, a ravenous, tax-grabbing federal government full of hypocrites, and a left-leaning, lack-of-common-sense media, garnering revenues of any sort becomes very difficult.
And all the while, the critics in Quebec source what Alberta sells from a country with a ghastly human rights record, and feel good about it.
Kelly Colberg, Drumheller, Alta.
Giving a damn
Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis resigns over Donald’s Trump’s decision to pull out of Syria, while the Russian President applauds (Mattis Resigns, Citing Split With Trump Over Syria Pullout, Dec. 21). Do the American people and the GOP not care where the President’s marching orders are coming from? Has that famous Red Phone become a conduit for Mr. Trump’s daily briefing?
Jim Reynolds, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
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No one “gives a damn,” writes one of your correspondents about the appointment of the Ontario Premier’s friend as the head of the provincial police force (Brad Blair’s Example, Dec. 20). The letter writer should read The Globe and Mail’s credo at the top of the editorial page – the same page on which his letter was published. It warns that a healthy democracy depends on loyal citizens refusing to submit to arbitrary measures.
Michael Benedict, Toronto