Voyageur 160
Carney Wants a Bigger Pacific Door, and China Puts Its Long Arm in Writing.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Carney Wants a Bigger Door to the Pacific
PM Mark Carney is backing a Port of Vancouver expansion because Canada's biggest port may run out of room in less than a decade. Of course, the subtext is that more Pacific capacity means more ways to sell Canadian stuff without squeezing everything through the U.S. relationship.
The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 plan would add three berths and raise container capacity by 50 per cent. Ottawa is looking at more than $10 billion for the port and connected infrastructure, and Carney says the goal is to grow exports away from the United States by more than half.
This is the physical manifestation of Ottawa's diversification talk. Less speechifying, more cranes as Canada tries to build another front door.
Read more: Global News
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A photo from the old country:
China Puts Its Long Arm in Writing
China has committed its long arm of “free” speech policy to paper. A new ethnic-unity law that came into force on July 1 says people and organizations outside China can face legal liability for acts Beijing thinks undermine ethnic unity or creating ethnic division.
The Conversation says the provision matters outside China because it turns pressure on diaspora critics into statute. Canada isn’t a side character in this story because the article specifically names Canada as home to large Chinese, Uyghur and Tibetan diaspora communities, and references the same transnational pattern of pressure that has already been discomfiting Canadian officials.
Ottawa's China travel advisory currently warns Canadians that people connected to banned or sanctioned entities could face unknown consequences, and says exit bans may be applied without forewarning.
If a Canadian abroad has family, business, advocacy work, or travel plans tied to China, it may be well worth keeping in mind that speech in one country can still impact people in another.
Read more: The Conversation / Government of Canada travel advice