The nothingburger that devoured Ottawa

I bought an electric chainsaw recently. Like virtually all electric tools, it was made in China. Since my trusty Stihl blew a hole in the piston, the foliage between my stoop and the pasture across the way has grown mightily, and was obstructing my view of the cows grazing there. That’s a pasture I rent out to the neighbour, for a very modest sum, who’s been a beef farmer all his life. He’s got a couple hundred acres he inherited from his beef-farmer dad, who inherited from his dad. He farms it with his son. Beef is all that family has ever done. He rents a few hundred additional acres, including mine, to sustain a cow-calf operation of about 150 head. I justify the modesty of my land rent by taking comfort in the fact I’m subsidizing a way of farming that is slowly dying. Beef cattle that graze in open pastures have a great quality of life. I think that’s worth something. Chicken or pork is mostly raised in industrial-style operations these days, and beef is heading that way, where the cattle spend their entire lives in a feedlot. Industrial farming is so much more efficient, so a generation from now I think free-range beef will be but a memory. That Chinese chainsaw with an American brand name on it did a great job on the excess foliage. The best thing about it is, compared to any gas-powered chainsaw I’ve owned, there is no swearing involved in getting it started. Forget about pulling the cord twenty times. I took this puppy out of the box, charged the battery, and I was off to the races. It’s amazing what the Chinese have done with battery technology. It’s so amazing Biden just put a 100% tariff on electric cars from China. China can build and sell an EV for $10 grand. America can’t compete. There’s no reason to imagine Canada can either, so in the real world all those billions in subsidies to foreign multinationals to establish an EV supply chain here are entirely contingent on putting up trade barriers against China. In the twilight of my teaching career, I remember showing my Civics class a video of China building a 1,000 bed hospital in ten days. That typically takes ten years here. I recall telling the students, “these people will bury us.” We used to have good relations with China. That changed after Obama announced America’s “pivot to Asia” in 2011. The American Empire had awoken to the realization that China was becoming a serious competitor. Anything that threatens the Empire is a threat to Canada as well, at least to the American Empire Loyalists who rule the commanding heights of academia and media in our country. Gradually you saw the tone of China coverage become increasingly hostile. Relations between Canada and China went into a downward spiral. In our enthusiasm to kowtow to US dictats, we tossed senior Huawei executive and daughter of the company’s founder in jail at America’s behest. That led directly to the “Two Michaels” melodrama. Fast forward a few years, and the anti-China alliance has a new gambit. China is meddling in our democracy! We know that because anonymous sources in CSIS, our CIA, leaked that info to the Globe and Mail. CSIS got the heads-up from their American counterparts. No proof was offered, and none was requested by our elite journos. We’ve gone from one frivolous accusation to another in the course of two official inquiries, yet nothing in the way of evidence ever turns up. This ginned-up scandal has “nothingburger” written all over it. The latest scary headlines accuse some MPs of knowingly conniving with our enemies to subvert our democracy. Oddly enough, the whiff of scandal has now tainted relations with India! Seems the Chinese commies haven’t been the only ones diddling our democracy. PM Fluffy publicly accused India of assassinating a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil! How did he know? The Americans told us! Let’s think this through. As a former fellow-colony of the British Empire, not to mention “the biggest democracy in the world,” we’ve always enjoyed good relations with India. We are suddenly on the outs due to information from Washington. Does Washington have a beef with India? Oh yes! Those Indians have been violating US sanctions on Russia! Uncle Sam said boycott Russian oil or else. India responded by increasing purchases of Russian oil by ten-fold. Obviously, they need to be taught a lesson! In the space of a few months India went from long-time friend of Canada, to the second most important threat to our democracy after China. That’s according to those parliamentarians privy to the top-secret info that we mortals are forbidden to see. It looks to me like the China and India threats to our democracy originate in Washington. Who's going to call out the Americans for interfering in our democracy?