@[email protected]

So what’s the people’s ROI, and in what public form does it come in? A reliable healthcare system hopefully?

Just a quick reminder that Russia, which is a dictatorship, has been attacking Ukraine and killed hundreds of thousand people, including civilians and children, abducted minors to ‘re-educate’ them in military camps, and caused material damages in infrastructure and other property, and committed some 200,000 war crimes so far.

And this is a tiny sample of what has been happening in Ukraine.

Asking then for the “people’s ROI” when Canada supports Ukraine reveals a abhorrent mindset.

[Here](War crimes in the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)) is a more elaborated article.

Her remarks are absolutely accurate. She must know it because China tried to coerced Canada into a trade agreement via the Canada China Business Council, using Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig as sort of bargaining chips. Freeland was minister at the time.

Canada is also a great supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia. It doesn’t make much sense to engage in a trade deal with China which is the single largest enabler of Moscow’s war machine and provides the economic lifeline for Putin.

It also contradicts Mark Carney’s own warning from April 2025 that named China the “largest security threat” for Canada.

Canada needs to diversify its trade. This trade deal with China is not diversification, though. It risks to become another dependence trap.

@[email protected]

Canada’s trade with EU countries and similar like-minded democracies in the Indo-Pacific is extremely low, there is a lot of potential. China will use any leverage in the future for political and economic coercion. China doesn’t necessarily need an ‘amphibious landing in Vancouver.’

Did

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Even

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Comment?

Nah, a vast majority of Iranians rejects the Islamic Republic. There are several independent surveys that prove that, as this one from 2024 said:

… The Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN), which conducted the survey in June 2024, said …, “A majority of the population opposes the Islamic Republic and supports changing or transforming the political system.” … Support for the principles of the 1979 revolution and the Supreme Leader fell to 11 percent, down from 18 percent in 2022. By contrast, some 40 percent of participants said regime change was a precondition for reform, while another 24 percent favored a structural transition away from the current system.

A clear majority of Iranians do not want the theocracy that came to power with the 1979 revolution. They want a secular democracy.

Yeah, it’s just important that these panels and batteries are produced in Canada and like-minded democratic allies rather than, say, China. It wouldn’t make sense to become dependent on autocratic regimes.

The linked article makes very good points. A US court has ruled Trump’s tariffs unlawful, while a Chinese court wouldn’t rule against Xi’s tariffs. Several US media still publish articles critical of Trump, but there are no article in Chinese media criticizing Xi. There is no doubt that despite Trump’s decline into a dictatorship, China is far ahead in that respect.

But as you’re trying to ridicule the source without commenting on the content: what is a good source for China?

Canada prepares an aid package for Cuba as it faces fuel shortages worsened by the US oil embargo. And Canada does and should stand with the Iranian people against an oppressive regime that has killed thousands in the last weeks.

These are just two points of your comment that is misleading and in some parts outright wrong.

For the Trump agenda? The Iranians have been (once again) fighting against their oppressive regime and demand a change.

It’s just an exaggeration to make a point calm down.

This is an ignorant and disgusting statement imo that only helps to whitewash the Chinese party-state’s genocidal policies.

There are more than just two options, and China certainly isn’t better than the US.

Who is “our”? Whose community is this in your view?

I am not anti-China but pro-Canada, and this is a Canada community.

It is weird that you say “our” community with “tankie” in your account name.

Corrected, thanks.

You have apparently commented in the wrong thread. Your comment has nothing to do with linked article’s content and China.

Thank you for your sophisticated elaboration.

Your account is just a few days old, but your comments’ pro-China and anit-democratic spin is already visible.

Given how much we spend subsidizing these plants I’d be curious if they are even a net positive.

Do you have any numbers to foster your arguments?

I don’t think you are right with your opinion, but even if so, it would then make no sense to buy Chinese cars that are even more subsidized than any Western country does and ever did. This is not economically viable (a fact that even Chinese automakers themselves admit), and there is ample evidence of forced labour across Chinese supply chains as well. Just look at the BYD plant in Brazil last year, just to name a more recent example.

The Canadian government unveiled its strategy to revive the country’s auto industry just two week ago.

Currently, Canadian automobile industry and its dedicated parts suppliers directly employ 110,486 people in Canada in dealerships, assembly plants, national and regional offices, captive finance companies, and transportation and logistics facilities. In addition, there are 106,773 jobs across the country related to the automobile industry.

It is noteworthy that these numbers are relatively high, although the domestic industry has shrunk in recent decades. Last year, 1.2 million cars were made in Canada, down from more than 3 million at its peak in 1999.

It’s time to revive the industry while not repeating the mistakes of the past, when Canada relied too much on the US.

@[email protected]

This is why we need transparent supply chains. The Chinese government is opposing such transparency heavily. Chinese companies employ migrant workers in their factories abroad and have fully integrated supply chains, which means no local Canadian companies and workers will benefit.

China is notably among the countries with practically non-existent workers’ rights. Independent labor unions are illegal in the country as the government only endorses one union, the so-called All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). All other unions fall under the ACFTU’s hierarchical control.

The government also frequently cracks down on labour activists. Legally, workers are guaranteed a 40-hour week with overtime pay, a minimum wage and social security benefits. But enforcement is down to the local governments that more often than not fails to protect workers. In addition, an “informal" economy leads to many migrant workers working without formal contracts. They are not officially employed anywhere, moving to and from companies to work during peak production seasons.

And these are only a very few examples what’s wrong in China’s social system. Critics often call for more workers’ right in Canada and other Western states, which is, of course, perfectly right. I’d fully support that. But everyone who portrays China as a better solution has no clue about the Chinese economy. It’s far worse than anyone in the West can imagine.

The ones that are not built by coerced labour.

Edit for an addition as I have just noticed: Last week, the linked article’s author Daniel Murphy won the 2025 Hinrich Foundation Award for Distinguished Reporting on Trade for its series on China’s hidden forced labor and its impact on the global supply chain.

it would be really inconvenient for propagandists like you if people actually start going to China and seeing it for themselves.

The hilarious (and concerning) part of your comment is that you really believe your 10-day trip to China as a tourist and some images on the web give you a real impression about the country and its government. You know nothing about that topic.