WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER16,2019| THEGLOBEANDMAILO A
OPINION
NEWS |T
o watch the Canadian elec-
tion campaign you would
hardly know Donald
Trump existed.
During four hours of debates
in English and French last week,
the elephant in almost every
room everywhere barely rated a
mention. Party leaders weren’t
asked a single question about Mr.
Trump or relations with Wash-
ington.
If he is the most destabilizing,
reckless U.S. president to come
along in ages, no matter. And so
what if in respect to Canada his
protectionist presidency is so im-
pactful – on trade where a conti-
nental deal hangs in the balance
waiting for Congressional ratifi-
cation; on China, where the
health of Canadian relations is
tied up in Washington-Beijing
controversies; on immigration,
the environment, the economy
and more.
American relations have
played a key role in several Cana-
dian elections. In the 1911 cam-
paign, trade tipped the scales. In
1963, defence controversies were
pivotal. In 1988, it was trade
again.
But U.S. affairs have been in
the background this time pri-
marily on account of Liberal
Leader Justin Trudeau’s highly
questionable call not to highlight
his bilateral work. Not until a
speech on Monday in Windsor,
Ont., did he speak out about it.
Conservative Leader Andrew
Scheer, meanwhile, has been
smart. He’s avoided fellow con-
servative Mr. Trump as though
he’s a carrier of some kind of rare
disease.
Mr. Trudeau’s silence until
Monday caught the disapproving
eye of his former Washington
ambassador David MacNaugh-ton. He wondered what the Lib-
erals were thinking. “I don’t
know why they aren’t raising
Trump,” he said in an interview a
couple of days before the Tru-
deau outing. “I know all the polls
suggest it’s the one thing most
people agree the Liberals have
handled well.”
In Windsor, Mr. Trudeau said:
“We were able to stand up to Do-
nald Trump and his punitive tar-
iffs on steel and aluminum. We
were able to stand up when he
wanted to tear up a trade deal
that Windsor, indeed all Cana-
dians, rely on.”
He took aim at Mr. Scheer, ac-
cusing him of being under for-
mer prime minister Stephen Har-
per’s wing. Mr. Scheer had called
the new NAFTA among other
things a “historic humiliation.” It
was an ignorant statement, so
hyperbolic that even Rona Am-
brose, the former interim Con-
servative leader, came forward to
defend the Trudeau deal. “I
think, at the end of the day, we
came out doing well,” she said of
the renegotiation.
With ammunition such as
that, Mr. Trudeau should have
been forcing Mr. Scheer into acorner on the bilateral file since
Day 1 of the campaign. It may be
too late to make hay now.
Mr. Scheer, the squeaky clean
family man, is a far cry stylisti-
cally from the U.S. President and
many of his policies are at broad
variance. But they are unsurpris-
ingly more in line with the Re-
publicans than other Canadian
parties. The Conservative Leader
has spoken out in favour of Brex-
it. He favours more tax breaks for
the rich. He’s softer on guns than
his Canadian opponents, more
to the right on social issues.
Mr. Scheer has to be careful, as
does Mr. Trudeau, on what he
says about the U.S. President, be-
cause he may have to deal with
him should he win. But his first
order of business is winning and
if that means a repudiation of
Trumpism, why would he hesi-
tate, especially if U.S. relations
become a bigger issue in the
campaign’s final days?
The Conservatives have had a
bad run of luck with presidents.
Mr. Harper had to steer clear of
war-happy George W. Bush be-
cause he was so unpopular in
Canada. Mr. Trump is even more
loathed.One leader who has spoken
out pointedly against him is Jag-
meet Singh, who says Mr. Trump
should be impeached. But be-
cause he won’t be forming a gov-
ernment, the NDP chief doesn’t
have to fear repercussions from
the insult king.
The Trump White House play-
ers are hardly concerned about
Canadian matters now, as so
many other issues, impeach-
ment being one, crowd their
plate.
They are showing little inter-
est in the election and Canadian
officials tell me they couldn’t
care less who wins.
This is odd, since normally a
Republicangovernment would
favour a Conservative one in Ot-
tawa. But the Trump team has
reached a modus vivendi with
the Trudeaugovernment that is
comfortable enough.
Nothing is predictable with
this wackadoodle Oval Office oc-
cupant. He could see Mr. Tru-
deau’s assertion that he stood up
to him and react with fury in a
Twitter rant. That would put U.S.
relations where they should be
in the Canadian election cam-
paign – front and centre.Whydidn’tTrudeauplaytheTrumpcard?
TheLiberalLeader’s
bilateralworkwiththe
U.S.issomethingtobe
highlighted,notpushed
intothebackground
LAWRENCE
MARTIN
OPINIONWASHINGTON
A
fter more than a week of
protests by outraged fans,
the National Basketball As-
sociation seems to be emerging
from its China crisis.
It all began with a tweet from
Houston Rockets general manag-
er Daryl Morey expressing sup-
port for Hong Kong’s pro-democ-
racy protesters. The NBA was in
damage-control mode within
hours. Mr. Morey recanted; hand-
made signs supporting the pro-
tests and China’s oppressed
Uyghurs were quietly hustled out
of U.S. arenas; stars such as
James Harden and Lebron James
made China-friendly statements.
For his part, league commis-
sioner Adam Silver conducted
the kind of penitential walk-back
that is now familiar to Western
chief executives in China – deliv-
ering reassuring public state-
ments about respecting differ-
ences.
Staying ahead of the national-
istic mob is important. Video-
game developer Blizzard recently
moved with lightning speed to
disqualify and suspend an e-
sports gamer who, in an inter-
view, blurted out, “Liberate Hong
Kong, revolution of our times” –
the rallying cry of Hong Kong’s
pro-democracy protesters.
For Beijing, economic power is
the key to greater global influen-
ce. Hollywood studios now un-
derstand that the price of admis-
sion into China’s theatres is the
injection of pro-China plot lines
into their films. Struggling West-
ern media companies partner
with China’s state-controlled
press, obligingly circulating Chi-
nese content. And airlines such
as Air Canada, looking to access
China’s vast tourism market,
have been pressed to inaccurate-
ly list Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, as
just another Chinese city.
The fires of nationalism are
stoked and carefully controlled
by the Chinese government,
which uses the ensuing protests
to put pressure on foreign com-
panies to conform with Beijing’s
policies, effectively exporting
China’s repression to the west.
China uses economic black-
mail on countries, as well as on
corporations. Blocking imports
of Canadian canola is, for exam-
ple, an important element in
Beijing’s efforts to pressure Cana-da to release Huawei chief finan-
cial officer Meng Wanzhou, who
currently faces extradition to the
United States.
Of course, such interventions
risk causing collateral damage at
home in China. Chinese fans are
rabid for NBA-level basketball,
and Canadian canola sells in Chi-
na because it’s better than the lo-
cal alternative. But China’s
tough-minded brand of state
capitalism allows it to override
local consumer demand – at
least, usually long enough to ob-
tain concessions from jittery for-
eign corporations and from gov-
ernments far more sensitive to
the political cost of market dis-
ruption.
This is leading to increasinginterest in what some in the U.S.
are calling “decoupling” – that is,
replacing our across-the-board
engagement with an idealized vi-
sion of China, and instead ap-
proaching the Communist state
as a formidable rising power
that’s as much a competitor as it
is a customer.
Proponents of decoupling ar-
gue that focusing exclusively on
deepening economic ties with
China is backfiring precisely be-
cause Beijing so effectively weap-
onizes trade, turning market ac-
cess into a dangerous dependen-
cy.
But we’re not hearing much
talk about decoupling here in
Canada. Even after a year of bru-
tal treatment by Beijing, the gov-ernment seems wedded to the
same comprehensive engage-
ment strategy that corporations
such as the NBA stubbornly em-
brace. We’ve even dispatched se-
nior people to Beijing on what
seem, bizarrely, like apology
tours. In their visits to China, fed-
eral Small Business Minister Ma-
ry Ng and Canadian senator and
Canada-China Legislative Associ-
ation co-chair Joseph Day sound-
ed an awful lot like Mr. Silver as
they meekly offered Chinese au-
diences bromides about not let-
ting small differences disrupt our
fundamental friendship.
We do need to manage our
messaging while Canadians Mi-
chael Kovrig and Michael Spavor
continue to languish in Chinese
detention. But that doesn’t
oblige us to say things that are
foolish or untrue, or to put off
serious thinking about a smart
decoupling from a China that is,
from abundant evidence, far
from friendly.
This isn’t about abandoning
the relationship – it’s about end-
ing a failed, anything-goes ap-
proach to engagement.
Fortunately, at least one west-
ern institution has resisted the
impulse to kowtow. Last week,
the satirical cartoon seriesSouth
Parkskewered the Chinese gov-
ernment’s blackmail tactics and
its censorship threats. Beijing
went on to ban viewing and even
discussing of the show. Its cre-
ators responded with a mock
apology: “Like the NBA, we wel-
come the Chinese censors into
our homes and into our hearts,”
the statement reads. “... Long
live the great Communist Party
of China. May the autumn’s sor-
ghum harvest be bountiful. We
good now, China?”
Maybe Ottawa’s China experts
need to watch a little less basket-
ball and a little moreSouth Park.NBA’sChinacrisisisproofthateconomicdiplomacyisnoslamdunk
DAVIDMULRONEY
OPINIONCanada’sambassadortoChina
from2009to
BrooklynNetsplayerGarrettTemplegoestothebasketduringagameagainsttheLosAngelesLakersin
Shenzhen,China,onSaturday.COLORCHINAPHOTOVIAASSOCIATEDPRESST
eachers have one of the har-
dest jobs on the planet. In a
world where social-media
echo chambers reverberate with
hyper-partisan rhetoric and sen-
sational voices, teachers are up
against an overwhelming tsuna-
mi of information – drowning out
time for deliberation and discus-
sion to find the middle ground
among widely different view-
points.
Teachers have an opportunity
to equip our students – our next
wave of humanity – with the em-
pathetic, critical and forward
thinking needed to solve today’s
local problems with a global
mindset.
They must convey to their stu-
dents that their actions and deci-
sions, as tomorrow’s leaders, will
not only affect the people around
them – who look and think like
them. Because of our intercon-
nectedness, how students choose
to invest their money, their time,
their attention, how they con-
sume, what they opt to say or not
say will have a much wider im-
pact.
Giving our young people a
broader appreciation for the dif-
ferent viewpoints and values that
exist around the world is crucial
to a sustainable, prosperous and
peaceful future for all. In the un-
certain world that our young peo-
ple will inhabit, this grounding in
humanistic values will serve
them ever more.
The Global Pluralism Award,
offered by the Global Centre for
Pluralism, was envisioned by the
Aga Khan, chair of the centre’s
board, as a way to celebrate plu-
ralism in action. From among
more than 500 applications from
74 countries, today we an-
nounced the winners. From the
Balkans, Ghana and Myanmar,
the winners are truly inspiring ex-
amples of educators and leaders
shaping a new generation of
thoughtful and open-mindedyoung people.
In the Balkans, the challenge of
introducing a more tolerant
world view is complicated by
teachers’ own biases. The “Learn-
ing History that is not yet History”
project, one of the award win-
ners, is run by history teachers
from Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia,
who grew up amid the conflicts of
the 1990s in former Yugoslavia.
They have likely been brought up
by family members who malign
certain groups and heard their
politicians leverage identity poli-
tics.
Now, they are coming to terms
with the past and teaching their
students to embrace the differ-
ences in their communities and
push back against ethno-nation-
alism.
They are pioneering approach-
es to teach the 1990s wars in the
region that critically assess narra-
tives of exclusion. So when their
students take on the leadership
roles in their society, divisions
along ethnic, religious and social
lines will not be perpetuated.
Such work is closely aligned withthe mission of the International
Baccalaureate.
Helping students understand
multiple perspectives is particu-
larly difficult when the resources
are not available. For instance, the
vast majority of books for youth
in Africa offer only Westernized
interpretations of the world. How
do children come to appreciate
the richness of African culture
without access to stories from
their own continent? Award-win-
ner Deborah Ahenkorah of Gha-
na wants to change this. She start-
ed a social enterprise, Golden
Baobab, dedicated to bringing
African stories written by African
authors to African children.
When children see themselves
represented in literature, they de-
velop a deeper appreciation for
their own culture and their place
in it, which makes them more
open to engaging with the diver-
sity of people around them. Ms.
Ahenkorah’s books are making
their way into African schools,
where children are finally able to
access stories they can relate to
and develop a more pluralistic
view of their world.When youth are raised with
the ability to empathize and build
connections across difference,
young leaders such as Aung Kyaw
Moe emerge. A Rohingya human-
itarian, he founded the Center for
Social Integrity in Myanmar, the
third award winner. He believes
that building sustainable peace in
Myanmar will require shifting the
next generation’s attitudes on di-
versity. His organization is train-
ing youth from conflict-affected
regions with the peace building
skills to resolve tensions and me-
diate conflicts.
The only project of its kind in
Myanmar, it is often the first op-
portunity for youth to interact
with people from other religions
or ethnic groups. Teachers are
leading the charge and youth are
responding. Inspiring, entrepre-
neurial young leaders such as Ms.
Ahenkorah and Mr. Kyaw Moe are
embracing the challenge to build
a society that is not just free from
harm, but one that is vibrant and
cohesive – not despite its diversi-
ty, but because of it.GARYMASONwillreturn.Wemusthonourteacherswhoshapeanewgenerationofthoughtfulyoungpeople
SIVAKUMARI
OPINIONGlobalPluralismAwardjurymember
anddirector-generalofthe
InternationalBaccalaureate