Taking offence to “opportunistic moment”

Dear Editor,

Recently, Oshawa residents received in the mail a postcard size questionnaire from Conservative member of Parliament Colin Carrie.

On the front of the card is the question, “A Clear and Present Danger To Canada’s 5G Networks and Security?” with the word HUAWEI appearing prominently just below. On the flip side we’re asked if the federal government should ban Huawei from our country’s 5G networks as some countries have done. Another question asks if the federal government should adopt a “tougher stance” in our various dealings with China.

Mr. Carrie’s questionnaire is superficial, self-serving and biased, and reduces complex questions to simplistic ones. Is this Mr. Carrie’s way of involving ordinary citizens in some of the great issues of the day?

Of course his effort comes nowhere near to being a successful exercise in meaningful participatory democracy. But Carrie’s questionnaire might be successful, inadvertently or otherwise, in reinforcing the virulent anti-China propaganda that we are exposed to on a regular basis in much of the media and from most politicians. And as such it may very well contribute to anti-Chinese racism and violence towards Asian people that we are witnessing in Canada and elsewhere.
Most of China’s 1.4 billion people are undoubtedly ordinary people like most of us in Canada, trying their best to get by, as are Asian immigrants in this country.
Mr. Carrie, the next opportunistic moment when you feel compelled to demonize China, distinguish between the Chinese people and their unelected government. Or better yet, refrain from throwing stones Mr. Carrie for we all live in glass houses!

Mike Byrne