By focusing solely on China or Russia and other state actors, Canada is missing the potentially far more troubling forces that proved so disruptive during last year’s convoy protest, Susan Delacourt writes.
By focusing solely on China or Russia and other state actors, Canada is missing the potentially far more troubling forces that proved so disruptive during last year’s convoy protest, Susan Delacourt writes.
It really comes down to the question of whether or not non-state actors can conduct ‘foreign interference.’
That is, if Joe from Wisconsin donates money to the trucker convoy that occupies Ottawa, is that foreign interference? Or, if I write an article on why Trump is a terrible thing for the USA, and post it in an American forum, am I conducting foreign interference in some way?
To which, if the answer is “yes,” then are some forms of foreign interference acceptable?
It’s kind of demarcation problem. Where is the line on all of this? In many respects, there is a global society where the lines are more ideological than they are geographical. When is it okay to cross those lines?
You’re 100% right. In the case of China, it’s the Chinese government interfering. In the case of American interest groups, they’re just collections of people with a particular perspective.
That being said, we do let the American government and American state consorts have enormous influence over our policies. But it is viewed as collaboration, rather than interference. Mostly because we identify with America, both being liberal democratic states with subsequently similar ideology. We may disagree on particular policy, but we essential are disgareeing on how to best run capitalist liberal democracies. We don’t disagree on the more foundational ideological terms.
What worries me is that we don’t see this American collaboration and influence as highly problematic. It isn’t problematic for the same reasons that Chinese interferences poses. But it is nonetheless problematic in more subtle ways. I think the source article tries too hard to make the two comparable, and don’t think they are. But that doesn’t diminish the concern we should have with it comes to the American influence.