Diane Francis: Ottawa must protect Canadian industry from foreign meddling – by Diane Francis (Financial Post – July 4, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Canada’s wealth is under attack by surreptitious nations and entities

China deployed thousands of fake social media accounts to protest a rare earth mine project in Saskatchewan, as well as projects in Texas and Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.

“Fake Twitter and Facebook accounts were created to give China, the largest producer of rare earth minerals, a competitive advantage,” Bloomberg reported last week. “The fake accounts claimed that the (mine) processing facility would spur irreversible environmental damage and radioactive contamination that could cause cancer and deformities in newborns.”

This is not the first time Canada’s resource industry has been targeted by foreigners. Last summer, an Alberta Public Inquiry found that, between 2003 and 2019, a collection of foreign entities spent $1.28 billion on “Canadian-based environmental initiatives,” designed to impede Canadian energy development.

Worse, the Inquiry stated that the Canadian federal government was directly involved in damaging the energy industry in Canada. Between 2004 and 2019, over $414 million in federal funds was given to, some of which were directly involved in anti-energy campaigns.

For the rest of this column: https://financialpost.com/diane-francis/diane-francis-ottawa-must-protect-canadian-industry-from-foreign-meddling