Canada and increasing local Chinese trade 

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL 

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Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia though its population is only about one-fifth of Russia's. Canada's indigenous peoples make up around 1,5 million, more than 4% of the population. Nearly 90% of Canadians live within 200km of the border with the United States, which means that Canada contains vast expanses of wilderness to the north. The relationship to its “powerful neighbor” USA is said to be a defining factor for Canada.

Canada punches well above its population size in economic terms, and is one of the world's top trading nations. While the service sector dominates, Canada also has vast oil reserves and is a major exporter of energy, food and minerals. Close economic integration exists with the US, but Asian markets are growing in importance.

Canada follows the British pattern of parliamentary democracy, and the UK monarch is head of state, represented by a largely ceremonial governor-general. French-speaking Quebec has wide-ranging cultural and linguistic autonomy. Canada gradually emerged as a federation of former British colonies, and the provinces retain extensive powers.

As a consequence of a flexible foreign policy it has pursued allowing foreigners to  come and settle down in the country, Canada has a vast Asian population, especially the Chinese and Indian. Richmond is North America's most Asian city - 50% of residents here identify themselves as Chinese. But it's not just here that the Chinese community in British Columbia (BC) - some 407,000 strong - has left its mark. All across Vancouver, Chinese-Canadians have helped shape the local landscape. Outside the shopping centre of Vancouver suburb known for its farmland and fishing village, people are queuing at the many Chinese restaurants. In the local supermarkets, butchers are picking live seafood out of fish tanks, chopping off the heads, then gutting and packaging them up under the watchful eye of customers, almost exclusively Chinese-Canadian.

For centuries, Chinese immigrants have come to Canada for economic opportunities. It began with the gold rush in northern and central BC in 1858. In the 1880s, some 6,500 Chinese migrants were directly employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), settling in towns along the railway route, all the way to the terminus in Vancouver, where the fledgling Chinatown took root (now the third-largest in North America). But resentment grew among the white working classes, who saw the migrants as cheap labour, the so-called "yellow peril" stealing jobs and sullying society. In 1885, the federal government enacted the first anti-Chinese legislation, imposing a 'head tax' of CAN$50 on every migrant worker.  Under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923, immigration ground to a halt. The ban was lifted in 1947 - due in part to the contribution of Chinese-Canadian soldiers in WWII - but Mao's red revolution closed the door at the other end.

Newspaper headlines and politicians warned of an "Asian invasion" while the bitter elite coined the phrase 'Hongcouver' to express their dismay at the perceived Asianisation of their city. The wealth of the newcomers was an irritation to some in the local community. But attitudes soon began to change, as they can sell a ton of real estate to this community at a premium and they're kind of like us. These people like their whiskey straight'.

The Hong Kong wave subsided after the British handover to China in 1997. Overall, nearly one-in-five Vancouverites is now of Chinese origin - the biggest migrant community by far, with some 12,400 new arrivals each year. Privately, there have been grumblings. In the safety of living rooms or the anonymity of online forums, old-time Vancouverites blame the Chinese for the city's sky-high property prices, although experts say there's little evidence to back up the fears.

The next significant wave of migrants came in the 1980s and 90s. But they weren't about to do manual labour or settle in Chinatown with the so-called Chi-eppies (Chinese elderly people) and Chi-lippies (Chinese low-income people). There was a largely wealthy class of Hong Kong Chinese who snapped up homes in the priciest neighborhoods, sent their children to the best schools, and kicked off a construction boom which transformed downtown Vancouver into a Hong Kong-style city of skyscrapers.

Exports to China reached CAN$5.1bn ($5bn/£3.17bn) in 2011, nearly five times their value in 2001. Other booming industries include agrifoods, minerals, container traffic, tourism and education. The economic boost has driven a CAN$22bn ($21.6bn/£13.7bn) upgrade in infrastructure along trade corridors with Asia. "Because of the impact of immigration, Canada as a whole is more resilient to economic recession and that's undeniable."

The newcomers' wealth irritated some Vancouver residents. Their sudden impact brought a sharp backlash. Polite Vancouver society was aghast at the "monster houses" being built in the old-rich communities of Shaughnessy and Kerrisdale, often demolishing character homes and tearing down trees in the process.

Language is another flashpoint, especially when it comes to older migrants. "There used to be a time when immigrants to this country were required to know the language," whispers a woman in a doctor's clinic, as the receptionist struggles to ask an elderly Chinese man when he last took his heart medication. A family member has to be contacted by phone before the queue gets moving again.

There's concern too that foreign students are taking up places at university, bringing much-needed bags of cash in foreign student fees. 

People in the globalizing world need to treat the changing society as an opportunity, rather than a threat.

The future is in Asia and Vancouver has a very good advantage, which is that of all the Canadian cities, they are the closest to the “Asia Pacific Rim." Vancouver and British Columbia are a natural place for many Asian families because of our diversity. There are countless personal and cultural connections and Canadian economy and province is richer, more vibrant and attractive for newcomers as a result," her office said in a statement. For now, BC continues to prosper from its ties to Asia and its booming economy.  For the first time in 2011, the Pacific Rim dislodged the US as British Columbia's biggest trade partner. With the collapse of the US housing market, lumber exports have fallen. But demand for coal and natural gas to fuel China's factories is skyrocketing.

The way in which Canada’s provincial governments share land and natural resources with native groups is an ongoing issue. Separatist aspirations in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec have been a major domestic issue. A referendum in 1995 saw advocates of an independent Quebec only narrowly defeated. Subsequent opinion polls indicated a fall in support for independence and the pro-independence Parti Quebecois was defeated in 2003's provincial election, but regained power in 2012. In a largely symbolic move, parliament in 2006 agreed that the Quebecois should be considered a "nation" within a united Canada.

Canada pursues a flexible foreign policy, though it takes most of the foreign policy decisions in pursuance of US global agenda.

USA does not allow any of the NATO member or NATO ally like Pakistan to purse totally independent foreign or domestic policies and  many of them try to align their polices with those of USA.