Foreign investment is as old as Canada

In his editorial opposing foreign investment in pipelines, David Orchard shows he is nothing if not consistent. Unfortunately, he is consistent in his complete lack of understanding of the most elementary facts of economics, trade, politics or history.

Mr. Orchard points to the building of the national railway in the 19th century as the ideal for how Canada should approach pipelines. But contrary to what Orchard appears to think, the national railway wasn’t built by a “benevolent” Crown corporation or government agency. It was built by a private company, the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Canadian taxpayers’ main involvement in the project was through sweetheart deals given by the government to the company — the sort of thing Orchard appears to oppose today.

As a private venture, the CPR was financed by investors from the U.K. and the

U.S. as well as from Canada. Three of the most prominent backers of the CPR — James Hill, John Stewart Kennedy and Norman Kittson — were American citizens.

Throughout its history, Canada has benefited from foreign investment and trade. This has most recently been seen in the positive effects of our free trade agreements — which Mr. Orchard has always so loudly opposed, in the most nativist and xenophobic terms. How pleasing it must be for Mr. Orchard that he has finally found a kindred spirit (and intellectual peer) in Donald Trump. Lyle Hewitt, Regina