Is Chinese cash a threat to Canada’s sovereignty?

Grouse Mountain is a legendary ski resort in the mountains above Metro Vancouver, a treasured recreation spot and symbol of West Coasters’ natural lifestyle. And a Chinese firm just bought it for $200 million.

It’s one of many Canadian real estate deals coming out of the authoritarian Communist nation of 1.3 billion. Perhaps it’s little surprise a new Pew Research poll says Canadians now believe China is the “most powerful country in the world.”

What does China want from Canada? And should Canadians, contrary to welcoming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, worry about China’s interest in this land?

No Canadian region is more affected than Metro Vancouver, which wealthy Chinese consistently rank among the world’s Top 6 cities to invest in residential real estate, the Hurun Report says. National Bank of Canada estimated Chinese buyers poured $13 billion into Metro Vancouver real estate in 2015 alone.

This large-scale speculation comes as scholars argue foreign investment in real estate is not healthy or productive for Canadians, many facing unaffordable housing costs.

And bankers say Chinese firms are just getting started buying Canadian “jewels” like Grouse Mountain.

China’s Anbang Insurance, for example, spent $1.2 billion on four Bentall Towers in Vancouver, leased the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel for $90 million and snapped up a top B.C. retirement-home chain.

Anbang is structured like China Investment Corp., which invested $1.7 billion in Vancouver’s Teck Resources, a $2-million donor to the B.C. Liberal Party — prompting Integrity B.C.’s Dermod Travis to suggest Beijing is in effect donating to a Canadian political party.

So much for national sovereignty. So much for protecting Canadian politicians from outside money.

I have some respect for what Beijing has done in two decades — growing into the world’s secondlargest economy, building massive infrastructure and tackling grave ecological challenges.

And China is trying to limit how much its multimillionaires can sneak out of the country by investing privately in foreign real estate.

This, while China’s human rights abuses are too many to mention.

All in all, it’s naive to think China’s interest in Canada is harmless.

After the federal Liberals agreed to China’s Hytera buying Canadian telecom giant Norsat International, the Pentagon announced a review of its Norsat contracts. Hytera has been accused of massive theft of Motorola’s intellectual property.

In June, China agreed with Canada to stop state-sponsored cyberattacks to steal secrets from private firms — but not government, as in 2014, when Chinese hackers broke into National Research Council computers. That’s a lot of smoke over the years. But Canadians remain largely uninformed, or sanguine. Many are following the lead of Trudeau, who is boldly pursuing more intimate ties with China’s imperious elite.

He has made it easier for foreigners to buy Canadian real estate and firms, upping the foreign takeover review threshold to $1 billion. And his efforts have convinced a slight majority of Canadians to back his pursuit of a free-trade deal with Beijing.

There are pockets of resistance: The NDP wants to lower the foreign takeover review threshold; and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer opposes a trade deal with China.

It almost sounds as if Canada is preparing once more to debate sovereignty, as it did over the North American Free Trade Agreement.

How much does sovereignty count for Canadians, particularly in regards to Chinese influence over the residential real estate market; over the basic human need of housing?

How large an opening do Canadians want to give another superpower?