Bob Mackin
B.C. Premier David Eby started Canada Day in China, where Beijing recognizes July 1 as the anniversary of the 1921-founded Chinese Communist Party.
Eby is expected back in B.C. for a July 2 meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney about an infrastructure funding deal. (There is also another FIFA World Cup match at B.C. Place, between Switzerland and Algeria.)
B.C. Premier David Eby with a name card that reads “David Yin” in Chinese characters, in a photo posted on WeChat while in Beijing. (WeChat)
Before he left Vancouver International Airport on June 26, Eby was asked why his office had not released his itinerary. “Sometimes releasing this information can give competitors in other provinces or countries an unfair advantage in understanding what we’re doing,” Eby told reporters.
On China’s WeChat, images have emerged of Eby meeting with China’s Deputy Minister of Housing and a luncheon with the vice-president of the Chinese People’s Association for Foreign Friendship, a group under the vast Communist Party United Front Work Department that aims to influence foreign politicians and infiltrate foreign governments and institutions.
Also, this WeChat clip from an interview with government-related Phoenix TV, in which Eby enthusiastically rolls-out the welcome mat for imported Chinese-made electric vehicles.
Chinese EVs come with concerns about privacy, national security and the future of Canada’s domestic auto industry.
One of the biggest fans of the technology is B.C. shopping centre investor Weihong Liu, who posted a video on WeChat in the driver’s seat of a self-driving Tesla Cybertruck.
Around the Rim
Foreign tourists who make a repeat vacation in Taiwan are being offered up to US$250 in incentives if they bring a companion.
Taiwan counted 1.5 million Japanese visitors last year, up 12% from 2024.
“The figure represents a recovery to nearly 70% of pre-pandemic levels, underscoring Japan’s importance as one of Taiwan’s key source markets,” reports Taiwan News.
In China, July 1, 2026 is the day the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law comes into effect.
Critics fear the assimilation policy will target ethnic minorities and blame overseas dissidents for splitting the Han majority and the other 55 ethnic minorities.
Kyodo News reports the law also requires the state to “promote cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation” and “enhance Taiwan compatriots’ sense of belonging” to the Chinese people.
China’s ambassador Xiao Qian criticized Australia’s domestic spy agency’s national security video. It includes news clips on China’s foreign interference activities. Xiao suggested that could harm relations between Sydney and Beijing.
ABC News Australia reported the video mentioned the antisemitic terror attack on Bondi Beach and the return of so-called ISIS brides to Australia.
Cascadia Calling
Another severance paid to a Portland bureaucrat.
Amanda Garcia-Snell of the Office of Community and Civic Life scored $91,000 and six months health insurance after only 18 months in the job. She agreed not to sue the city, according to the Oregonian.
Cost of recent severances surpassed $1 million. Among the golden parachutes: Shea Flaherty Betin, former executive director of the Prosper Portland economic development agency, paid $212,922 in June after a public dispute with two city councillors over budgeting.
FIFA World Cup has had the opposite effect in Seattle’s Chinatown International District.
Some businesses have enjoyed record-breaking customer counts, but many have seen fewer customers on match days.
According to the Seattle Times, many office workers and other regulars aren’t coming in “because they don’t want to get caught up in all the traffic and the crowds,” said Tuyen Than, the executive director of the CID Business Improvement Area.
And a happy 4th of July to neighbours in the Excited States, marking 250 years of independence.
Bellingham’s Cascadia Daily News has a special feature to celebrate the five freedoms in the First Amendment of the constitution: religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.
“The necessity of those rights has been fundamental to our representative democracy and the nation.”
Happy Canada Day 2026! Rewind 34 years to the Tragically Hip’s set at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium, during the Great Canadian Party that celebrated the nation’s 125th anniversary.
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