We need a more nuanced approach. Our current approach is too one-size-fits-all. Indeed, not every investment from China is a threat, on the contrary. As an average country with an average economy, we need investment from abroad. We need some degree of technology from abroad because we don't have the capacity to research and manufacture everything in Canada.
So, we need to be able to identify where this investment could be a positive-sum game for China and Canada, and could be a positive-sum game in the private sector as private investment when the same interaction within the public sector and public procurement pose a threat to national security.
We currently lack the tool to take this much more nuanced approach to engagement with China. We need and lack leadership from ministers and politicians because, at the end of the day, they are the ones who give direction to public servants. So, public servants could just follow the mechanism, the frameworks, the law and regulations that are put in place by the policy branch of our democracy.