Hong Kong, China – Hong Kong’s leader-in-waiting, John Lee, has likened himself to a conductor with the ability to lead a “new symphony” for the global financial hub.
Lee, who is running unopposed as the only “validly nominated candidate” in a tightly-controlled, small-circle election on May 8, has his work cut out for him.
Lee will inherit a city languishing from two years of political crackdowns and strict pandemic policies, which have fuelled an exodus of highly-skilled professionals and turned the once-thriving international business centre into one of the world’s most isolated cities.
Rolling out his 44-page political manifesto last week, Lee promised to breathe life back into the economy, tackle the city’s housing crisis, curb rising unemployment and strengthen governance.
But any hope of restoring the city’s lustre must contend with Beijing’s uncompromising efforts to crush dissent and eliminate COVID-19 under a draconian “dynamic zero COVID” strategy.
Beijing’s endorsement of Lee, formerly Hong Kong’s number two official, has been widely seen as a sign of China’s prioritisation of security over business. A former security chief and career police officer, Lee lacks the business experience of some of his predecessors, which include a property surveyor and a billionaire shipping tycoon.
Lee led the response to the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and oversaw the arrests of dozens of people under a controversial national security law that has silenced practically all prominent critical voices in politics, civil society and media.
Tara Joseph, the former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, described it as “flabbergasting” that a business hub like Hong Kong will be led by someone with no commercial experience.
“He may be a decisive leader. He may make the city function better. That’s true. But he’s not a businessman. He doesn’t have links to business,” Joseph, who is now senior director of US firm Strategy Risks, told Al Jazeera. “He has links to the security apparatus.”
Joseph, who left Hong Kong partly because of the city’s strict pandemic measures, said the “jury’s out” on whether Lee or any other leader will be allowed to differentiate Hong Kong’s COVID policy from that of the mainland.
“The longer the lack of connectivity continues in Hong Kong, the more harm it’s doing. We know how many people are leaving. We know it’s been very harmful,” she said.
Hong Kong has experienced an exodus of professionals after more than two years of political crackdowns and strict pandemic rules [File: Peter Park/AFP]
Pro-Beijing figures insist that Lee’s focus on security will not come at the expense of the economy.
Former Finance Minister Frederick Ma said he is confident Lee will surround himself with business savvy advisers who can help steer the economy.
“If you are a good leader you rely on people,” Ma told Al Jazeera. “He needs to get capable people to help. And if he manages to get capable people and they work as a team, I would be optimistic about the future. I surely have hope.”
Ma said it will be important for the next leader to resolve uncertainty about the city’s pandemic strategy, which has prioritised reopening the borders with mainland China above the rest of the world but failed to restore quarantine-free travel with either.
“I think what’s key is you need to make a decision, if you’re going to open the mainland border, do it, but if you want to follow the international way, then do it that way,” he said.
Lee has said Hong Kong must “expand its international connectivity” and “establish a more favourable business environment”, while also emphasising the need to reconnect the city with the mainland.
While Hong Kong recently reduced hotel quarantine from 14 to seven days and lifted a ban on the entry of non-residents, the steps are widely seen as insufficient to bring back international travellers.
“Without opening the borders, Hong Kong will be minimising its opportunities for international business development,” George Cautherley, a Hong Kong-based businessman, told Al Jazeera. “I don’t think there’s any alternative.”
‘Two bosses’
Lee has selected a 148-strong advisory team of powerful businessmen and politicians, including the city’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, and entertainment tycoon and property developer Allan Zeman.
Zeman said he believes Lee will initiate negotiations with China to find a way to reopen the border with the mainland.
“Lee is results-oriented, and he’s a doer, and he knows what needs to be done, and I think coming out of security, he has a different [kind of] respect from people, especially from Beijing,” Zeman told Al Jazeera.
“It’s not an easy position for anyone,” added Zeman, explaining the city is caught between the need to reopen to the world and reconnect with the mainland, which is wary of coronavirus cases coming across its land border.
“So you have to negotiate with two bosses.”
Ronny Tong, an adviser to current Chief Executive Carrie Lam, said he also believes Lee will tackle Hong Kong’s reopening as a top priority.
“As far as the fight against COVID-19 and opening the border of Hong Kong again, I’m sure this is part of the necessary path in order to revitalise the economy of Hong Kong, and I’m sure this would be the first task that he would attend to if and when he gets elected,” Tong told Al Jazeera.
Lee has previously sought to make the case that he is not beholden to any business interest groups, and therefore comes “without baggage”.
“My primary concern is the overall interest, instead of the interest of any certain sector,” he said at a press briefing last month.
A spokesperson at the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce said John Lee “brings a new mindset to the administration”.
“Lee has pledged to work together with the public and business to tackle Hong Kong’s longstanding issues, such as the shortage of housing,” the spokesperson said. “So with a clear consensus and roadmap, we are confident the city will be able to bounce back.”
Hong Kong has become one of the world’s most isolated cities under China’s ‘dynamic zero COVID’ strategy [File: Lam Yik/Reuters]
Jonathan Slone, former Asia chair at Jefferies Group, who is now a private investor, said he sees the economy becoming “a bigger and bigger focus” under the new administration.
“I think they’ll be pretty practical,” Slone told Al Jazeera. “Is the business community going to get everything it wants? No, but I think that these guys know that the economy needs to get going.”
Others are more sceptical.
Pro-democracy businessman Herbert Chow said Lee has been given an “impossible task” when it comes to jumpstarting the economy.
“We’ll see how he can balance that with breaking the cycle of going back and forth, tap dancing on relaxation versus the retightening of COVID rules,” Chow told Al Jazeera.
Chow said he believes most businesses “don’t care” about whether Lee, who has pledged to introduce more national security legislation, will accelerate the crackdown on dissent.
“I think most of the business community will not care too much about how the police repair the relationship with citizens, or whether Hong Kong continues to be a police state,” said Chow, who last year announced his intention to relocate his children’s clothing brand Chickeeduck overseas due to pressure from the authorities.
Asked whether Hong Kong could return to its glory days, Joseph, the former AmCham president, said the city is looking at a “new normal”.
“And I think people will need to adjust to that,” she said. “Hong Kong is not globally connected in the same way any more, so there are risks with it. It may find a way out of this mess, but much more as a city in China.”
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 250 points in late-morning trading, led by strength in the base metal and technology sectors, while U.S. stock markets also charged higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 254.62 points at 23,847.22.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 432.77 points at 41,935.87. The S&P 500 index was up 96.38 points at 5,714.64, while the Nasdaq composite was up 486.12 points at 18,059.42.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.68 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was up 89 cents at US$70.77 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down a penny at US2.27 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$9.40 at US$2,608.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.33 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Supervised injection sites are saving the lives of drug users everyday, but the same support is not being offered to people who inhale illicit drugs, the head of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS says.
Dr. Julio Montaner said the construction of Vancouver’s first indoor supervised site for people who inhale drugs comes as the percentage of people who die from smoking drugs continues to climb.
The location in the Downtown Eastside at the Hope to Health Research and Innovation Centre was unveiled Wednesday after construction was complete, and Montaner said people could start using the specialized rooms in a matter of weeks after final approvals from the city and federal government.
“If we don’t create mechanisms for these individuals to be able to use safely and engage with the medical system, and generate points of entry into the medical system, we will never be able to solve the problem,” he said.
“Now, I’m not here to tell you that we will fix it tomorrow, but denying it or ignoring it, or throw it under the bus, or under the carpet is no way to fix it, so we need to take proactive action.”
Nearly two-thirds of overdose deaths in British Columbia in 2023 came after smoking illicit drugs, yet only 40 per cent of supervised consumption sites in the province offer a safe place to smoke, often outdoors, in a tent.
The centre has been running a supervised injection site for years which sees more than a thousand people monthly and last month resuscitated five people who were overdosing.
The new facilities offer indoor, individual, negative-pressure rooms that allow fresh air to circulate and can clear out smoke in 30 to 60 seconds while users are monitored by trained nurses.
Advocates calling for more supervised inhalation sites have previously said the rules for setting up sites are overly complicated at a time when the province is facing an overdose crisis.
More than 15,000 people have died of overdoses since the public health emergency was declared in B.C. in April 2016.
Kate Salters, a senior researcher at the centre, said they worked with mechanical and chemical engineers to make sure the site is up to code and abidies by the highest standard of occupational health and safety.
“This is just another tool in our tool box to make sure that we’re offering life-saving services to those who are using drugs,” she said.
Montaner acknowledged the process to get the site up and running took “an inordinate amount of time,” but said the centre worked hard to follow all regulations.
“We feel that doing this right, with appropriate scientific background, in a medically supervised environment, etc, etc, allows us to derive the data that ultimately will be sufficiently convincing for not just our leaders, but also the leaders across the country and across the world, to embrace the strategies that we are trying to develop.” he said.
Montaner said building the facility was possible thanks to a single $4-million donation from a longtime supporter.
Construction finished with less than a week before the launch of the next provincial election campaign and within a year of the next federal election.
Montaner said he is concerned about “some of the things that have been said publicly by some of the political leaders in the province and in the country.”
“We want to bring awareness to the people that this is a serious undertaking. This is a very massive investment, and we need to protect it for the benefit of people who are unfortunately drug dependent.” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
