Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
sentiment nor symbolism, but as an entry in a distant investment portfolio.
Harry Rankin, senior left-wing member of Vancouver Council, blustered,
'We have to stop foreign ownership of land, be it residential, commercial,
hotels or whatever' (Collins 1989a), a position echoed to the media by some
provincial politicians. Donald Gutstein, a local author and housing activist,
and a familiar player in anti-development and pro-neighbourhood fights in
the 1970s, entered the fray, arguing publicly as he had a decade earlier
against insensitive development that breached neighbourhood defences.
His topic,
The New Landlords: Asian Investment in Canadian Real Estate
(Gutstein 1990), itemizing causes and consequences of Vancouver's absorp-
tion into a global real estate market, sold like hot cakes.
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The traditional political geography of local development was being trans-
gressed as neo-liberal market freedoms exposed land development to new
calculations and priorities. These realities were quite evident to expatriates
in Hong Kong. Writing in the
South China Morning Post
, Rick Gossen
(1989), a real estate developer, observed:
The Regatta issue is not one of race, but focuses on a perceived slight of
Canadians who have little input to property development in their own back-
yard…From a commercial standpoint, the units were marketed where they
could be sold most efficiently (in Hong Kong) with the most high profile
company (Cheung Kong). In Vancouver, government officials offer non-
commercial reasons saying that the units should be offered locally.
In a 'level playing field' or a 'flat world' across the Pacific, the imposition of
'non-commercial reasons' to complicate economic transactions introduced
some confusion. Canada had repeatedly sought investment from Asia Pacific,
but once it arrived wanted to assimilate capital to a local political culture unfa-
miliar to Hong Kong investors. Indeed rather than causing offence, 'by Hong
Kong standards [Grand Adex] were to be congratulated for commercial prow-
ess' (Gossen 1989). A second observer in Hong Kong highlighted the political
differences across the transnational social field between a Canadian character
that 'treasures matters of social policy - ideas like concern for the environment,
quality of life, affordable housing, or whether or not someone gets his view of
the mountains blocked by another development' and the 'bottom-line-first
ways for which Hong Kong business is famous' (Collins 1989a). Moreover,
there is a fear in Vancouver that a secondary market for property is rapidly
being developed - one market for high-paying outsiders and one for the locals
with whatever's left…
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When a [Vancouver] property can be bought, sold, leased and even managed
from offices in Hong Kong, it is bound to create a backlash, which it has. And
many are now coming to view that sort of 'investment' in Vancouver as colo-
nization (Collins 1989a).
