Got development?

There probably aren’t many people who would disagree with the notion that I come from a “developed” country (Canada) and that I live in a “developing” country (Vietnam). That’s certainly the consensus from the Vietnamese I meet in an ordinary day: when they find out where I’m from, they inevitably nod sagely and say “Yes, Canada. It’s a developed country.” I should note my underlying suspicion that their response would be the same even if I answered “East Belugastan,” but that’s neither here nor there. The underlying assumption is that the two nations (Canada - or even East Belugastan - and Vietnam) are fundamentally different, that one has somehow reached the end point of “development” (if not “history”) while the other one has a long way to go. But I’m not so sure, and my doubt stems from an epiphany I had while vacationing on an island in the gulf of Thailand.

I’ve been going to the same beach on Koh Phangan for almost ten years now. It’s a pretty idyllic place, really: a lovely little cove inside a National Park, difficult to access except by the daily water taxi, electricity for only a few hours in the evening when the bungalow operators turn on their generators so guests don’t have to eat their dinner in the dark. So there I was one morning, looking out over the Gulf of Thailand, sipping my cup of instant coffee. My eyes wandered over the Tetrapack of UHT milk provided for those of us who aren’t fond of undiluted instant coffee, and I noticed with a start that it was another quality product from the Foremost Friesland corporation. The same corporation that eventually purchased and then shut down the dairy cooperative that used to be one of the central features of the economy of my home town of Vernon, BC, Canada.

Vernon was a pretty idyllic place to grow up, really. It’s in the middle of British Columbia, at the center of three lakes (Kalamalka, Okanagan, and Swan), and ringed by mountains that include the 3000-meter Silver Star, where the Canadian National Cross Country Ski Team often trains. The region is blessed with a mild climate and ideally suited to agriculture such a fruit growing, apiaries, and dairies. When I was growing up, the local economy was still dominated by three cooperative institutions: the North Okanagan Creamery Association for the dairies, the Vernon Fruit Union for the fruit growers like my dad (we had an apple orchard), and the Vernon and District Credit Union founded by folks like my dad who refused to deal with the corporate banks from “back East.” These cooperative institutions functioned to ensure that credit, inputs, and expertise were available to all their members, and to make sure that farmers got a fair price for their produce. The Fruit Union even had the best and the cheapest grocery store in town, where my mom would go every Saturday morning to stock up on food for the week. I know I’m idealizing it a little, but all in all, it seemed to function pretty well.

But the neo-liberal revolution would take care of that. The wave of “structural reforms” that began in the 1970s did away with many of the laws that had made the cooperatives possible. At the same time, barriers that had limited international currency flows were eased, then erased, subjecting the local economy to unprecedented levels of direct foreign investment by both corporations and individuals. By the early 1980s the Fruit Union had closed its doors, too, a victim of a combination of international competition and lack of access to the radically altered systems of food distribution that had come to dominate the market. As for the Creamery Association, it was dismantled and its assets eventually purchased and stripped by the Foremost-Friesland Corporation.

Of course, there were gains as well as losses. We got our first shopping mall in the early 1980s, followed quickly by McDonalds, Burger King, and all the usual American chains and franchises. Strip malls spread along all the major arteries. With farming now unprofitable, orchards were transformed into luxury housing developments for an influx of foreigners (Germans, mainly) keen to retire or purchase second homes in what was, it had to be said, an area of spectacular natural beauty. Land prices skyrocketed, impoverishing those with lower incomes. Those areas that weren’t “developed” as housing were “developed” as golf courses. Both were environmental disasters in a semi-arid climate with limited water resources. Nor did anyone notice that the increased pollution from all the new developments was turning the shining emerald and sapphire hues of Kalamalka Lake – the name means “lake of many colors” – a sadly pedestrian blue. Today, the place where I spent the first 18 years of my life is only vaguely recognizable to me.

Let’s summarize the elements here: agricultural economy with collective institutions; collective institutions are dismantled, their assets privatized, and eventually sold to multinational corporations; increased foreign direct investment flows bring McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, property developments, and golf courses; the poor get poorer, and the environment is degraded. Sound familiar? True, Vernon has yet to get its 77-storey skyscraper, and Hanoi has yet to get its ski resort. Nor has the Canadian Communist Party ever played a leading role in much of anything. But if we put aside these divergences, and a roughly ten-year head-start, it sure looks to me like these stories of development were written by the same author. Especially when you remember that in Vietnam, Foremost Friesland brands itself as Dutch Lady. Whether I’m in Canada, Vietnam, or even Koh Phangan Thailand, I just can’t help noticing that the development in my morning cup of coffee tastes exactly the same.