Win Ontario with attacks on Alberta oil
So, Dutch disease. Is it working as intended?
On a recent swing through Windsor, the epicenter of Ontario’s auto belt, Tom Mulcair had yet another splendid opportunity to finesse the message that has made him persona non grata in Alberta and recently earned him an indirect rebuke from the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney.
Here’s what the NDP leader offered instead, speaking to the Windsor Star: “The manufacturing sector has been hit particularly hard here. Yet the government puts all its eggs in the resources basket while manufacturing loses hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
So we’re in for more of the same, apparently: Canada’s manufacturing sector, Mulcair will argue for the next three years, has been crippled by the “artificially” high Canadian dollar, which makes our exports less attractive abroad. The culprit is soaring resource revenue, particularly in the oil patch, which has driven up the value of the loonie.
If Big Oil were forced to assume its downstream environmental costs, goes the logic, those profits would be reduced, the dollar would soften, and the world would buy more Canadian, rather than, say, Chinese or Indian. Two problems solved: First, Big Oil stops befouling the environment. Second, the good old days of $70-plus-an hour auto factory jobs (including benefits) are here again.
Really?
Since he became leader Mulcair’s strategy for tackling the Conservatives has been two-pronged. He attacks them on issues of governance, abuse of democracy and the democratic process. And he tries to undermine the core of the Conservative brand, which is sound economic management. In the opening week of the fall session both themes have been front and centre. There will be little deviation, it appears, from these themes.
more
Thomas Mulcair’s impossible mission: pilfer Ontario from the Tories | Full Comment | National Post
So, Dutch disease. Is it working as intended?
On a recent swing through Windsor, the epicenter of Ontario’s auto belt, Tom Mulcair had yet another splendid opportunity to finesse the message that has made him persona non grata in Alberta and recently earned him an indirect rebuke from the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney.
Here’s what the NDP leader offered instead, speaking to the Windsor Star: “The manufacturing sector has been hit particularly hard here. Yet the government puts all its eggs in the resources basket while manufacturing loses hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
So we’re in for more of the same, apparently: Canada’s manufacturing sector, Mulcair will argue for the next three years, has been crippled by the “artificially” high Canadian dollar, which makes our exports less attractive abroad. The culprit is soaring resource revenue, particularly in the oil patch, which has driven up the value of the loonie.
If Big Oil were forced to assume its downstream environmental costs, goes the logic, those profits would be reduced, the dollar would soften, and the world would buy more Canadian, rather than, say, Chinese or Indian. Two problems solved: First, Big Oil stops befouling the environment. Second, the good old days of $70-plus-an hour auto factory jobs (including benefits) are here again.
Really?
Since he became leader Mulcair’s strategy for tackling the Conservatives has been two-pronged. He attacks them on issues of governance, abuse of democracy and the democratic process. And he tries to undermine the core of the Conservative brand, which is sound economic management. In the opening week of the fall session both themes have been front and centre. There will be little deviation, it appears, from these themes.
more
Thomas Mulcair’s impossible mission: pilfer Ontario from the Tories | Full Comment | National Post
