Italy won't ratify EU free-trade deal with Canada, says new farm minister

justlooking

Council Member
May 19, 2017
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There's a difference between fantasizing and critical thinking.

This is where Brexit could come in handy for the UK. While Italy can hold the whole of the EU at ransom, the UK could go on to just unilaterally drop all intentional trade barriers against Canada and so just bypass a need for an agreement altogether.


You probably have no idea how loud the leftists were screaming at that exact possibility.


A few Conservatives brought the idea, because no tariff trade would be really good for bringing in cheap food from Africa,
and cheap shit from India and China.
Help the poor, they said. Lower the price of all basic items, they said.


The left went batshit crazy. :lol:
 

White_Unifier

Senate Member
Feb 21, 2017
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Boycott Italy!

*snicker*

I don't eat cheese anyway, though it's not for political reasons so I can't really call that a boycott.

You probably have no idea how loud the leftists were screaming at that exact possibility.


A few Conservatives brought the idea, because no tariff trade would be really good for bringing in cheap food from Africa,
and cheap shit from India and China.
Help the poor, they said. Lower the price of all basic items, they said.


The left went batshit crazy. :lol:

You know what's really ironic? John Stuart Mill supported unilateral free trade (even if he didn't use the actual phrase, he described it), and he's generally considered left-leaning and progressive.

The difference? He was also an academic and an economist. Not everyone on the left can make that claim.
 

White_Unifier

Senate Member
Feb 21, 2017
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Cancel all your Italian vacations and go to Beechey Island!

Hmmm... why would I visit Italy anyway? I have no work or business lined up there, no family there, no friends there that that I know, and not Catholic so no reason to head there on pilgrimage either. If so, I might still visit. But I don't, so why waste money to visit such a beautiful country (from what I've read about it) when where I live is probably just as lovely.
 

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
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Singapore and Hong Kong weren't particularly developed when the first embraced free trade decades ago either. Look where they are now. Perhaps Italy could learn a thing or two from them.

And so could Canada.

The Italians learn from the hard working Chinese and Malaysians?

Ummmmm, no.

Boycott Italian Restaurants!

Boycott American everything. The idea is starting to have legs.
 

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
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California cherries too? Hell no!

My grandfather was a Niagara fruit farmer and the farm that my mother grew up on is still planted with cherries, which is very unusual. Foreign imports destroyed the soft fruit industry in Canada (vineyards for wine have replaced them).

Boycott California cherries do that our own growers can have a go at it, again.
 

White_Unifier

Senate Member
Feb 21, 2017
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My grandfather was a Niagara fruit farmer and the farm that my mother grew up on is still planted with cherries, which is very unusual. Foreign imports destroyed the soft fruit industry in Canada (vineyards for wine have replaced them).

Boycott California cherries do that our own growers can have a go at it, again.

In their greenhouses? Don't forget Canada has four seasons.
 

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
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In their greenhouses? Don't forget Canada has four seasons.

Seasons were not necessarily the reason. Cherries are still seasonal, you can buy plastic ones in January from South America but nothing compares with fresh ones in July from Fenwick.
 

EagleSmack

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 16, 2005
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Boycott American everything. The idea is starting to have legs.

Such an old naive Canadian.

Next you'll be saying you should cut off the water.

*snicker*

California cherries too? Hell no!

Canadians will still buy American goods and still travel to the U.S. Only silly fools think a boycott will work.

I'd love to be in that Canadian household and hear parents tell their kids they've cancelled their vacation to Disney World Florida because Trump hurt Trudeau's feelings.
 

Twin_Moose

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Apr 17, 2017
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Or not watch a made in America show on the TV, or watch an American made movie, or buy food from a U.S. franchise restaurant, step into Walmart, sell or abandon their G.M., Ford, Dodge vehicle etc. LOl
 

White_Unifier

Senate Member
Feb 21, 2017
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Or not watch a made in America show on the TV, or watch an American made movie, or buy food from a U.S. franchise restaurant, step into Walmart, sell or abandon their G.M., Ford, Dodge vehicle etc. LOl

Given how few Hollywoood films I watch, I'm afraid that my boycotting them would put but a dent in them.

Same with US TV. I don't regularly eat at US franchise restaurants either. I seldom shop at Walmart as it is, though Walmart does have some good stuff worth buying sometimes.

If any boycott of mine were to truly affect the US economy, it would be in the fresh produce department. As a person who buys vegan, I buy lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, and nuts. After a long winter, boycotting those would be a big sacrifice for me.
 

Twin_Moose

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Apr 17, 2017
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I abandonned GM, Ford and Dodge decades ago. The world has passed them by.

You are partly responsible for the tariffs then eh Lol

Given how few Hollywoood films I watch, I'm afraid that my boycotting them would put but a dent in them.

Same with US TV. I don't regularly eat at US franchise restaurants either. I seldom shop at Walmart as it is, though Walmart does have some good stuff worth buying sometimes.

If any boycott of mine were to truly affect the US economy, it would be in the fresh produce department. As a person who buys vegan, I buy lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, and nuts. After a long winter, boycotting those would be a big sacrifice for me.

Just buy Canadian fruits and vegetables year round support a Canadian farmer ;)
 

White_Unifier

Senate Member
Feb 21, 2017
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You are partly responsible for the tariffs then eh Lol



Just buy Canadian fruits and vegetables year round support a Canadian farmer ;)

Even in mid-winter?

I abandonned GM, Ford and Dodge decades ago. The world has passed them by.

My buying so little American cultural production has little to do with boycotting them. That's just a matter of not buying junk. Nothing political about it. Given how much junk the US produces, it's kind of hard to boycott anything of theirs when we already buy so little. May I propose that the US improve the quality of its products and then we might have something to boycott rather than just not buy because we wouldn't buy it anyway.
 

White_Unifier

Senate Member
Feb 21, 2017
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Here's one for you. Japan has suspended importing wheat from Canada because they have detected GMO product mixed in with regular wheat from here.

Japan blocks Canadian wheat after unapproved GMO plants found in Alberta

We need to be a lot smarter now that the world's trading arrangements are getting re-arranged.

Let's not confuse protectionism with simply maintaining the same standards for imports as we do for domestic products. That's perfectly reasonable.
 

Twin_Moose

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Apr 17, 2017
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Did they make a deal with another country for cheaper Wheat and use the GMO farce as an excuse there is no GMO wheat as of yet, still in the testing and approval phase.