The US doesn't take us seriously because we don't take ourselves seriously
- Thread starter Vbeacher
- Start date
Thank you.
This interests me because I look at it from an American point of view, and we have just about zero restrictions on interstate commerce. I'm minded to thing they're not good, absent a clear-cut and obvious need for them (what we call a "compelling government interest").
They aren't good at all. The only "compelling govt interest" I can think of is the loss of tax revenue for the province a product is "imported" to and the differences in provincial sales tax rates. Neither of which are very compelling reasons.
Bean counters don’t need compelling reasons , they just need beans .
There might be a few good reasons to treat one product, or one geographical or climatic region different from another, with an effect on the state or province that's heavily into that product. In that case, a smart national government makes compensatory moves or finds some other way to spread the load. The "compelling government interest" standard down here means the government has to prove both that the interest it's pursuing is so great that it justifies abrogating rights, and that it has tailored the legislation in the narrowest possible way to meet the interest.
I miss Harper.
I don't know if it is still in effect since I am no longer involved, but in the 80s there was a federal fuel tax on boats that only applied to the west coast. The feds also slapped a moratorium on offshore drilling off the west coast only way back in the 70s. That is still in.
Most of them were designed to protect industries in Ontario and Quebec. Things like the Crow rate, which made it more expensive to ship manufactured good East on the same rail cars that brought goods west. Or Dairy Quotas that protect milk and chese producers from upstarts in the west.
I'm reminded of a scene from Due South where Fraser and Lt. Thatcher are talking about going back to Canada. He's envisioning a cabin in the woods of the Northwest Territories, and she talks about how pleasant it is to have a latte at a sidewalk cafe in TO.
Neither do any of the third world despots. That is why Russia is back making moves on Ukraine and China is about to overrun Taiwan.
Traditionally, Russia, China, and Ukraine were "Second World." I should think Taiwan was classed as "First World."
The way i look at it is if South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan and Japan are going stir crazy then you know the Chinese are building up.
There was one advantage to having the batshit crazy guy running the White House. Even the communist leaders were smart enough to be scared of him.