Harper Does Good in Haiti
- Thread starter Colpy
- Start date
While I am glad we are helping with the aftermath of Haiti, I can't help but feel this is going to end-up a band aid solution. This isn't a Harper issue, or any political party, its whether or not we in Canada can truly help Haiti and how. Any actual work to "fix" Haiti will require the kind of long term and domestically unpopular solution that no political party with thoughts for re-election would take it.
So do we really care about Haiti enough to heal it, or just staunch the current bleeding?
So do we really care about Haiti enough to heal it, or just staunch the current bleeding?
I think it will be cheaper in the long run (including both financial and social costs) if we fix the problem once and for all (over a period of say five years) The more we can keep politics out of it the better. BUT there has to be an overall leader and sadly the UN doesn't meet that criteria. If there was a way of coming up with a ballpark figure of what the finished product would cost and what involvement each participating country would contribute, then at least some planning can start. I like to think in terms of $20 at a time, as I would be willing to contribute that much periodically, but I wouldn't do it unless a good percentage of my countrymen were interested. Would 25% of Canadians be willing to contribute $20 every two months?
If there is one thing 50 years of real aid work has taught us is that throwing money at poor countries won't help.
Would you support the government encouraging Canadian factories or other jobs to move to Haiti so they have work and can pull themselves out of poverty? What about creating an EU type situation with Canada and Haiti, hell what about Haiti joining confederation.
Im not suggesting any of those are a solution that either party would want, Im just giving examples of what I mean about big solutions being needed for big problems.
Would you support the government encouraging Canadian factories or other jobs to move to Haiti so they have work and can pull themselves out of poverty? What about creating an EU type situation with Canada and Haiti, hell what about Haiti joining confederation.
Im not suggesting any of those are a solution that either party would want, Im just giving examples of what I mean about big solutions being needed for big problems.
Well then you will be glad to know that Canada is convening a summit on the subject of rebuilding Haiti.
I'll tell you something, JLM, I think we should simply adopt Haiti. Why not? We could make it a territory to begin with. One of the positives I see is that for once, instead of dealing with the numerous countries now involved ( by now I mean prior to the quake)in delivering various and oft overlaping forms of aid, there would be one entity taking care of business. Billions of aid dollars have poured into the black hole that is the Haitian economy. Nothing changed. Things just kept getting worse. And now this.
I see this as a perfect opportunity for Canada to ask the Haitian people if they would like to become a part of the greatest country on earth. That way, you and I could take that twenty bucks, spend it on part of a plane ticket, fly down there and pitch in. What do you think of that?? :smile:
Actually most of their money went to paying off international debts. That goes as far back as independence from the French. Check out who owns (most) the land, Coprorations not individual Haitians. Giving then $3 and demanding $5 back is not helping them. Every country in the world is poor, Haiti is $1.817 B in debt (#138 in the world), we are $ 781.1 B in debt (15) and $ 13,750 B for the US. Who has the best chance of paying it off? Who would be in the least trouble if the debt was simply defaulted on? The World could absorb 2 B quite easily, compare the bank bailouts.
Some cruise ship just stopped at one of their properties. Apparently it is a whole peninsula with about 5 beaches just for the pa$$enger$ on the ships. A 12 ft high wall and locks is how they blend in with the natives. The West wouldn't want to disturb that sort of system, why would they, they were the force behind the creation.
If the military is there longterm it is about Cuba. Their moves against Venezuela would come from Columbia (proxy warriors) and from these recently added military bases.
US Threatens Venezuela. Netherlands has Granted US Military Use of its Islands in the Caribbean
Excellent idea Mowitch, but there is at least two major problems, that I see. We have 33 million people, Haiti has about 1/3 that, the total dollar cost for small country like Canada (population) would be impossible. Haitians speak French and we know how much divisiveness the French language has caused in our own country. Haiti is divided into quite a few provinces. I think we may be able to handle fixing one province.
Well, I have been thinking about the idea of Canada adopting Haiti. My initial thought was that maybe there would be some potential for tourism development. It certainly has a climate that we don't...
However, having looked at a few facts on Haiti, it's a pretty dismal situation. Highest population density in the Western Hemisphere, an unemployment rate of around 66%, a few natural resources, an AIDS epidemic in the 80s that killed tourism, a history of 'questionable' leadership, having thousands of UN workers there to maintain some kind of order, a very limited agricultural potential (based on the mountainous terrain), and a few other conditions left me scratching my head and wondering what kind of future Haiti could possibly have to look forward to...couldn't actually come up with anything concrete at all.
There must be something positive there alright...I just don't know what it is. It appears that without an ongoing (or maybe even permanent) stream of aid money and outside help & influence, Haiti will pretty much continue to deteriorate over time.
I think if Canada 'adopted' Haiti, we'd be taking on the entire financial and humanitarian aid burden...can we afford it? At least under the current situation, the load is being shared by a number of nations.
Am I being negative or just realistic?
No, I think you are being very realistic. WE want to help the people as best as we can, we don't want to put ourselves in a position where we become another victim like them and add another burden for the rest of the world. I pointed out in another post that perhaps we could take on one of their many provinces and rehabillitate that much, but even that much would be onerous. There are so many questions to be answered. Is there the potential for a viable agriculture industry? What about mineral resources? Manufacturing? A wine industry?
Aren't were supposed to finish rehabilitating our own Native population before striking out for foreign markets?
Not all that impressive, can't the average person even afford $10? You'd think guys like Jimmy Pattison could even throw in $1000.
I thought they had accomplished that when they first started to apply their grievances to the Courts (in the naive thought that the courts would be impartial). Too bad they have been denied the taste of victory. It's also too bad that a lot of those cases were about them losing even more rights than they had when the treaties were first signed. Stealing from your own citizens is not something you want on your resume when you are trying to project the image of pro-humanitarian for the little guys.
