Panic time: As oil goes, so does Canada’s economy
- Thread starter mentalfloss
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Since the our Canadian western Reform/Conservative federal government destroyed the manufacturing base in Ontario and Quebec by signing all those free trade agreements with other countries the thought of $50.00 a barrel oil is comforting since a minimum of $80.00 a barrel oil keeps the oil sands open for business anything below that price starts to shut them down.
And W.T.F. would anyone in his right mind want to shut them down? Or don't they want to eat?
But they get free money in exploration tax credits from the Feds so we are losing out twice and killing the entire planet. It's true the Socialists say so.
Why are we exploring for so many resources when we have oodles and oodles in know reserves to last hundreds of years?
Why are we exploring for so many resources when we have oodles and oodles in know reserves to last hundreds of years?
What about convential oil, gas and mining? Right now we are building to up total oil production from a little over 1 million bbl a day to 3 million bbl a day in the next ten years. Then we'll start tapping the 32.6 Trillion cubic feet of NG and 4.8 Billion bbl in the Mackenzie corridor.
How do you like them apples?
The focus right now is the oil sands in the west at the sacrifice of the manufacturing sector in the east
Can someone explain to me why the oil sands would have a negative effect on manufacturing in the East?
ROFLMAO. What killed manufacturing in Ontario was greed. Nothing else. Same as the sawmills in BC excessive payroll costs, taxes by multiple levels of government, excessive and redundant reports demanded by a plethora of government agencies attempting to justify their own redundant jobs.
There is no relationship. Some easterners blame the high dollar on oil production causing them to be uncompetitive with other areas.
So basically the company HQ shut it down because they and the shareholders weren't getting a big enough cut so they pulled the pin in a 'show you who is boss' move.
I often see delusional people post nonsense like this but to believe that manufacturing is declining in Ontario, Canada, or anywhere in the western world due to government policy (all parties subsidize to the tune of untold billions each year) or corporate greed (corporations have a legal, moral, and historical responsibility to maximise profits) is either deliberate ignorance or belies an understanding of the combination of trends that has led to the current scenario whose reasons include:
Robotics. Prior to the industrial revolution the vast majority of society was employed by agriculture and this had been the reality since the inception of agriculture around 10000 years ago. The industrial revolution with it's factories and mechanical marvels created machines to displace all those farm workers but they were easily absorbed by those factories and the infrastructure to support them. This system churned along until the 1950s when the Great Leap Forward occurred and manufacturing became more automated and consumption itself began to replace many of Western society's values. As manufacturing jobs steadily declined but the burgeoning service industry (think advertising executives, air conditioning service men, dentistry etc) exploded and absorbed all the displaced manufacturing workers for the next several generations.
But currently there is no new sector waiting in the wings to employ those who have lost their jobs due to automation. I think a great example is the secretary. When I was in HS I took typing and was the only male in a class of about 30. Girls (and me) learned to type and take steno because at the time every mid level manager or supervisor in any sector (government, business) had a secretary which meant these girls would "always" be guaranteed employment but within less than a generation millions of secretarial jobs in NA had been replaced forever by the personal computer and today an office shares a single receptionist or only the most well heeled CEO has a personal secretary.
Automation is on the cusp of a major revolution that will change life for us in ways we cannot imagine in a very short time. Robotics currently is where the personal computer was in about 1978. It is already starting to "reshore" some jobs as it is easier to have a robot assembling things for the NA market than a human in Bangladesh. Within the next 25 years every driving job from taxi, to transit to freight transportation will be replaced by a machine. Artificial Intelligence and analysis has already destroyed the paralegal industry but expect geologists, lawyers, doctors etc to fall. Automated hamburger joints and wall mart shelf stockers will be the norm and the next generation will be repulsed to think human hands ever touched the food you eat.
What role 3D printing will play in wiping out manufacturing in the third world and retail service in Canda remains to be seen but I doubt Foxconn or Rgers will be employing the hundreds of thousands they do when you can print the newest phone off in your own home.
Environment. Environmental laws are much weaker in developing countries and we in the West have turned a blind eye by exporting the pollution associated with our insane consumption levels. There is flat out now way you would be able to afford a new phone every year if the environmental costs were taken into account and you as the consumer have essential told government you want cheap stuff and lots of it but you don't want to live in a dirty environment. Think about this: if you recycle 100% of everything you buy you are only capturing 10% of that waste stream. Wow. Here is one of my favourite video series that really sums it up for dummies like me and I encourage any political persuasion to watch:
Story of Stuff (2007, OFFICIAL Version) - YouTube
Consumption Patterns. When I took economics I remember being instructed that the difference between marketing to Canadian and Americans over Europeans is that the former is more concerned with how much they save versus how much they spend on an item and this is due to embedded personal need leading to a comparatively higher rate of consumption and evidenced by the madness of Boxing Day, Black Friday and the constant barrage of "Sale" advertising.
This need to consume but not pay the full cost has given rise to the robots and environmental degradation as previously mentioned but it has secured a market for the expectation of cheap goods. No one buys a TV or chesterfield to last 50 years anymore. People constantly upgrade and throw these items away and even the poor will go to Walmart and buy a $12.00 toaster before taking the effort to find a used one and this will not change. People will not pay $150.00 for a toaster so a Canadian can work at $30.00 per hour with a good pension and benefits nor are they willing to pay 100K for an economy car built entirely by people in Ontario. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to illustrate to people in real life these consumption pattern problems when they bemoan the lack of Canadian manufacturing but won't even support Canadian high tech jobs and eschew Blackberries in favour of Samsung or Apple as one of a thousand examples.
Corporate Profitability. Every single person in Canada depends on corporations to be profitable. From CPP to your own RRSP your retirement and tax burden to care for retirees is directly linked to the profitability of corporations. Your employment in any field be it government, big business to small business is directly linked to the profitability of corporations. These corporations must do everything in their power to be profitable and thus we have many seemingly heartless decisions about layoffs, off shoring, environmental degradation but at the end of the day it is we the global voters and consumers who have final say.
Corporations only make the decisions they do because that is the way we have structured the rules and the playing field. if for example, a pollution tariff were placed on certain highly toxic products like say cellphones, it might double the cost and make it less attractive to move jobs overseas. Do yo know how well Canada's solar manufacturers would be doing if cheap Chinese panels ironically constructed at the cost to the environment weren't the overwhelming choice in our market?
Manufacturing is changing rapidly and there are some pretty big issues coming down the track and you need a way better foundation of understanding or your assessment that politicians destroyed manufacturing jobs for Canadians and can somehow bring them back is little different in ignorance to believing the Liberals destroyed secretarial jobs and another political party can bring them back.
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If you wrote all that I will withdraw the 'you don't know anything' image I have of you. If it is from somebody else you forgot to credit them, not an issue with me but it is good neticate to give credit where it is due.