Tiny Minority Attempts to Decide Canada's Future

[Anonymous]

How about getting back to why big business in Canada has no product with US $1 billion in sales outside the country. Not even in the US, where 90% of the country's exports go. Isn't this a lack of vision? Where's the "global" view of the world? Diversity?

Perhaps it is like Canada's view of itself as a peacekeeper, but many more countries are way ahead of us by having far more troops out on missions. Or that when people say the word "America" around the world they automatically include Canada, which is what a Serbian man told me and I heard a man say on the CBC.

Canada is a good country to live in, but internationally I think we give ourselves more credit than we deserve sometimes.

 

[Andem]

How about getting back to why big business in Canada has no product with US $1 billion in sales outside the country. Not even in the US, where 90% of the country's exports go. Isn't this a lack of vision? Where's the "global" view of the world? Diversity?

Perhaps it is like Canada's view of itself as a peacekeeper, but many more countries are way ahead of us by having far more troops out on missions. Or that when people say the word "America" around the world they automatically include Canada, which is what a Serbian man told me and I heard a man say on the CBC.

Canada is a good country to live in, but internationally I think we give ourselves more credit than we deserve sometimes.

With NAFTA being in full effect, it's difficult for Canadian companies to compete with a larger economy in the USA. American corporations are able to buy out Canadian business and hense integrate them into their own.

An example to this is Future Shop. Stupid example. but still relevant. Best Buy bought them out... how do you think Future Shop, an American-owned Canadian business much like Best Buy, would be able to expand worldwide being owned by Best Buy which is trying to do the same?

There's so many examples here, and I think someone else might be able to give more examples. NAFTA is very limiting on Canadian businesses, since there's some very feirce competetion in the United States... which with a republican government, benefits from government policies.

 

[Anonymous]

How about getting back to why big business in Canada has no product with US $1 billion in sales outside the country. Not even in the US, where 90% of the country's exports go. Isn't this a lack of vision? Where's the "global" view of the world? Diversity?

Perhaps it is like Canada's view of itself as a peacekeeper, but many more countries are way ahead of us by having far more troops out on missions. Or that when people say the word "America" around the world they automatically include Canada, which is what a Serbian man told me and I heard a man say on the CBC.

Canada is a good country to live in, but internationally I think we give ourselves more credit than we deserve sometimes.

Lumber, wheat, autos, oil, natural gas, minerals, and soon to be water. So what was that about not having any billion dollar exports?

Far as I remember only two countries go on more peacekeeping missions than Canada - Germany and Pakistan.

And yes Canada should diversify away from the sinking ship known as America. Asia and Europe is where we should focus our attention right after South America.

 

[Andem]

Guest I, Guest II, Guest III, Guest IV.. what should I refer to you as and who's who?

Anyways, I agree we should put more attention on Europe and Asia.

 

[Anonymous]

Old name guest, new name nologo. After Naomi Klein's book. Funny how a Canadian wrote it. Sometimes I think the English language is playing a cruel joke on Canadians here. To some in Canada, business is all wicked, yet it is the biggest game on earth these days. Uhm, the only game. But it needs management I will agree myself.

I read in the Globe and Mail newspaper several times Canada's image as a big peackeeper is wishful thinking. Will check.

Canada should focus on Europe? Would make sense, except most Canadians are intensely focussed on the United States. Toronto and Philadelphia in hockey for one example. Or the Toronto Blue Jays. Another is minimal interest in European soccer scores.

 

[Andem]

I read in the Globe and Mail newspaper several times Canada's image as a big peackeeper is wishful thinking. Will check.

Canada should focus on Europe? Would make sense, except most Canadians are intensely focussed on the United States. Toronto and Philadelphia in hockey for one example. Or the Toronto Blue Jays. Another is minimal interest in European soccer scores.

#1) I live in Toronto and I don't pay attention to the blue jays.... or ANY BASEBALL for that matter

#2) I pay a lot of attention to soccer/football scores from Europe. In piticular Germany and England.

#3) (and most important). Hockey is part of Canadian culture. So ofcourse Torontonians are going to pay attention to the leafs games. It's the playoffs!! We want OUR team to win. Simple as that!

 

[Reverend Blair]

It doesn't have to be that way though. Sports, or movies or whatever do not have to have such an effect.

I'm a huge racing fan, rarely miss a NASCAR race...arguably the most commercial and American form of racing...but I don't buy the crap that goes along with it. Shortly after 9/11 I started turning the sound off during qualifying etc...the jingoism was just to hard to take. After Iraq started I quit watching the "news" shows about the sport...same reason.

We should focus on the developing world as well as the wealthy parts of the world. The US will always have a close relationship with us. They have the huge economy (at least so far) and we have the resources. They are not the only game in town though and they seem to be heading in the same direction as roller-derby.

The developing world has a lot to offer in human and natural resources. More than that, they will likely be wealthy countries in the future. We need to start helping them now so that a relationship is there to provide the wealth for us to help the US in the future. They'll need it.

 

[Cyberm4n]

reverend blair has some very good points. canadians should focus more on other parts of the world than the united states. reason being is that in building relationships with, say saudi arabia... we could benefit from future economic growth of that country. but there are so many others!!! look in africa too.

 

[Anonymous]

I am most of those guest posts - I am either too damn lazy to sign in, or the workstation I was at kept logging me out.

When it comes to America Canadians need to remember that Americans rely on us as much as we do them. When they put duties on lumber - their home prices rose. When they stopped our beef - their prices increased. Some 15 states have Canada as their largest trading partner.

So I for one minute dont buy that we have to bow down every time they act up.

To cut them off at the pass we should diversify - isnt that what globalization is supposed to be about?

 

[Reverend Blair]

It's what globalisation should be about, Roy. What it's supposed to be about, at least according to the men with the tear gas and the rubber bullets, is stealing from everybody to give to the rich.

That's why the powers that be in the US didn't mind making Americans pay more...it made some rich guys even richer.

Something I find interesting, and Naomi Klein brought it up on CBC the other day too, is that in Quebec City it was all of the governments against the protestors. By Miami a lot of the governments of the developing countries were siding with the protestors.

If we don't lose that momentum to Bobby Zoellick's side deals, there is a fair chance that globalisation can be turned into a positive force. I just wish that Martin was a force for something better instead of something the same and that Kerry's protectionism wasn't as bad as George Bush's protectionism.

I also wish that somebody would have picked up on my roller derby metaphor. Am I the only around here old enough to remeber Jim Croce?

 

[Cyberm4n]

If we don't lose that momentum to Bobby Zoellick's side deals, there is a fair chance that globalisation can be turned into a positive force. I just wish that Martin was a force for something better instead of something the same and that Kerry's protectionism wasn't as bad as George Bush's protectionism.

i can agree with that statement, i wonder what changes we would see with kerry in power in the united states? he's against nafta?

 

[Reverend Blair]

I'm not convinced that we'll see any difference at all with Kerry in power. Maybe he won't actively work to make things worse, which would be an improvement, but he's likely to oppose any attempts to make things better too. It kind of sucks.

The power is gathering in the developing countries though. It is gaining force too...the EU just dropped some subsidies and made some others look like something other than subsidies. They are feeling the pressure. Now that the EU has begun to move US will have to as well.

As long as people keep talking back and the attempts to divide and conquer the developing nations are mostly unsuccessful, we can turn this thing around.

 

[Milton]

Kerry is against the USA being subject to Chapter 11 of the NAFTA, his wife is one of the Heinz ketchup heirs so you can deduce which side of the fence he is on. Chapter 11 allows a company to sue the government for damages if the government won't let the company do what it wants. For instance, a US company wanted to start a toxic waste dump outside of a small Mexican town. The townspeople were worried that the waste would leach into the groundwater which they used for living purposes. The corporation sued ,under chapter 11 of the NAFTA, and were awarded millions ( $20 million if memory serves me correctly) and the town was bankrupted.

Kerry is only against this for the US, and I think he is only against that because an election is coming up. The NAFTA is a terrible treaty and should be fired in the garbage along with the FTA, FTAA, CAFTA, WTO and the IMF.

His opinions are just about the same as King George's and he has that same death vibe going when he talks. He is a bona fide member of the ruling class, expect no good from him and you won't be disappointed.

 

[MapleLeafMerc]

The NAFTA is a terrible treaty and should be fired in the garbage along with the FTA, FTAA, CAFTA, WTO and the IMF.

Prior to the FTA coming into effect, the products my company imports were taxed by Canada (in the form of duties) at rates as high as 20% and more. If NAFTA (which superseded the FTA) was scrapped, my customers would be screaming at this cost increase, even factoring out the GST that replaced these taxes. They yell at us for decreases these days, for pete's sake!!! Are you saying it would be a good thing if everything you and I buy that is imported had more taxes added?

Suppose every country in the world followed this idea. One by one, every country would levy taxes on other's exports. Even if they were miraculously identical, what would be gained by anyone? Countries with trade surpluses might gain a little in the short term, but those with deficits would face voter pressure to get even. Eventually, every country and its people would be collecting and paying the same extra taxes. The only difference would be the additional government employees to administer the tax. Why would we increase taxes just to employ more tax collectors?

 

[Reverend Blair]

I haven't seen anybody here say that trade is bad, Merc. The problem is with trade agreements that cause a race to the bottom in pay, worker's rights, sovereignty, and environmental concerns.

Trade agreements could be used to improve those things in developing countries. Instead they are being used to erode those things in ours.

That goes back to a small group of wealthy people who care only about maximising their personal profits. We've put the robber barons in charge.

 

[MapleLeafMerc]

But is Milton prepared to pay those extra duties that NAFTA eliminated?

 

[Reverend Blair]

I can't answer for him but if it protects his job and his lifestyle, I'd guess he would.

What you aren't seeing is that this is those tariffs could have been eliminated without starting a race to the bottom that serves only the wealthy and actively harms the working people in all countries concerned.

Our prices may have been slightly higher, but union organisers in Mexico wouldn't be getting murdered in the middle of the night and the standard of living of all workers could have risen instead of shrinking.

 

[Anonymous]

I can't answer for him but if it protects his job and his lifestyle, I'd guess he would.

What you aren't seeing is that this is those tariffs could have been eliminated without starting a race to the bottom that serves only the wealthy and actively harms the working people in all countries concerned.

Our prices may have been slightly higher, but union organisers in Mexico wouldn't be getting murdered in the middle of the night and the standard of living of all workers could have risen instead of shrinking.

oooooooooooooo

 

[Stretch]

Actually, when you think about it, a Tiny Minority want to decide/control the planets future.......never mind Canadas.

Here is an insight into what we as "useless eaters" of this planet are up against.

http://www.cosmicpenguin.com/911/Eastman/m18h05.html

 

[Anonymous]

Lets admit it we are all wanna be Americans,,,, our tv, movies, sports......we do not have a culture or identity....multicultural stands for nothing but individuality not patriotic. Lets all join as a North American republic and protect the culture of North Americans. The sooner the better.....a not proud Canadian....a British Columbian firstly and a North American secondly.....!