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Written by Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 26 November 2008 |
The word "bailout" has been on repeated so often in 2008 that dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster named it Word of the Year.
The U.S. financial industry led the charge for government rescue packages. Now North American automakers want their piece of the pie to tide them over until the economic crisis abates.
The Canadian government is mulling over bailout requests from domestic carmakers in Ontario and the aerospace industry in Quebec.
This has prompted the B.C. government to remind Ottawa there are other vital industries being crippled these days -- like forestry, as a not so subtle example.
The B.C. Liberals, claiming government bailouts for companies go against their grain, aren't asking for a bailout for forestry, but you have to wonder if they wouldn't say OK if Ottawa offered one.
But Victoria's position, flexible or not, was pretty well sealed when the Forest Products Association of Canada told Ottawa last week not to bail out forest companies because it would only extend the downturn and would not help the industry's competitiveness in the long run.
Said forest products association chief Avrim Lazar: "Our basic view is that government has to know what its role is and the government's role is not hands off but it's not bailouts -- it is looking at every piece of government policy that effects our competitiveness and trying to create world-class competitiveness conditions."
Ditto, said the B.C. government.
Premier Gordon Campbell told Prime Minister Stephen Harper to think of everyone affected by the economic turmoil, not just those in the automotive and aerospace sectors.
Lazar pointed out that forestry employs more Canadians than the auto and aerospace industries combined -- and his concern that politics is at play when the PM ponders aid for auto and aerospace, centred in Ontario and Quebec, is bang on.
Speaking Tuesday, Campbell didn't say forestry should receive a bailout, but he didn't say it shouldn't, either. He simply called on Harper to be fair across the country.
It's important Harper listens. As Forests Minister Pat Bell said Tuesday, forest companies could use Ottawa's help making inroads in China as well as in research and development.
There is also a bulging Employment Insurance surplus said to be worth $56 billion that could be tapped to help laid-off workers.
It might be politically expedient for the federal Tories to come to the rescue of key manufacturers in vote-rich Ontario and Quebec, but it would be myopic and inexcusable if other industries, their workers and their communities were not given equal treatment -- in one form or another.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 26 November 2008 )
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This is a tough decision. Bail them out and the tax payer foots the bill. Let the auto and aerospace industries rot in their own filth, and the tax payer foots the bill with social assistance.
I found it interesting that there is pressure on the CAW to allow the big three to cut wages of the floor workers. But they only represent 7% of the annual costs of the companies. I suspect the big wigs don't want their wages cut. As one politician so eloquently stated "I'm entitled to my entitlements".