When the Government of John Diefenbaker abandoned the Avro Arrow, which some say would have been the best fighter jet ever built, it signaled that Canada was not going to be a leader in research and development.
Cutting edge technology was not the Conservative forte. We then purchased our defence needs from other governments employing their work forces.
The United States benefited because of this decision as it was able to attract these highly skilled people who worked at developing these marvelous feats of engineering to their plants in the U.S.
This was the start of the modern day brain drain.
When the Conservatives of Brian Mulroney brought in the first trade agreement with the United States, it was touted as a great agreement that would allow Canadian companies unfettered access south of the 49th.
Before the signing of the agreement the lumber producers of the U.S. filed a complaint saying that Canadians subsidized our lumber products. After lengthy court battles that went nowhere, we gave into the Americans grievances and paid $5 billion to have access to their market. Over the following years, $4 billion of this money has come back as refund. I find it very strange that when a person travels south a logging truck consists of only 20 tires while up here the smallest logging truck I have seen for many years is 26 tires and some are 30 tires. Begs the question who is subsidizing who.
Before the signing of the free trade agreement large U.S. companies were forced to have branch facilities here in Canada. After the agreement was signed a large number of these branch offices in Canada were closed.
During the next decade Canada and the United States went through downsizing. Canada's job loses were higher in percentage then their counter parts in the U.S. through this process. Canadian companies like Stelco were bought up and closed, throwing their entire work force out on the streets.
We then went into an agreement with Central America (NAFTA) which was touted by Stephen Harper as a great agreement for Canada. Missing from this agreement were wages paid to workers, benefits to workers, safety conditions. Having recently travelled to Mexico after not being there for a large number of years, the lot of the Mexician worker has not improved as much as it should have when one considers the huge profits that businesses have made by locating there.
A couple of years ago the U.S. Congress passed a law designed to give American companies first dibs on jobs and work. If Canada were do to this we could be sued. A example of this is an American company is suing the Ontario government because Ontario Hydro didn't choose their company for solar panels.
Under this agreement we are forced to sell our oil at a rate that is below current world prices. How many of us remember when California was suffering brown outs (electrical outages) and made a contract to buy power off BC Hydro. They then reneged on the price and gave us substantially less then what the contract stipulated.
To me free trade means unfettered, no-red-tape easy access. Too often I go to buy something online and I find I can't order it from that particular company and at that price I find I have to order from a company here in Canada and at a substantially higher price.
Free trade hasn't saved the consumer a whole lot of money.
That brings us the Trans Pacific Partnership given the Conservative track record. How many good paying jobs will this cost us? When I see Bay Street touting that this is the greatest thing since grandma's apple pie without even reading the document, this scares the hell out of me since they have said the same thing about all these trade deals that haven't benefited the average Canadian.
Stan New, Prince George
