Canada’s protectionist attitude is stalling NAFTA – March 22, 2018
I love Donald Trump’s economic attitude, I have been routing for him for years. My admiration for Trump is actually based on the protectionism of my own country. The Canadian government both conservative and liberals have been protecting Canadian industries for years. It’s a known fact that the moment American companies come into Canada, Canadian companies quickly go belly up. Why is this you ask? American companies typically do their research prior to coming into the Canadian market. This is not to say that some American companies don’t fail in the Canadian market; however American competition forces Canadian companies to become creative and more competitive.
Trump is mopping the floor with the Canadian Liberals and the truth is if Conservatives were in power I think the end result would be the same, because Canadian “Progressive Conservatives” tend to bend under pressure also. What I mean by that is if particular Canadian industries benefiting from the economic ignorance of prior American presidents, pressured conservatives to fight for them; even if the Conservative in power knew it would be going against their own economic principles, chances are he’d probably fight the same way Trudeau’s Liberals are fighting.
So on this issue based on Liberal logic, Trudeau is doing what he’s supposed to do and for someone like myself I don’t want Trudeau’s Liberals to bend on this issue, I want the information to get out to the public of what’s really going on. Now I know most Canadians aren’t going to care, but those of us Canadians that know what’s really happening here, this should give all of us an understanding of the mood of our country.
Protectionism in this era is not a good idea for Canadians
These economic issues Trump’s bringing up will determine what direction Canada is headed for in the future. Protectionism in the digital age, I’m sorry Canada it’s not going to work. I don’t think people understand Blockchain technology. Bitcoin is not just about money or creating a new alternative to a fiat money, it’s about a new free market way of thinking that’s going to undermine protectionism in so many different ways.
Protectionism seeks to protect an individual or a group of individuals representing an entity from outside competition. In reality protectionism is tribalism. Unless plans are made to limit people’s freedom of speech in a Chinese style way, the protectionists days are numbered. Canada is still bordered by America and our economy is reliant on America to sustain ourselves. Now if Canada comes out on top of this, one would assume that Canada would probably add on more protectionism. Let me say I don’t want this to happen, but I’m only 1 vote. If Canada continues to add on protectionism while other countries continue to remove their protectionism well…
Let’s just say inflation will be the least of Canada’s concerns going forward. What people forget about protectionism are the attitudes of entitlement. Protectionism is a form of welfare, if 2 or 3 generations stay on the welfare system, they’ll usually design their lives around the welfare check they’ll receive every month. Crown corporations in Canada are perfect examples of Companies that aren’t designed to compete. Unions representing Canada post workers when pleading their case to protect their entitlements usually present horrible arguments for their protection. However their arguments are only horrible from an economic standpoint. Their moral pleas sound wonderful to the ears of person whose been living in a protectionist world.
This is what’s happening now. Trump is a business person, he’s see’s the world through a business person’s eyes, even when Trump is wrong he starts a conversation most people have never even thought about. Trump is giving Canada a glimpse into the future and well… All I can say to Canadians is that the pain is on it’s way. Paul Martin was one of thee smartest politicians in Canadian history. He was a Liberal, one of the reasons I don’t like today’s Liberals is that if a Liberal isn’t smart he can destroy a country in one term.
You have to be a smart Politician to redistribute money
Liberals redistribute income, so do the NDP, they take from people they think are rich and give it the people they think are poor and the needy. Sure sounds great on the surface, that is until your standard of living reaches a peek and begins to decline. The Canadian standard of live is pretty good right now, what will be the Leftist moral argument when indebted Canada’s start to realise their wealth is stagnant, and their options have lessened. What will be your selling point then. Protectionism causes certain products and services to not even exist.
Do you want to know why there’s an Amazon.com, An Amazon.mx and an Amazon.ca ??? Yup you guessed it.. Protectionism. A few years back the Canadian dollar reached parity with the U.S dollar and guess what Canadians started to do? Canadian’s started to purchase big ticket items like Cars from the United States. Guess what Canada did in retaliation? Canada increased tariffs and brought up increasing regulations.
The main reason why Canada prefers a lower Loonie
A bet you didn’t know why Canada prefers a lower loonie? In actuality if Canada wasn’t so protectionist we as Canadians would actually be fighting for a higher loonie. Canadians buying up a America would be a serious threat had it not been for our lower loonie. It’s something that flies over Canadians heads. Canadians of means tend to leave Canada for retirement and only come back to collect their entitlements. Have you ever wondered why? Do you really think it’s only the weather? Or could it be our extremely high cost of living?
Canadian retailers do an excellent job hiding inflation. I love using the potato chip example. Canadian potato chips bags typically don’t change price, what usually happens is they get smaller sized chip bags. When the potato chip bag gets too small what the chip manufacturers will do is create a new chip bag and slap words like “30% larger” on the bag and then charge you more money for the same bag that used to be their regular size chip bag. Younger generations don’t understand these gimmicks but the elderly do, because they have too.
Protectionism leads to less competition which leads to higher prices and usually there’s a breaking point. I’m not sure what Canadians threshold of protectionism is but that’s one of the reasons Liberals love immigration, because immigrants, namely those who experienced a lower standard of living will be more appreciative to inflation than would, those people who have experienced more bang for their buck (or Loonie). As the loonie lowers only the economically wise and experienced will understand and comprehend the stagnicity of their livelihoods while the new recruits/immigrants will be appreciative for their overpriced, non competitive, new place of residence.
