cannuck

Does this mean the Little tur...er...I mean TRUdeau is swearing off his ideological allegiance to the left? https://globalnews.ca/news/4916850/lima-group-canada-venezuela/ Now, his Daddy was a card carrying Communist, and he grew up admiring and befriending such luminaries as Fidel Castro, so how could he possibly turn his back on the Bolivarian Revolution and his fellow traveller Maduro???? Do you think there might be an election in Venezuela this year? How about Canada?

I can sympathize with you, as this is a factor in MANY countries. For instance: are modern Germans beholding to Jews for the Holucaust? Why should current Canadian taxpayers be responsible for promises made to aboriginals by the British? The list goes on. Eyeball has it right: while individuals may come and go, the very existence of a continuous system of governance means those obligations carry forward. That is why IMHO the Germans new government after the Third Reich can stand aside, and why after the end of Canada as a member of the British Commonwealth should no longer honour British treaties of the past.

You are making a crude attempt to spin (to the left, obviously). I did not say they were coming in by deliberate effort of the Liberals. The Liberals simply let ANYONE in. There is no longer any face-to-face interview. The way most "refugee" claimants get in is hire an "immigration consultant" who tells them exactly what to say and do, and writes up all of the appropriate documents - that then simply go through the system, and POOF - another sleeper cell is seeded, or truck driver comes in, etc., etc. Open borders, not so much by design as by incompetence.

Sikh trucking business owners, who operate completely outside of the law in so many ways, particularly when using illegal immigrant "slave" drivers. ANYONE who has any exposure at all to the trucking business is extremely aware of the degree of criminality. Anyone who has spent any time doing business in India knows exactly why. We are not talking about a few dozen or a few hundred, but THOUSANDS who daily flaunt the law putting innocent people at risk or into their grave. The list just goes on, and on, and on. Look at this most wanted for murder and attempted murder. Citizenship isn't given, but when you click on the image and read the name, you can deduce the source of immigration usually being from a country that does NOT embrace traditional Canadian values.

I suppose you are right, Canada does not have open borders. Legitimate and qualified immigrants go through hell to get in, but criminals seem to find unlimited access. Immigrants are welcomed by Liberals. Qualified immigrants are welcomed by everyone else.

When the problem is directly related to the lack of qualification, screening, law enforcement and deportation of an entire criminal network that has been established in Canada, yeah, I have a bone to pick with certain immigrants and immigration policies. I am sure those who live near and have to deal with the results of Caribbean drug gangs have similar sentiments. Once again: same with Russian criminals. Sourcing immigration from countries with absolutely different values - in fact strongly opposed to traditional Canadian values amounts to cultural genocide.

Decency and transparency are part of traditional Canadian culture. Not so in India. Indians belong in India unless they want to fully adopt Canadian values (as many Indians DO). Truck driving and trucking business Sikhs do not.

Hate to rain on a few parades, but I strongly suspect most of the people so down on KSA have never actually BEEN there. Other than pilgrims going to hajj, there are few tourist traps..er attractions to draw visitors, but the West coast DOES have some great diving sites on the Red Sea (especially around Jeddah) and Persian Gulf (around Dammam but far more commercial/industrial than leisure), also thousands of kms of coastline with hundreds of beaches. You don't get to visit Mecca unless of course you are Muslim. I don't know what it would be like to be a tourist, but I have a lot of time as a guest. I never stay in Western hotels or compounds (unless for a specific event) and I stick out like a very sore, white, Western thumb. Pretty much EVERYONE I have met there including hundreds of perfect strangers without any introductions has been extremely polite and friendly, and once your hosts have known you long enough and well enough, you can actually get to know the country (not possible during a casual visit). No, it is not as "free" as Canada, but one has to look at what progress IS being made. Things move very slowly on that front, but they do move. Even 15 years ago, there is one shopping center in downtown Riyadh where many women, especially younger ones did NOT cover themselves or use escorts when shopping and dining. Now, you're going to jump up and down and tell me that women are "property" and mistreated regularly. Hardly the case. Women are generally the nucleus of the family and husbands do NOT mess with their authority. Public places are very different from the world behind closed doors, but that is just the way it is. Younger families are a lot more like what we would like to see (for instance, most are now monogamous). It is not going to change overnight, or even anywhere near at the rate we expect, but things ARE changing on many fronts. My closest friend there is not there right now. You can actually get a decent education in KSA, to the extent that when my friend wanted to go on to post graduate studies, he had no trouble being academically accepted by pretty much ANY school. Where his "freedom" is restricted is that he can't go to just any school. Since the Kingdom is paying his way, he can only select from the few schools at the very top of their game. They expect value for their money. His wife was also offered the opportunity enter grad school in her own discipline while he is doing his doctorate. AND, I can absolutely guarantee you, while in theory she is his "property" she is treated extremely well by him, his family, her family - and I mean well by ANY standard.

yes, our great "growth" in the economy happens because we measure purely speculative gain as economic growth, when it is nothing but inflationary wealth redistribution that drags the real values down for productive endeavour.

I can agree with your emotions, but not your logic. There are only three big games on the planet: US, China and EEC. For us to cut trade ties with any of them would be suicide. Attempt to diversify, yes, but until you see what it takes to sell product into a TUV standard (which is intentionally very protectionist) you have no idea what it means for someone outside of the EEC to sell manufactured goods into that market. We have to first BECOME an actual manufacturing economy (we only fit that mold when it comes to automotive parts and sub assemblies today) before we try to play in that ballpark. For China, it is fairly easy to DO, but almost totally impossible to do competitively (if you want to see protectionism, look at China) IF we had anything to sell outside of resources - and we don't. For us to do business in the US is extremely easy because we share so many standards, language, culture and complete understanding of the regulatory, tax, import and trade legal environment.

I have been out of the car business for about 30 years, but once a car guy, always a car guy. It is important to appreciate that since WWII, there are only two things you had to do to make your country wealthy: sell cars to the Americans and let Americans pay your defense costs. This has worked very well for Canada, Germany, Japan and South Korea. To really appreciate global economics, trade and some of geopolitics, you had to understand the car business. But China is a very different situation. It was the catch-up to the rest for 1/4 of the entire world kept out of pretty much everything for nearly a century. What we forget is that for the previous 4 millenia, China was THE largest economy and influence in the Eastern hemisphere. I can recall reading in trade media about how the Chinese car market could be the size of the US one, first a half century in the future, then a quarter and so on. Most simply laughed in total disbelief - except those of us who were actually on the ground inside of China. While Tricky Dickey was playing ping pong, Germany was busy making inroads that would result in them being the initiators of the real auto industry in China (and MANY other industrial sectors). Well, here we are not yet at 2020 and already China is the largest auto market in the world starting at zero less than 30 years ago. AND the second largest economy (and largest in terms of productivity when you factor out measures of purely speculative gains). 50 years ago as a neophyte in business and politics, I could scarcely imagine there would be a time I would stand in Red Square or Tiananmen Square, never mind have to defer to their leadership in matters of trade!

I agree fully. I only wish the spineless half-wits on the Hill had at least your grasp of the situation. I have worked in and with China since the mid '90s. Even that far back, I was trying to tell everyone that the light at the end of that tunnel is an Allegheny compound about to flatten anyone and anything in its way. That has not yet changed, and in the meantime, our little band of survivor mice will simply try to figure out how to feed peanuts to the elephant in the corner of our room.

We call them "one way" drivers. When they arrive on site, you can tell from their use of the language that they haven't been here very long and did not exactly come from the higher casts of society at home. I have watched them crash into things, back a loaded tanker over an embankment, etc. because the people who first encountered them didn't realize to totally incompetent as drivers. The truth about Sidhu is coming out now. 72 violations (52 fed, 20 provincial) over the previous week, most to do with hours of service IF anyone had bothered to police the industry. Drove through not only a stop sign, but a stop sign with a flashing light! The idea that you can "train" this behaviour out is ludicrous. There will simply be a string of schools pop up across the country, owned by the same people running the trucking business these days, who will graduate "drivers" little or no different from what happens now. This is not a driver training issue, it is an open borders one. Precisely how PC will kill our country (and a lot more of our people on the road).

BC: Note that the vast majority of what the US sells to China is NOT finished consumer goods (with value already added) but resources or components that will often be sold back to the US (and other markets) as finished consumer goods. Your point about oil and gas is sadly of course accurate. BUT: since we have such a large and easy market to the South and PC blocked access to tidewater on the Chinese side, our O&G exports don't (yet) go there. Yes, Boeing doing fairly well with China right now, but you would be surprised how much is coming out of Shanghai already. Ultimately, someone in China will make their majority owned Buick...oh, sorry, I meant BOEING that looks strangely similar to the one no longer sold by USA. NEVER forget that the 100% strategy of all Chinese business is to be predatory and absolutely victorious/dominant. They are waging WWIII without having to fire a shot, and we are only to glad to provide them with all of the ammunition they DO use.

Upside for what??? Canada has a culture very much in synch with the US, as well as consumerism with a taste and budget for the same things. Those needs and wants are being supplied by China, since the US long ago considered itself too important to bother with trivial consumer goods, then industrial goods and now high tech, defence and just about every other goods and service. China simply has no appetite for American (or Canadian) manufactured goods, as they can add the same value to resources far more competitively than we in North America can. China is a resource customer, and the US doesn't have very much in the line of resources to export any more. Canada does. Canada is also one of the few markets for made-in-USA consumer goods (what little of that is left). I generally dislike having to use analogies, but in this case, there is a good one. Going back 30+ years, the USA was the absolute center of the general aviation universe. Virtually all genav and most of commercial aviation design, suppliers, etc. were in the US. BUT: since it allowed the LLL (Legal Liability Lottery) to become a major factor in business, insurance costs from ravaging hoards of ambulance chasers resulted in total collapse of the light end of genav, and manufacture of almost all light singles and twins came to an abrupt halt in the late '70s. Today, Eastern Europe certifies more light planes every month than the US does in something like three or four years. Chinese now own much of the technology by simply buying the business (Continental being a prime example in USA, Diamond in Canada), milking the technology, and will eventually simply shift all production to China to satisfy that big emerging market that you so much desire. BTW: that infrastructure exists in China since Shanghai has hosted a significant community of subcontractors building major components and subassemblies for business and commercial aviation for decades - as usual - host the production, skim the technology - SOP for China. Don't even get me started on how they did this with GM! Sadly, outside of President Trump, nobody else in the US seems to understand this - nor has the balls to stand up to China and deal with it. We are simply not in a position to do that - as our real business with them is to provide resources that we have coming out of our arse.

Generally, my views come from somewhere right of the Great Khan and Libertarian more like Ron Paul, but you hit the nail right on the head. While the role of government should be to govern, it DOES have an important job of delivering social services. Health, education, welfare and sick care are what we, the Scandhoovians and pretty much everyone else in the former G7 EXCEPT the USA do very well. Medicine SHOULD be just that - a social service, not a predatory business. Those factors make starting, running and growing a business in Canada far easier when it comes to the issues around employee well being. Contrary to popular belief, big business creates very few productive jobs. The vast majority come from small to medium size companies. We provide the social benefits package that would be very difficult for startups to do. Where we fall flat on our face, though, is we confuse capitalism with casino capitalism. While we have the culture and platform for Bay Street to be the mini-me of Wall Street, we do NOT have a culture and infrastructure to invest in Main Street. Instead, we waste our efforts giving the free ride crowd of the speculative world an extremely well educated and supported workforce.

It is a constant matter for discussion withing trucking forums, but reality is this is still a long way off. As it stands, automating a tractor/trailer unit to run down a clear road, with well defined lane and shoulder markings is duck soup. Head out on the road in a blizzard and your automation becomes essentially useless. It will come, some day, but that day is not today. US trucking is quite different from Canada. They can only run tiny gross weights on the Interstate system, as the roadbeds but especially the bridges were designed in the '50s when nobody could imagine a tractor and trailer grossing out over 80,000 lbs. There are many variations state-to-state, but compared with here, where the distances are similar but the units running down the road are more likely to be 140,000 lbs. or LCVs, plus throw in some LONG bits of unrestricted access 2 lane with heavy weather, then add mountains with conditions that the "Highway from Hell" avoids and a sprinkling of ice roads going WAY up North that are beyond what ANYONE South of the 52 nd could imagine - and it is a very different world. One in which there is simply no room for a culture that has no respect at at all for safety and rule of law. Nor a technology that depends on clear, well marked and quite predictable roadways.

It seems they want to do better by being even more involved in their vision of micro-managing the economy taking the "best" from the New Democrats and nationalizing industries and the "best" from the Liberals of soft on crime. The are a jumble of left and further left that they seem to crave, with a smattering of the right they really don't understand. They should be natural Trudeau fans.

I may not be able to stop laughing long enough to get any work done. That said: I understand why you would say that, but it simply flies in the face of what "left" and "right" in a business/economic sense can be defined. Marx would have the means of production in the public hands, but in Canada, that public vehicle is a crown. You seem to thing that the slimey limeys actually have access to those assets (which, once again, I understand that you also believe as do I that the BNA still applies).

Marxism dictates that the proletariat own and control the means of creating wealth. That is exactly what a crown corporation does, and exactly what nationalizing parts of the oil industry, aircraft industry, pipeline industry, potash industry, etc. are doing. Yes, Venezuela nationalized foreign equity (not necessarily capital) but as with PetroCan, Potash Corp, Eldorado Nuclear, Wheat Board, etc. these things deny the ability of business to employ capital to create wealth from resources in the times beyond nationalization from the investments and work put in by them before government took them out of the picture. As you point out, the Crown already OWNS the resources, all that nationalizing them does is ensure total fuckups run the show for the benefit of what their political masters wish to appear to be doing during their short term in office.

Now THAT makes sense given the timelines and geopolitics. Thanks for suggesting.

Sad part is that it is NOT shining the light where it can see the real problem. Our government(s) simply hide it all behind this mindless PC crap. BTW: we call the kind of driver you are referring to "one way drivers" (and a fair number of other names, that are DEFINITELY not PC). Most can struggle down the highway going forward (busses full of kids notwithstanding) but are totally incapable of backing a single trailer, never mind a B train.

You may be right, but it's not how they tell it in Morocco. Since I was not around for the Egyptian NOR the Moroccan version, I will give both equal weight.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/new-federal-semi-truck-driver-regulations-to-come-into-effect-in-january-2020-1.4987477 Thanks to the "newly arrived Canadian" who murdered 13 and maimed 16 innocent victims as part of our "open borders" and "politically correct" approach to running Canada, the Feds and Provinces have FINALLY agreed to set some kind of standards for people who drive 30 to 60 tonnes of hardware down our highways. The upside is that this is long, long overdue. Further, it is Canada for once operating as a country and not deferring authority to the provinces. What few people seem to realize is that one of the massive economic advantages the US has over Canada is a very good Interstate highway system - whereas we have essentially one road that is in my places only two lanes wide to move our freight. While there are differences state-to-state in the US, the "standards" in Canada change dramatically from province to province - and there is only one way around (i.e. use the US Interstates). We need some kind of federal consistency for driver training, safety certification (more-or-less in place now, but not Federal) and equipment specifications (again, still a bit of a hodge-podge). The downsides are many. The already ridiculously greater cost of freight service in Canada (making us uncompetitive with the US) will now increase only here. We share the highway systems with the USA and Mexico, and drivers holding those licenses will have fewer barriers to entry and the industries South of 49 will have lower costs. We need INTERNATIONAL standards under the Can/US/Mex trade agreements. We come close with IRP and IFTA for registration and fuel tax, but still no cigar on standards for equipment and drivers. Worse yet: it doesn't address the actual problem. While new drivers are a start, it is the existing drivers on our roads that are still a problem. Mexico and the US will be somewhere below our standards for new drivers (the demand due to high turnover means there are a LOT of new drivers on the road all of the time). BUT, on top of that, you can just wander into Canada with another country's driving license (that may be real or forged) and simply drive in Canada!!!!! One of the leading reasons for this is the ethnicity of the largely criminal organization(s) that have taken over the trucking industry in Canada. Sidhu was a good example of how this works. Here was a new driver that had met (possibly) Alberta standards. Now, to most of us, that means driving test passed due to demonstrated skill. I have no idea (yet) as to what happened with Sidhu, but it is common knowledge that people from his culture have a habit of doing here what they do at home: bribe an examiner or even put their own examiner into the system to flaunt the intent and standards of the law (and/or regs). So, here you have a brand new driver from a culture that doesn't take the rule of law seriously at all not starting out his career in a small straight truck, but loaded to max gross (63.5 tonnes) in a B Train (that he can drive WITHOUT having been tested in multiple trailer, high gross driving). Why am I so down on him in this case? Simple: he had two log books. For those not familiar with HOS rules: it means that he and/or his employer intended from day 1 to drive more hours per day/trip than is legally allowed (for extremely good reason). At the extreme I have seen in ON a fleet of 50 dump trucks, all brought to the repair center by different drivers, but only ONE driver's license for the whole lot. As you might guess, once again Sikh operator. EVERYONE in trucking knows what is going on - everyone it seems except governments. It would be duck soup to shut this lot down for regulatory and criminal violations, but we are so busy being PC that we open the borders, invite them in, let them ILLEGALLY operate and simply take over an entire industry and seldom bother to investigate or enforce what little rules are in place. Sorry I can't link stats, as I don't think the ethnicity question can be found in any data base of accident reports - that wouldn't be PC.