Stormy Skies for Canada's Middle Class

[Battletoads]

So you mandate that computers must be manufactured in Canada. But you don't close the border to $600.00 computers made in China being imported. Sure, all good Canadians will buy the $5,000.00 Canadian made computers. Really?

When did I indicate that all goods should be Canadian? I have no problem with free trade between modern first world nations.

[RNG]

When did I indicate that all goods should be Canadian? I have no problem with free trade between modern first world nations.

So, you are advocating selective import duties based on origin? And why should the citizens of the second and third world be deprived of employment opportunities?

[Battletoads]

So, you are advocating selective import duties based on origin?

Pretty much, I see no reason why we should be supporting child labour/sweat shops/ect... when these practices are illegal in Canada and most of the 1st world.

And why should the citizens of the second and third world be deprived of employment opportunities?

Why should Canadians and others in the first world be forced to compete with workers in countries with non-existent labour laws? Of course being a conservative you likely see labour laws as something greedy workers see as an entitlement...

Edited June 17, 2011 by Battletoads

[Handsome Rob]

Its fair in that wage-earners/consumers brought this on themselves. We bought into the service-based economy scam pretty enthusiastically and believed the idea that we can have a high standard of life doing nothing but selling imported goods to each other. What the hell did we THINK was gonna happen?

And theres other questions of fairness... why SHOULDNT some dude in the developing world that lives in abject squalor purely based on the luck of where he was born compete with us for jobs? Especially when we actually rob them of jobs through various measures like agricultural subsidies.

Im a worker in the west, so Im pretty much bias, but If I was an alien observer orbiting in my spaceship for the last hundred years it would be pretty hard to muster much sympathy for the plight of workers in the west. Id be like "sweet! those poor fuckers over THERE are finally getting some money and some opportunities"!.

I agree with you on principal, we in the west are all spoiled. However suggesting that it's just standard of living increasing in the developing world does not explain things like the suicide nets put up around FoxCon's factories.

Not to suggest that every job shipped overseas results in that, but a good number of them certainly do.

[cybercoma]

I thought I disagreed absolutely with child labour and I still want to, but I think it was Shell that made a valid argument about it.

Their argument was that biggest problem with child labour is access to education. You take children out of schools and force them into fields, farming cash crops for export, and their countries never advance because they stay uneducated. However, if you build proper schools and promote education, what's wrong with children working in the fields? This is why we have summers off in North America. International NGOs call child labourers any person under the age of 18 that works. Kids in Canada today have jobs working in fields, detasseling corn, or delivering newspapers and whatnot. Why don't we view that as child labour and problematic? Likely because these children have access to educations and are not being forced into these fields permanently. So child labour in and of itself is not necessarily an evil, although child labour with several accompanying factors does make it condemnable.

Edited June 17, 2011 by cybercoma

[Handsome Rob]

Except they all buy Futures contracts and know the costs up front. Seems to me its atad too convenient for them to tell us thats the reason.

Yeah, worked out for AC when they hedged their fuel, and the price plummets.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=80c8a9a1-25e0-41b4-a707-05ce458a3420

[Handsome Rob]

Airlines made record profits this year based on extra fees. Fuel goes up, so does everything else.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/06/13/travel.airline.fees/

Yeah...that 0.7% margin, they're killing it. $4 billion on $598, across 238 carriers. Wonder what it looks like with things like middle eastern state owned carriers removed.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-06/airline-profits-forecast-cut-54-by-iata-on-japan-quake-rising-fuel-costs.html

[maple_leafs182]

Pretty much, I see no reason why we should be supporting child labour/sweat shops/ect... when these practices are illegal in Canada and most of the 1st world.

Maybe it is the corporations that use that labour that are at fault.

[dpwozney]

The NDP party is considering dropping the phrase “democratic socialism” from the preamble to their party constitution.

They might want to consider instead “socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor” since this seems to be the trend these days.

Edited June 17, 2011 by dpwozney

[Battletoads]

Maybe it is the corporations that use that labour that are at fault.

By and large it is their fault, hence we should not be shaping trade policy in ways that will benefit them over Canadians,