Why Canada is screwed and why nobody cares

[CdnFox]

18 minutes ago, August1991 said:

Europeans fight every century or so.

I always remember that line from Yes, Minister.  "We MUST keep our nuclear deterrent STRONG!"   "Why? The russians know they have more missiles than we do, do you REALLY think it'll protect us from them?"  "It's not the russians we're worried about, it's the FRENCH!  Sure they're our allies NOW But look at history! As long as they've got nukes we have to have them too!"

[August1991]

Europeans fought in the 1600s.

Then the 1790s.

Then the 1900s.

Churchill referred to these wars as Religion and Nations.

=====

Thatcher noted that - Brexit thinking - the British always chose the opposing side. 

[August1991]

31 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

.....

it's the FRENCH!  Sure they're our allies NOW But look at history! As long as they've got nukes we have to have them too!"

Prior to the Thirty Years War, ignorant British may have feared the French.

======

Why do people around the world now speak English?

And not Dutch?

Or French?

====

We all know of Ikea - even if we don't speak Swedish. 

Edited May 5, 2023 by August1991

[August1991]

We are some 8 billion people.

Among the new kids born every day, I can predict the maternal language.

My question is the second language: Around the world, mothers want their kids to speak English as a second language.

Edited May 5, 2023 by August1991

[BeaverFever]

On 4/28/2023 at 2:16 AM, paxamericana said:

From the post world war 2 order created by American Hegemeny, the world greatly benefitted. Speficially from american security umbrella visa vi american taxpayer subsidies. It allowed for international trade through american gaurded sea lane and an open market to american consumer. In summary this was a bribe for being cannon fodder incase the soviets decided to invade. 

Fast forward to present day and the dissolution of the soviet union , there is no longer an impetus to maintain such imbalanced relationship with Canada and the rest of Nato. President Trump was a manifestation of this feeling amongst American. He lead the great twitter crusade against the usual Nato deadbeat and humiliated Canada in the USMC trade deal. 

What the wider audience should take away however is that America doesn't need the rest of the world. Its quite the opposite. You see, without american hegemony, the old school mercantilist/imperialist/colonial competition amongst european power that dominated the pre world war 2 era would arise. There is two key factor the now enraged canucks should consider, geography and demographics. Without good access to vital sea lane for trade and raw material access, modern civilization would not be possible. Second without an over arching hegemony courtesy of the American, there is no such thing as fair competition. The natural competition that exist amongst countries would dominate and if history is to be repeated, privateers arg... Third, the typical demographic that support trade typically aged 15-45 no longer exist in canada or europe. These modern economy are aging rapidly similar to East asia. Canada and by extension these countries that suffer from this demographic collapse, now needs American involvement more than ever. America is the only major mordern economy that does not suffer from the population collaspe, hence still maintain a relatively large cohorts of millineal consumer to support a free market. MAGA

Wow there’s not a lot that’s accurate there. 
 

America is aging just like everyone else and in fact it’s the only first world country where life expectancy is decreasing because of the poor quality of life in USA: unaffordable healthcare, rampant poverty, gun violence, unsafe drinking water etc.

America is dependent upon imports and its corporations have grown too large to confine themselves to just one country which is why Americans and Republicans in particular were the ones who brought about globalism, free trade agreements and until recently weee the biggest defenders of those things. 
 

You might have missed it but the Europeans belong to something called the European Union these days therefore the theory that without Pax Americana “the old school mercantilist/imperialist/colonial competition amongst european power that dominated the pre world war 2 era would arise.”

The US navy isn’t guarding any “sea lanes” from some unseen threat. 

American hegemony is by definition antithetical to “fair competition”. How can there be fair competition if one of the competitors is a hegemon?

 

[herbie]

Geez, Beav! Only need to look across the street at the mill and can see that. Almost 40 years of Software duties because the "fair trade" USA decides how everyone else markets things.
You can't sell just the rights to cut trees, you must sell the land too. You can't have a govt set the rate.... no no making them bid is still not good enough. Wahh requiring that the trees you cut must be milled nearby so the people that live there benefit is communist!
Hell, there's a pickup next door that still has a 1963 25% Chicken Tax so you'd Buy American made in Mexico instead...

 

[SpankyMcFarland]

Canada has a promising future. We’re a young country with lots of space, water and mineral resources. Yes, there are some teething problems right now but let’s take a long view. 

[CdnFox]

2 hours ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

Canada has a promising future. We’re a young country with lots of space, water and mineral resources. Yes, there are some teething problems right now but let’s take a long view. 

The same thing exactly was said of Argentina in the early 20th century.  And it tanked. We are now heading in the same direction for many of the same reasons.

[Nationalist]

On 9/20/2023 at 7:47 PM, CdnFox said:

The same thing exactly was said of Argentina in the early 20th century.  And it tanked. We are now heading in the same direction for many of the same reasons.

Indeed our governments at all levels have been somewhat...damaging to the nation. Captured by stupid notions like equity...climate...refugees...our federal government has lost touch with reality.

But it can be brought back to life with new leadership that turns the mining industry loose, gets off the backs of farmers, eliminates bloated bureaucracies and regulations, builds housing.

And a final thought for our American friends...

Yes Canada is screwed and nobody cares. You should not care at all. This is a cold and inhospitable place that you would hate. Spare us your presence. You'd hate it here.

Edited November 2, 2023 by Nationalist

[CdnFox]

Just now, Nationalist said:

Indeed our governments at all levels have been somewhat...damaging to the nation. Captured by stupid notions like equity...climate...refugees...our federal government has lost touch with reality.

But it can be brought back to life wit new leadership that turns the mining industry loose, gets off the backs of farmers, eliminates bloated bureaucracies and regulations, builds housing.

True PROVIDED that leaderhship stays in place long enough and isn't replaced the moment the pain stops with the kind of gov't that gave us the pain in the first place.

Harper had us well back on the way to prosperity and productivity - and then the easterners thought trudeau would be a good idea and look where we are.

What we need is a good 15 years of conservative gov't. 8 - 10 years of PP followed by him winning a 3rd term then stepping down part way through and a new face winning the next election would do the truck nicely i suspect  

[eyeball]

16 hours ago, Nationalist said:

...new leadership that turns the mining industry loose...

Yes if anyone can breathe life back into our asbestos industry it'll be PP.

[Michael Hardner]

31 minutes ago, eyeball said:

...breathe ... asbestos ... PP.

?

[herbie]

Yeah why shouldn't people be allowed to work 70 hours a week if the want to work 70 hours. Lots of them need to to afford a roof over their heads!
Why can't the mines dump cyanide leachate into the rivers just to save some stoopid fish? Think of the CO2 emissions they'd cut not having to build containment dams and treatment plants.

Deregulation fixes everything ya know.

Edited November 2, 2023 by herbie

[CdnFox]

2 minutes ago, herbie said:

Yeah why shouldn't people be allowed to work 70 hours a week if the want to work 70 hours. Lots of them need to to afford a roof over their heads!

After 7 years of trudeau, even 70 hours  might not be enough for that.

Quote

Why can't the mines dump cyanide leachate into the rivers just to save some stoopid fish? Think of the CO2 emissions they'd cut not having to build containment dams and treatment plants.

We've already fixed the environment - we all paid our carbon tax (well except the maritimes) and so there's no more environmental issues. Mission Accomplished!

 

Quote

Deregulation fixes everything ya know.

Don't be silly - it's far better to have such a huge amount of regulation that industry is paralized and nothing can ever be done! That way everybody starves and emissions go down! 

[Nationalist]

2 hours ago, eyeball said:

Yes if anyone can breathe life back into our asbestos industry it'll be PP.

pfft...how could I expect anything less from you...

[eyeball]

16 minutes ago, Nationalist said:

pfft...how could I expect anything less from you...

Any chance he'll unleash fishermen?

[CdnFox]

30 minutes ago, eyeball said:

Any chance he'll unleash fishermen?

It's possible.  But at least he won't double the national debt  

[Nationalist]

44 minutes ago, eyeball said:

Any chance he'll unleash fishermen?

Is the fishing industry heavily regulated? Overly regulated? I honestly don't know. It would be nice to have cheaper and more abundant Alaskan King Crab...Lobster...Halibut...you know...the good stuff.

Canada is a veritable gold mine of natural resources. The only reason we are not self-sufficient is because we sell it all off to foreigners who then sell it back to us...or we punish our own industry in the name of a crisis nobody can adequately identify.

[eyeball]

15 minutes ago, Nationalist said:

Is the fishing industry heavily regulated? Overly regulated?

The fishing industry was mismanaged largely due to unregulated political machinations.  Now it's just a shadow of its former self. 

[Nationalist]

11 hours ago, eyeball said:

The fishing industry was mismanaged largely due to unregulated political machinations.  Now it's just a shadow of its former self. 

Shitty. 

[CdnFox]

17 hours ago, eyeball said:

The fishing industry was mismanaged largely due to unregulated political machinations.  Now it's just a shadow of its former self. 

This is certainly true. The first explorers off the coast of the atlantics described fish populations so numerous that it "did stop the forward progress of our ship".  Now they're worried about a complete collapse and it will never recover to what it once was,

But - it was largely the federal liberals who mismanaged that,  And this is what baffles me - why the hell are the atlantics so stuck on the libs federally?  When asked for many it boils down to the freebies the feds offer but you wouldn't NEED those freebies if they hadn't screwed you in the first place.

There's a saying that the best way to enslave a person is to provide for their every need, and that does seem to be the case in atlantic canada sometimes -  "we've destroyed your livelyhood but we'll give you money to survive so you better vote for us and do what you're told or it'll get taken away". "Yes sir!"

[eyeball]

56 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

This is certainly true.

And yet you still maintain Canadians like being governed according to unregulated political machinations, read; the corruption that lead to the mismanagement  and collapse of fisheries and people's livelihoods.

Of course a couple of billionaires were enriched along the way so I guess that's something to crow about - all those thousands of workers were just a bunch of jealous whiners right?

This is what makes you so much like Trudeau. A dilitente to the core with no real committment to any of the discussions  going on around you.

[CdnFox]

2 hours ago, eyeball said:

And yet you still maintain Canadians like being governed according to unregulated political machinations, read; the corruption that lead to the mismanagement  and collapse of fisheries and people's livelihoods.

They're still voting for them aren't they

2 hours ago, eyeball said:

Of course a couple of billionaires were enriched along the way

Nope.  Not at all. What happened is the liberal party held power.  You didn't sell yourselves out for billionaires, you sold yourself out to justin and his predecessors,

2 hours ago, eyeball said:

This is what makes you so much like Trudeau.

ROFLMAO - so you're going to vote for me now?

[SpankyMcFarland]

The day China achieves a critical technological advantage over the rest of world, watch out. It won’t matter where or who are you are, you will be personally affected. 

Edited November 4, 2023 by SpankyMcFarland

[CdnFox]

3 hours ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

The day China achieves a critical technological advantage over the rest of world, watch out. It won’t matter where or who are you are, you will be personally affected. 

You and I will both be dead and in the ground and i doubt we'll care as much as you seem to think.