Did PM Harper count too much on Canadian oil??? NO.

[FarmRanger]

Wages has very little to do with free trade deals.

To put it into a format a farmer might understand.
Remove tariffs on my grain, I sell more grain into another country and get more for it because all of the money that the importer in that country goes towward the purchase of my grain. I get more, the consumer in that country gets more for less.

For the goods coming back, I buy something that grows better in that country than here and I get it cheaper, while that farmer gets more, again, because no tariffs here either. Everyone is better off.

When governments create tariffs, they're usually picking favorites and harming others in the meantime. When other governments retaliate, everyone becomes poorer. It's usually the most protected industries (or individuals) that howl the most when trade agreements are created. Big Labour would be the most likely to complain about "cheap labour", because it might affect their ability to extract more than their economic value from the market, so I know where you ultimately got your talking from, Riders.

[riders2010]

To put it in a language you can understand where is a company going to put a manufacturing plant in a country where wages are 10 an hour or 2 an hour? The 2 an hour gang can t pay any decent price for our grain can they?
But I see where you got your talking points from all the corporates that want to take advantage of the low wages and still sell to us at ridiculous prices.

[riders2010]

I see these so called benefits of free trade every time I go as a dumb farmer to buy parts at the local dealership. Made in India made in china made in Pakistan I rarely can walk out with anything important for less than a 1,000 bucks. The other day a bloody 3/8 bolt made in china for 4.50.

But I guess when you want to sell oil to these countries other industries get sacrificed for that sale.

[TOM4CWB]

And every one wants to Crucify PM Harper over the CBC...

The MotherCorp CBC would not even carry the Leadership Debate last night. Over $1B spent per year... and the CBC complains when a little 10 percent cut in their gov funding... when they cost $120/family/yr. And we don't have a choice.

the CBC and NDP are like two peas in a pod... neither have a care about the cost to Canadians they engage... just that they are entitled to belly up to the trough...

[FarmRanger]

riders,
A company is going to set up shop wherever it makes the most economic sense to do so. If wages were the only factor that mattered, then all manufacturing would happen in low wage countries. Obviously that is not the case.

You say you paid $4.5 for a made in China 3/8 bolt. If you think you can make it cheaper, then by all means do so. It always amazes me though that the solution that is always proposed by the protectionist crowd, is that we tariff out that bolt to protect some domestic manufacturer, so you can now pay $9 for the same bolt.

How does increasing your cost for that bolt help you or the country? You've just increased the costs to every domestic user of that bolt (decreasing their competitiveness) to protect a Canadian bolt manufacturer who has no chance to compete with the Chinese bolt manufacturer anywhere else but in closed border Canada. We all become weaker (and poorer) because of counterproductive protectionist policies. The only beneficiaries are the few protected favourites of misguided governments who don't understand economic consequences.

Unfortunately this scenario is not theoretical, it is happening in Canada for political reasons and gullible voters are being mislead by the anti trade rhetoric. Ironically the worst misinformation comes from the political entities that are also most likely to have the anti-corporate policies which further weaken the competitiveness of surviving industries in Canada.

[riders2010]

Your describing something that sounds good on paper but it doesn t exist. That bolt likely can be produced here for 4.50 but not as much profit for the owner but workers are better off. That profit although smaller is in this country not another. All this foreign own shit is why we can t really get ahead of the game.

[FarmRanger]

In a free market, if it can be produced at a reasonable profit, someone will produce it. No profit, no product. Too much profit and someone will keep you honest by becomig your competitor, which provides more to consumers for less cost.

Works on paper and in the real world if governments stay out of the way. Governments can make rules to facilitate market processes (enforce contracts, punish cheaters), or they can make everyone else poorer to protect parasitic company and/or union cronies).