With a federal election a definite possibility at any time, it might be a good idea for us voters to look at the credibility of our two parties that have ever held the levers of power , in minority or majority, in Ottawa.
We have just witnessed a sobering change of power south of the border, and possibly a little self satisfaction
that we are better than that......... to dispel that idea I must point you to the Canadian federal election of 1988....when John Turner was debating Brian Mulroney on his negotiating the Free Trade Agreement with the United States of America...what became NAFTA... and has now a new moniker again, the name of which escapes me.......but the effects are the same....and the shenanigans and character assassinations we witnessed at that time....are only missing the violence we saw south of the border.
I re-visited the 1988 debate exchange between John Turner, the Liberal Leader and Brian Mulroney, the Conservative Prime Minister who had just negotiated the first FTA.
John Turner, the best Prime Minister Canada never had, made the following predictions during the debate , always interrupted by Brian Mulroney....
”once a country yields it's economic levers.....once a country yields it's energy....once a country yields it's agriculture....once a country opens itself up to a subsidy war with the United States....on terms of definition , then the political ability of this country to sustain the influence of the United States , to remain as an independent nation, that is lost forever, and that's the issue of this election”.........
Every one of these predictions has come true in spades.
FTA was also called “ The Sale of Canada Act” by it's critics, and there were many of them.
As a result of FTA/NAFTA...Canada over the years has lost its economic sovereignty and has become a branch plant economy, where major and minor decisions are made offshore by corporate CEOs that care only about how much money they can suck out of OUR country.
This has become crystal clear in this covid pandemic, where we could not supply the safety equipment needed for our frontline workers, where we have to go begging to foreigners to get vaccines, and are being held hostage by these offshore vaccine suppliers for tax concessions...I could go on... all DIRECT results of not being masters of our own economy.
The Canadian Government cannot even enforce environmental standards on foreign companies, if their PROFITS are impacted....
My reason for this rant is to initiate a reasoned debate PRIOR to the election call as to what WE, the Canadian voters want the political parties to do, to re-repatriate the parts of our economy that are vital for us to be masters in our economic house again....
Sincerely
Karl Braeker, Durham
photo credit: Fred Chartrand, Canadian Encyclopedia
