CAN-USA Tariff Strife (split from various pol threads)

[Czech_pivo]

We don't "let" others add that value. We just don't compete effectively. If someone else is going to buy our raw materials and turn out finished products cheaper than we will, someone else is likely to end up with the contracts.

Whether Canadians can compete effectively and efficiently depends on personal expectations, and how the governments regulate enterprises.

Reading and watching commentary across the years, it is clear that too many people spend too much time wondering why someone just doesn't "do something". Do they even understand the rules of engagement? If they understand, are they prepared to make changes that will make Canadian enterprises more competitive? I can guess that the answer to almost every proposal will be "oh, we can't change that".

Sadly alot of it centers around the fact that there are too few Canadian 'Champions' left across many industries. Selling out the the US and others has been the 'cultural norm' for the last 7 decades.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Meanwhile we spend 30b a year on subsidies to oil and gas and its fine.

Cannot take the claim seriously when the people advancing it only occasionally admit that figure is a sum of subsidies, loans and guarantees, and tax breaks, without anyone making it easy to find the true subsidy amount all by itself.

It is deceitful to bundle up several things in a package and then describe the package as if it were composed of exactly one of the things.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Sadly alot of it centers around the fact that there are too few Canadian 'Champions' left across many industries. Selling out the the US and others has been the 'cultural norm' for the last 7 decades.

I repeatedly return to that point: Canada is next to the US and is going to have to figure out a way to compete with the US if it doesn't want to bleed people and ideas to the US (a problem faced by most countries around the globe, but most don't share a language and substantial part of their cultures).

We cannot force the US to become more like us. That leaves figuring out which ways we can become more like the US, and there will not be much agreement on those. "I'm alright, FY Jack" isn't just a sentiment applied by the well-off. The same frame is often enough the attitude of people with very secure employment and/or governmental sources of income to those without either. It even bubbles up to regional politics (eg. BC deciding which limits it effectively imposes on other provinces' attempts to reach export markets).

 

[Altair]

Cannot take the claim seriously when the people advancing it only occasionally admit that figure is a sum of subsidies, loans and guarantees, and tax breaks, without anyone making it easy to find the true subsidy amount all by itself.

It is deceitful to bundle up several things in a package and then describe the package as if it were composed of exactly one of the things.

It's a pretty simple thing to do actually.

I call it the bombardier test. If the government did it for bombardier,would people complain?

Low interest loans? Yup

Tax breaks? Yup

Direct financing? Definitely yes.

So what's good for the goose...

It's oil and gas subsidies, 30b worth this year alone.