From: jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca (John Paul Morrison)
Subject: Re: Hurtig's New Party
Organization: University of BC, Electrical Engineering
Distribution: can
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 08:41:02 GMT

In article <1992Nov21.195359.1258@galaxy.gov.bc.ca> ddjohnson@galaxy.gov.bc.ca writes:
>In article <1992Nov21.010426.3934@mdivax1.uucp>, robinson@mdivax1.uucp (Jim
>Robinson) writes: > > Hmmm, the Reform Party should siphon off PC votes, and
>the NoWayFreeTrade > Party should siphon off NDP votes - the Liberals may coast
>to a majority if > this kind of vote splitting goes on. Perhaps Hurtig is
>really a Liberal > double agent :-). 
>
>Actually, this isn't very funny Jim! 
>
>In the '88 election the Liberals were sort of against Free Trade (BFTA) and the
>NDP were. The split vote (> 50% for the Liberals/NDP) resulted in Mr.
>Mulroney's election, the implementation of the BFTA, and the massive
>destruction of our manufacturing sector, especially in Central Canada. NEVER
>AGAIN! (I hope). 

this is bullshit. In Hurtig's deluded book, he tries to prove that every
job lost in Canada was due to the FTA. This is bullshit, because the recession
caused all the job losses. Hurtig would have to be divine to see the actual
affect of the FTA, through all the economic noise obscuring the signal.

In any case, a study showed that the FTA helped increase jobs and production
in Canada during its first year, although by only +0.1%. Those kind of numbers
show that the FTA is essentially neutral.

If you want to get picky about why Canada has been doing worse than the USA,
one only has to look at the productivity and wages of Canadian workers vs.
Americans. Studies show that productivity has grown slowly in Canada, and
much higher in the USA, while Canadian wages have grown at a higher rate
than in the USA. In other words, many Canadian workers are overpaid and 
underworked.

If through all of this, you still think the FTA is responsible for major
job and industry losses, then I think that it's GOOD. yes, If the FTA
did cause jobs losses, then I am glad, and evrybody  should be happy too. Why? 
Because it's dead wood. Worthless, subsidzied industries that are an albatross
on the economy, and I'm glad they are going belly up. These are companies
that profited from market distorting trade barriers, and they would never
have existed if those trade barriers weren't there. We shouldn't mourn
their loss, but rather celibrate the fact that they are no longer costing
the economy $ billions in artificially high prices. All protectionism
has done is create sheltered, uncompettive industries that have made
profits at our expense, through less competition and more middlemen and
resellers taking a cut in the profits.


>
>I know Mel is sincere and I have had the same thoughts as you. The NDP has
>intensified their communications stating they will abrogate the BFTA and bail
>out of NAFTA before its too late.. Broadbent treated this as an assumed in
>1988. It cost us (Canada) dearly. Meanwhile the Liberals will "renegotiate" the
>BFTA (and the GST). Until Mr. Hurtig's entry, there was ONE alternative. 

And watch Canada fade into political and economic nothing.

With the NDP at 14% approval (lower than the Tories), we obviously have
nothing to worry about.

>
>The last thing Canada needs is a replay of the '88 election re BFTA. 
>
>DDJ
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>Doug Johnson			"You never can predict the weather."
>Smithers, British Columbia	Q, Star Trek, TNG. 1992.
>CANADA


-- 
__________________________________________________________________________
 John Paul Morrison                     |  
 University of British Columbia, Canada |  
 Electrical Engineering                 |   .sig file without a cause
 jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca              VE7JPM |  
________________________________________|_________________________________
Newsgroups: can.politics