Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ubc-cs.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcsri!ubc-vision!ubc-cs!acton From: acton@ubc-cs.UUCP (Donald Acton) Newsgroups: can.politics Subject: Re: Free trade Message-ID: <1242@ubc-cs.UUCP> Date: Thu, 29-Aug-85 02:30:38 EDT Article-I.D.: ubc-cs.1242 Posted: Thu Aug 29 02:30:38 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 30-Aug-85 06:53:15 EDT References: <1355@utcsri.UUCP> Reply-To: acton@ubc-cs.UUCP (Donald Acton) Distribution: can Organization: UBC Department of Computer Science, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Lines: 78 Summary: In article <1355@utcsri.UUCP> peterr@utcsri.UUCP (Peter Rowley) with respect to free trade writes: > It would also, if past patterns are any guide, lead to increased >monopolization of the Canadian economy, but some people think that's OK >as long as it leads to reduced costs (whether it does or not is a question >for another time). I don't really see how this would be the case and I am having a hard time trying to think of examples of this from the past. (Of course maybe this is what we see developing with Petro Can right now but that is hardly a company operating in a free and unrestricted market.) The only monopolies I can think of (telephone and hydro companies and the Post Office) are all government legislated monopolies that if anything restrict free trade, and they certainly didn't come into existence because of it. To suggest that these would stay monopolies without government support is highly questionable and this leads me to believe that it is unlikely that any new monopolies would develop in a free trade environment. >*BUT* would this wonderful "idol in the sky" of free trade ..... >.... really help Canadian manufacturing to be more competitive? I > think there's a good chance that it wouldn't. Perhaps these eastern manufacturing industries wouldn't become more competitive and their past performance would certainly support that conclusion. But this time instead of quotas and government price supports which cost the consumer/taxpayer billions of dollars they would go bankrupt. The whole system of price supports and quotas disrupts all of society's allocation of resources by creating and sustaining an artificial demand for a certain product or service. (In this case certain Canadian manufactured goods.) By freeing up these squandered resources we will be able to reallocate them to produce something that can stand on its own. > >By February, the Canadian company with the better idea is out of business. The problem with this company, of course, is that it had a better idea but never bothered to tell anybody about it. This exhibits the typical eastern Canadian manufacturing industry's attitude of buy something because of were it is made and not because of the product's merits. The current position of the manufacturing industry seems to be if you can't sell it then get the government to restrict imports so that people have no choice but to buy it. >Some US companies do know a good deal when they see one, though, and Canada >certainly has good deals on natural resources. It would be a real boon >to the lumber companies to have free trade, for example. But do you want >Canada to be a nation of hewers of wood and drawers of water? It is nice of you to show such a concern for those of us who live in the hinterland which, in general, makes it living that way. I guess it is all right for those of us in the West to be the hewers of wood and drawers of water for Ontario and Quebec but heaven forbid that we should try and do the same in the US. Free trade with the US would naturally be of benefit to the above mentioned industries but other sectors of our economy would also be able to take advantage of the US market. I worked for an electronics company in Vancouver (hard to believe eh) and they sold their products almost exclusively in the US. This company was in an expansionary phase and they seriously considered relocating part of their operations in the US to gain better access to that market, so free trade would surely be to their advantage. Just because some companies might suffer doesn't mean that others wouldn't benefit and that still other firms might come into being just because their product now has a larger market place that makes it existence feasible. To suggest that this wouldn't be the case is to suggest that Canadians aren't innovative and imaginative and that only Americans can come up with new ideas or create new markets. If you truly believe that then maybe we do deserve to be nothing but hewers of wood and drawers of water. A final point in this diatribe is that the only province that opposes some form of free trade with the US is Ontario and as a result this appears to have put quite a damper on things. If it had been the West or the Atlantic provinces that were opposed instead of Ontario you can bet that it would be full speed ahead and damn the rest of the country. Ontario continues to maintain the condescending attitude that what is good for Ontario is good for the rest of the country. Donald Acton PS: Are we all ready for the increase in gasoline prices this weekend?