Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!alberta!cdshaw
From: cdshaw@alberta.UUCP (Chris Shaw)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: Free Trade: Why is there no 'Plan B'?
Message-ID: <1826@pembina.UUCP>
Date: 14 Nov 88 14:36:05 GMT
References: <410@telly.UUCP>
Reply-To: cdshaw@pembina.UUCP (Chris Shaw)
Distribution: can
Organization: U. of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Lines: 46

In article <410@telly.UUCP> evan@telly.UUCP (Evan Leibovitch) writes:
>More than anything, I am saddened that there is no "Plan B". The Conservatives
>have pinned all their economic strategies on unbridled trade with the country
>which may conceivably be led by Dan Quayle. Why have we not been talking to
>other countries or economic blocs about free trade? Have we been lobbying the
>EEC? Japan? ANYONE else but the U.S.? 

Frankly, this is a stupid argument. The premise is that an increased level of
trade with the US is in itself a bad thing. Nonsense. Increased trade with
ANYBODY is a good thing. The question is with whom to get a free trade 
deal first, and the three obvious answers in order of priority are the US,
EEC, and Japan. The US comes first because we are infinitely more with their
market, we speak the same language, think roughly alike, have similar cultural
background, and share a very long border. From Ontario, the eastern seaboard
of the US is about as convenient as Manitoba for shipping purposes, and 50-100
million people live there.

Europe comes second because the size of the market is larger -- about
350 Million people, a lot of the people speak English and/or French, and they
ARE our cultural background for the most part. However, shipping costs are 
automatically boosted by one Atlantic Ocean.

Japan is in third place due to its relatively small size (100 million), an
almost total lack of consumer demand, plus N hundred non-tarriff trade barriers
that amount to a wall of protection. Negotiating with them will be hard work.

>What if we implement the FTA, and STILL
>become subject to US Omnibus Trade Bills?

The dispute settlement mechanism is able to enforce equal treatment 
regardless of national origin. 

>Frankly, out of sheer curiosity, there's part of me which would like to see
>a Conservative minority. Would Turner and Broadbent gang up on Mulroney the
>way Peterson and Rae did it to Frank Miller in Ontario some years back?

Yes. No question about it. If the PC's get a "minority", you can bet there
will be a Liberal government.

>Evan Leibovitch, SA of System Telly


-- 
Chris Shaw    cdshaw@alberta.UUCP (or via watmath or ubc-vision)
University of Alberta
CatchPhrase: Bogus as HELL !