Is it time that we have an honest, frank discussion about Canada’s and Alberta’s, economies? Enough of the political pandering, the platitudes, from those self-interested parties; where is the statesperson who will lead us forward into a new era?
Currently, our economy is based upon a model of a centralized Canada, bequeathed to us from Britain, and established in the 1950s. It is antiquated, no longer reflecting Canada’s needs. It has also left us with a residual mindset of being the “hewer of wood; the bearer of water.” If you listen to the rhetoric, it all revolves around this role for Canadians, one we have become comfortable with being type-cast as: we need to trade with the Europeans, with Asia, with the Americans; we are dependent upon them for our economic identity. In due course, we are asked to trade away our independences, our resources, to become entrenched within other economies, but where has the benefit been to all Canadians?
The present discussion is over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which offers hopes and dreams of an $800-million market for our manufactured goods. But our manufactured goods are coming from central Canada, travelling across Canada before they can cross the Pacific to enter Asian markets. Our costs of production are already high, which in turn means those goods are too expensive for those markets. The net result is that we may not be selling much more than we already do to that economy, most of which is already heading down to the U.S.
What is it that they want from us? What would we invariably have to give up? We give up the protection of our lumber industry to Japan; the autonomy of our food industry, specifically dairy and poultry, to an industrialized America; access to our supply chain infrastructure so we might buy their cheaper products. All of this will further lead to greater trade imbalances as our incomes flow off into foreign markets, because we continue to give away control of our resources to foreign entities. Why?
This is a complex subject; one that should be addressed in more detailed, open discussions, but why do we feel predisposed to give away our wealth to others? Why cannot we learn from the Europeans and entertain the ideal of becoming autarkic – self-sufficient?
Our greatest hurdle as a nation is our small population, which makes for a small market to consume Canadian products. This places far too much emphasis on our need to trade. On the other hand, we have not put the investment into developing our own resources. Instead, we are importing finished goods from around the globe, as we look for cheap consumables, which are undermining our economy in the long run. We have even lost the ability to produce our own foods, and now we are dependent upon others, which is now driving up our costs, stretching our budgets. Maybe it is time to rethink our economy; instead of looking backwards to how we have done things in the past, we need to start shaping our own futures.
John Kennair is an international consultant and doctor of laws who lives in St. Albert.
