Some Interesting Numbers

Just a little update...I just heard on the news that President Obama stated that he did not want "any clauses that could trigger a trade war". There is hope yet..


When Canada and U.S. negotiated the free trade agreement in the late 80's most Canadians myself included thought this was a bad deal for Canada. I felt we'd given away too much of our natural resources such as oil and gas. The agreement was slanted in U.S. favour. Almost overnight a large portion of the manufacturing sector packed up and left town for places like Georgia or Ohio, wherever wages were cheap. That in itself decimated the Ontario economy but what the heck, we're Canadian, we sucked it up and took it on the chin.

Years later there came the softwood lumber dispute which took years to resolve and many millions of dollars in legal fees.

Now we seem to be back to square one where there is a trade war brewing which could devastate this country. It is up to President Obama to recognize that Canada is the U.S's largest trading partner and to solve this issue before it's too late.

I recognize that there are many Americans who have lost their jobs and their homes, but there are also many Canadians in the same boat. A lot of people have lived very well in North America in the last few years without ever thinking that it could end some day. If Americans think we are taking their jobs I'd like to remind them that their banking fiasco has robbed a lot of people the world over of their retirement savings. Greed is not a good thing and a "beggar your neighbour" philosophy will only make it worse.

Keeping in mind that the U.S. has about 200 million people and Canada around 34 million, I'd say we buy more American than Americans buy Canadian. Just for interest here are some trade figures for those Americans who think they are getting a bad deal.

Exported TO U.S. ---Imported FROM U.S.

2003 - 2,825 million - 2,163 million
2004 - 3,526 million - 3,430 million
2005 - 3,977 million - 4,047 million
2006 - 3,969 million - 4,084 million
2007 - 4,063 million - 4,326 million

I'd say that gives Canada a bit of a bargain chip...maybe it's time we stopped sucking it up by the 800 pound gorilla...