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Author Topic: Harper hostile to reopening Labour and Environmemtal side agreements in NAFTA
Mojoroad1
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posted 06 November 2008 09:04 AM      Profile for Mojoroad1     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
The Cons want to be first out of the gate to promote their view of an international climate change agreement with Obama...gee wonder why?

But what caught my attention is this quote from Dorris....

quote:
Day and Cannon also downplayed Obama's talk of reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement's side-deals on labour and the environment, saying NAFTA is too "mutually beneficial.

Article


From: Muskoka | Registered: Aug 2008  |  IP: Logged
George Victor
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posted 06 November 2008 09:15 AM      Profile for George Victor        Edit/Delete Post
Jim (the smoothie) Prentice has taken on the environment file, of course, and that makes their environmental policy innovations dangerous as hell. This is not Bulldog Baird.

Right out of the starting gate, Prentice is preaching the indivisible nature of economy and environment, that they cannot be dealt with separately. Which is true, of course, but they are not pairing them for proper analysis of the situation leading to reduction of carbon emissions.

Consider the appeal of this idea for the newly unemployed of both Ontario and Ohio. And the weighting given to the "employment" side of that coin.

[ 06 November 2008: Message edited by: George Victor ]


From: Cambridge, ON | Registered: Oct 2007  |  IP: Logged
remind
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posted 06 November 2008 10:49 AM      Profile for remind     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Can we expand the topic by changing the thread title a bit? There is only one small portion in the article that says anything about this while the article says much more that could be discussed. Something along the lines of harper's plans for dealing with an Obama admin or something?
From: "watching the tide roll away" | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged
remind
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posted 06 November 2008 01:53 PM      Profile for remind     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Okay, I am just going to expand it anyway.
quote:
The Fraser Institute: Harper Government Must Move Quickly to Establish a Relationship With a Barack Obama Administration

...For the past several years, Canada and the U.S. have been moving to integrate markets in the two countries, initially under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and more recently through the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). The ability for transactions to occur freely across the border has been a key engine of Canadian growth in the past two decades. In 2007, Canada's trade with the United States amounted to 67 per cent of its overall trade, or 40 per cent of GDP. But these gains could disappear if the new U.S. administration embraces more protectionist policies.
"Given Obama's expressed hesitation for free trade agreements and his promises to seek more labour and environmental conditions in agreements such as NAFTA, Canada will likely face more than security demands from the new administration in bilateral negotiations on deepening trade," Moens said.

"But Obama is a highly intelligent person, and a master politician. If Harper can persuade him that the United States will benefit from good relations with Canada, he may adjust his policies."

The other key issue facing Canada is the likelihood of Obama bringing forward a carbon cap-and-trade system. Canada is particularly sensitive to arbitrary caps on carbon set in Washington which would most likely lead to American industry demanding import tariffs or levies on Canadian energy products and manufactured goods. Because carbon policies lead to trade distortions, Canada can only minimize its losses if it joins an American cap and trade system. Any difference between the two markets on these regulations will likely hurt the Canadian export sector.


Um, wonder if Prentice has contacted his friend from the PC days EMay yet?And he suggests the Prime Minister concentrate on three main issues:


From: "watching the tide roll away" | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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posted 06 November 2008 03:54 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Sounds like we could end up paying them even more money to take massive amounts of oil and gas and hydro-electric power off our hands. Just so long as we don't freeze in the dark sometime down the road, our stoogeocrats must know what they're doing regardless of the outward appearance of it, which has looked pretty rotten since 1994.
From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged

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