Americans Buying Lots Of Private Canadian Land?

This is a huge problem, IMO. Americans are buyng up B.C.--literally. In Ontario, they have their eyes on the remaining uninhabited land around the great lakes. (as well as the water in the great lakes.)

I know someone who used to work in an Ontario government minstry that has since been re-names, and he had access to all of the records of land registries. (owners) He mentioned (interestingly) how many GERMANS and JAPANESE would buy land after World War II WAY up north, i.e. north of Sudbury, and land that was often swamp, unsuitable for any development, and he guessed it was because they thought this would help them become Canadian citizens. Germans and Japanese also own, as do Americans, many Canadian hotels, and other landmarks and resorts, so Canada is very foreign-owned, which I dislike.


In Mexico, depsite their poverty and weakened government accountability, they don't allow foreign-ownership of any land, and oil I believe. That means none of us could buy a piece of Mexico without citizenship, and I think Canada should follow this example. It's hard to explain why, but lost profits on foreign-owned resports and otehr landmarks is an obvious one. I also think that we could be helping foreigners shelter taxes, not sure how--but I dislike this. As for any other reasons, it's nice to think Canadians would have more of a vested interest in their own coutnry than foreigners--B.C. forestry officials aside.

Canadians have voted for governments that de-value our dollar and charge outrageous taxes that results in letting our standard of living slide in order to keep people employed in marginal industries - still better off than Mexico but following the same principles nonethelss. If Canadians had the stomach to make real productivity gains, then our Canadian pesos wouldn't be so cheap and a lot less foreigners would be able to afford Canadian real estate because we would all have a much higher standard of living.

I agree our dollar's value was devalued, but I think there still is enough foreign capital out there to buy us up unless we ban foreign-ownership.

As for propping up losing industries, I would argue devaluing the dollar is a distinct issue, separate from that--but maybve you could be more specific.....

Hey, all we need to do is make our country substantially WORSE than the US and then we won't have to worry about them buying us up!

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Kory Yamashita

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

It's nothing we can't handle. Sweden had virtually the identical problem back in 1870 when all their resources, land, major businesses, etc were owned by British & German businesspeople. Then over the next 50yrs or so they gradually 'Swedenized' everything. All it takes is a little willpower.

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"George Bush has declared the war on terrorism to be the cause of his generation. The cause of Canadian sovereignty will be ours." - John Godfrey, MP for Don Va

Yeah...and now they seem to be 'Swedenizing' us with their damn 'put it together yourself' furniture.

A 'Swedish' 'threat'?

And, what about those Dutch with their damn tulip bulbs. Ottawa looks like a mini Amsterdam in the spring.

Maybe the U.S. isn't our biggest concern...

On a more serious note, I believe I asked a similar question some months back. I think it deserves serious consideration.

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"When we are in the middle of the paradigm, it is hard to imagine any other paradigm" (Adam Smith).

Damn you IKEA allen key!!!!

Not to mention they build their furniture with Canada's wood.

"In Mexico, depsite their poverty and weakened government accountability, they don't allow foreign-ownership of any land, and oil I believe"

Just one of many reasons why Mexico continues to be such a third world shit hole. Something to consider before you suggest that Canada follows that line of thinking.

Without foreign investment, Canada would be in a much worse situation than it currently finds itself.

"Hey, all we need to do is make our country substantially WORSE than the US and then we won't have to worry about them buying us up!"

Thanks for the reasoned and insightful contribution Mr. Yamadumbshit.

a NON,

How much worse do you see it getting if we don't have foreign investment? What EXACTLY do you see happening to Canada? What vision do you have that I do not? In my opinion Canada is one of the few countries that could be totally self-sufficient yet you make it sound like we're nothing without someone else. (Song material) I really want to hear how BAD it will be. And could you accompany your reply with a strumming geetar and a yodelling hound dog? I'm receptive to aesthetics.

a NON,

If you are living in Canada we're well on our way to making it less desirable for everyone including oursleves.

Except hasn't our dollar been performing well (too well, as exporters would tell you) lately?

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Now call it extreme if you like, but I propose we hit it hard, and we hit it fast, with a major, and I mean major, leaflet campaign.--Rimmer, Red Dwarf

The <a href='//www.gov.ns.ca/vp/nonres/'>foreign-ownership situation's bad enough in Nova Scotia the Hammbone government formed a committee to whitewash it</a>. (One member had integrity enough not to sign the final product.) Now their story is -- not one year after they peddled NS as a good place to do business because of our overeductaed workforce -- that <a href='//www.gov.ns.ca/govt/immigration/'>we need even more immigrants to take away jobs because we're getting too old and stupid to do them</a>. <p>I honestly think the Nova Scotia government hates Nova Scotians.