But that affirmation of Canada-U.S. harmony is an ill fit with what Klein himself said last week after U.S. President George Bush's administration declined to play fair in our $5 billion dispute over softwood lumber. Washington rebuffed a ruling in Canada's favour by a North American Free Trade Agreement dispute settlement panel, which rejected the unfounded U.S. claim that Canadian softwood lumber exports are unfairly subsidized and so are hurting U.S. producers.
Klein demanded that Prime Minister Paul Martin's government "use whatever legal means it possibly can to force, if you will, the Americans to live up to their obligations under NAFTA." And he was speaking on behalf of all the premiers, who were meeting in Banff.
Klein knows full well that Ottawa cannot "force" Washington to do anything it doesn't want to do. The Bush administration's decision to dismiss a ruling by NAFTA's court of last resort, made in response to an "extraordinary challenge" launched by the Americans themselves after another dispute settlement panel ruled in Canada's favour, amounts to a breathtakingly egregious breach of faith.
Short of launching a full-scale trade war, which could hurt Canadians as much as Americans, all Ottawa can do is put diplomatic and moral pressure on Washington, which is what Trade Minister Jim Peterson tried to do Tuesday, announcing that Canada has suspended further negotiations on softwood until the Americans show some good faith. Canada expects the U.S. to lift its duties on Canada's softwood exports and return $5 billion it has unfairly levied thus far.
But Cheney's visit gives Klein, who has a well-deserved reputation for speaking his mind, an opportunity to do a little arm-twisting on the side.
He should tell Cheney that if Americans want Canada to be their gas station on fair trade terms that serve both countries, they ought to be prepared to shop, fairly, at our lumber yard as well. Free trade in oil and gas should go hand-in-hand with fair trade in softwood.
After all, American access to Alberta's vast oil reserves is covered — and protected — by NAFTA, the same free trade deal that is supposed to guarantee Canada's softwood lumber producers free and fair access to the U.S. market. Does Cheney expect NAFTA to apply to oil and gas but not to wood? If so, it would be instructive to hear him articulate that case.
As the Bush administration ponders a strategically-located Canadian storehouse of energy that can keep America's economy humming through any global storm, Klein should remind Cheney that our lumber industry is not asking for special treatment, only basic fairness.
The Americans freely negotiated NAFTA with us. They agreed to honour its dispute settlement mechanisms. Then they reneged. That is one shaky foundation on which to build stepped-up co-operation on energy.
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[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on August 21, 2005]
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EDITORIAL: Use Cheney Visit To Push Fair Trade
Posted on Friday, August 19 at 08:28 by jensonjContributed By
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Together with the rest of the Bush gang, Cheney is a criminal against his own country and a war criminal internationally.
As far the oil sands are concerned, getting the oil out of them will destroy more and more of Canada's and the world's environment for no logical, practical, necessary and real economic reasons, only to lengthen the misery and to cover up the destructive effects of a fraudulent economic system Cheney is part of with his corporate connections. Is this something we should welcome, praise and promote ? Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.
Building oil infrastructure in Alberta would be good for Alberta, for Canada and for all Canadians... if we do it right. Ensuring that we own the extraction process, the refining process and the distribution process guarantees long term jobs for Canadians. It also allows us to produce long term educational benefits if we ensure that the people creating the infrastructure and in charge of the production are predominantly Canadian. If the refining capabilities are put on Canadian soil, we own not crude, but refined end product that can be sold anywhere at market value. If handled correctly, it provides an immense carrot and stick to handle negotiations with the Americans, Chinese, Europeans and Russians long into the future. If handled and managed appropriately, the tax burden of Canadians can be decreased (like the Saudi's), and we have a wealth of opportunity to invest the dividend in long term solutions to poverty, medicare, and other social maladies. If we manage the wealth appropriately we would set up facilities based on oil wealth to research alternatives (because once we run out of oil, the world is royally fub@r).
Now I agree, that is a lot of "ifs". But it can be done. We have the strength and ability in this country to make this happen. We should take advantage of it. And we should take advantage of our relationship with the US to make the absolute most of it. As the US becomes more dependent on Canadian oil, we become more of a strategic partner. Instead of the Saudis consulting the president before war, it could be us. They still might not like what we have to say, but at least they would have reason to listen.
I have to take isssue with you on that assumption. Latin America is a treasure trove of resources of strategic interest to the US. I don't see them listening to the concerns of any of those nations. In fact, they have been forced under the US's thumb in order to secure those very resources reliably. Venezuela is bucking the trend and asserting its sovereignty and its right as a sovereign country to control its resources and look what's happened to them. If the US thought it politically feasible, they would launch a military action against them. As it is, they are trying every other possible option to remove Chavez's government from power in order to preserve/restore what they see as US interests. I really don't think the situation would be any different in Canada. If they listened to us at all, it would only be to pat us on the head and say "There there little fella, you just let us worry about that."
As the US becomes more dependent on our oil, for "national security" reasons they will exert more control over Canada and only "allow" us as much dissent as they deem fit.
They're going to want our resources, most notably water and oil and if we get it into our heads not to give it to them, they'll come and take it.
Our only option is near term: abrogate the treaty while we still have the legal means to do so.
Then we need to seriously beef up our military and intelligence capabilities with the implicit strategic assumption that the largest military and security threat to Canada over the next 50 years is the United States.
(respectively) to pose any sort of physical resistance to them, but this is by no
means reason to stand by and get trodden on. Trodden on from an economic
or sovereign standpoint. They will want our water. They want our oil, gas,
and even timber. If Canada finally has the balls to say, in clear, polite, and
firm terms "Listen, you can't have your cake (resources) and eat it too (on
your terms, etc.), then we'll see some action. The US will rant. They will
threaten. They will close the border (that won't last when the realize the
border flows in two directions). They will turn of the hydro Ontario imports
from the US. We will be thrown into turmoil. We will survive.
Remember when people said a high Canadian dollar will hurt us? Are we
hurting that bad, all things said and done? We can find other partners to
trade with, and in a goddamn hurry when so inspired (by a border closed to
trade for example). We can be completely self-sufficient in those things that
really matter: oil, electriity, metals, water, wood, food. Yes, we won't have
oranges in winter. So what? My great grand parents didn't, and they
somehow managed to survive and be happy. We'd find a way around them
anyhow. Hell, we'd become much closer to Cuba (many reasons there) and
other Latin countries who would be happy to see the money we spend in the
US. I'm no foreign affairs specialist, political scientist, or CMA. This is a rant
of sorts, but I'm soooo tired of this nonsense, I'm ready to think outside our
small Canadian mind/box. The day we stop using the US as a yardstick to
measure our sense of: success, self-worth, well-being is the day we start to
stand on our own. Standing on your own does not mean standing alone - it
means being our own people. We've been tied to the Yankee teat for far to
long. It makes me ill, and you can see the symptoms of that illness just
about everywhere.
Why don’t you just destroy your financial institutions and paint a gigantic bulls eye on your country! LOL
Hey miltion, if brains were dynamite you couldn’t blow the fuzz off a ripe peach.
<br />
Cheney: Our Military Is Ragtag and Unorganized:<br />
Whenever the viscous-goo-that-slouches-like-a-man known as Vice President Dick Cheney slimes up to a podium to speak, flowers lose their petals, butterflies drop from the sky, and a pall of doom and darkness is cast throughout the land so that toddlers sense it in their chilled bones and begin to cry, in unison, uncontrollably. Cheney is our misanthropic government's master of dark arts, his purpose to offer visions of a world on fire the likes of which would make Satan himself scratch his balls' black van dyke and mutter, "Those're goddamn fine flames, goddamn fine flames," itching for the end of the miracles of technology that keep Cheney alive so that the Vice President may finally die and rightfully join the devil by his side to assist in rule over the damned.<br />
<br />
So it was that Cheney belched and spat puss at the gathered veterans at the National Convention of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Amid his usual recitation of the myriad horrors that have afflicted the world since, well, he and Bush took office, Cheney offered this heartwarming anecdote about Iraq: "In Iraq, terrorists have slaughtered innocent people in marketplaces, in restaurants, in private homes, at police recruiting stations, in a hospital, and outside a mosque. They have beheaded bound men in front of cameras, and killed UN employees and international aid workers. Earlier this summer, as American soldiers were giving candy to children, a suicide bomber drove into the crowd, killing 18 boys and girls and an American soldier." Yes, Iraqis are serious about teaching their children not to take candy from strangers.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/">http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<p>---<br>"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Friedrich Nietzsche<br />
I seriously doubt the 5 Billion stolen through illegal lumber tariffs , or any other trade disputes between the U.S. and Canada , will pass through Klein's lips , even as a passing thought...
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If I stand for my country today...will my country be here to stand for me tomorrow?
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"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Friedrich Nietzsche