1) Ontario.
A symptom:
Canada’s eroding auto industry
Ontario drives manufacturers away with overpriced electricity [almost all the real news in the paper is in the business section]
2) The West:
Shale Storm Hits Canadian Gas
U.S. Gas Production Threatens Its Neighbor to the North
More from the WSJ this April.
Mulcair as a liberalmp, to the Quebec liberal CHAREST gov and before becoming the leader of the fed ndp put a moratorium on Quebec resources of SHALE GAS AND OIL DEVELOPMENT.
time to tar and feather McGimpy
As I probably wrote on this site many years ago, ontario’s manufacturing industry blossomed for three reasons:
1. Being a Great Lakes neighbour of Ohio (Cleveland) and Detroit and the rest of the auto/steel sector a. Cleveland at one time was headquarters of 65% of the top one hundred US companies; Detroit – is self-explanatory.
2. Protectionist trade laws.
3. Cheap and plentiful electric power – first via niagara and then via candu.
1. That advantage has become a hollowed out shell still in decline for manifold reasons – closed shop unions and the commercialization of air conditioning being two of the most significant.
2. Free trade and deregulation (with banks and communications being the last refuges) have pretty much obliterated that.
3. Candu has gone disastrously wrong with probably over 100 billion of tax payers money being lost over the years. The liability of retiring the current facilities is pretty much incalculable.
And the paralysis of not building an economic replacement (read: coal and now with fracking literally liberating NG – NG) due to both reluctance to buy energy sourced from outside the province and green delusions/politics have made energy costs a long term negative.
Going forward Ontario has some very tough decisions to make or room itself to becoming a maple-flavored Detroit:
RTW ASAP
Deregulate the capital and communications markets
Build NG generation capacity and improve transmission links to neighboring markets
Difficult to see the political will to do any of the above.
And rescind many of the regulations that hamstring business.The horse racing industry has been decimated. The lawn care business has been decimated due to the ban on pesticides.
Agriculture has been impacted by the use of wind turbines and over regulation. Restaurants have been bitten by the Nazi smoking regulations
There’s a host of other enterprises that have been negatively impacted by these morons.
After a while all these things add up. Corporations are not stupid. They plan for the long term and Ontario is no longer on their radar.
As an American who heads an Ontario company, I can say this. Canadians are some of the best and brightest the world has to offer. The country is stable politically and is safe and peaceful. Good rule-of-law means investments are safe. That fact however is lost on a number of things namely;
1. Low productivity. Too many holidays and a lesser work ethic compared to US and Mexican labor markets.
2. High cost of…everything especially labor and energy. There is not a single material advantage to being located in Canada.
3. Obnoxious taxes. Completely obnoxious labor laws. Triply obnoxious regulations.
4. Out of control unions.
5. Lack of Highways and standard infrastructure. The Toronto area has almost no highways and the ones that are here are way past capacity.
6. It takes 1 hour for our parts to clear US Customs. It takes forever and a day to clear Canada Customs.
7. No airports? Why is the overcrowded Pearson all you’ve got?
No…no.
You can find real news in the G&M in the comment section from time to time too…
It drives the rest of us crazy too, KPD.
As an Albertan, I am told all the time by the pasty faced liberal twits that the only reason the west is successful is because we have OIL. The fact is that if the liberals got their grubbers into the oilpatch (as Turdo Sr. did during the NEP fiasco) – they would sink it just as they’ve done with the auto industry today.
One is tempted to feel sorry for the people of Morontario…but they deserve all that they are bringing down on themselves.
KPD
As a returning Canadian giving-up on living in the US after 7 years, I concur with everything you said but the US now has Obama, a unified institutional left, one large dumbed-down electorate and debt that only Ontario can compete with (much worse per capita than California).
Well said.
And no one here with the brass ones to fix it. Not bad enough yet I guess.
Gord Tulk said: “Going forward Ontario has some very tough decisions to make or room itself to becoming a maple-flavored Detroit…”
Hamilton IS Detroit, minus a large visible minority population actively engaged in pillaging the corpse. Has been since 1980 at least.
Hopeful signs however. The artists and energetic young people who used to live in Toronto and thrive down on Queen St. have been driven out by the Toronto real-estate bubble and the above mentioned lack of intelligent infrastructure in Hogtown. Many of these kids have landed in Hamilton and are busily bringing back to life the downtown core that got killed thirty years ago. They have a loooong way to go mind you, but at least the bottom was found and now improvement is taking hold.
The other hopeful sign is the NDPee no longer has a strangle hold on Hamilton city council. The death of Stelco and other big smokestack companies decimated the union thugocracy in Steel City, so some slightly less Marxist ward heelers had a chance at the trough. Its still crooked as a dog’s hind leg, and the Mob still gets its share, but of late the city bureaucracy doesn’t actively search for a way to destroy every business that wants to start up or keep going in Hamilton.
That’s some pretty pitiful “hopeful signs”, but compared to Toronto its a new sunrise. Which is a pretty dour outlook on Ontario generally, given that most of the “value” in this province (and in Canadian commerce generally) is tied up in Toronto real-estate. When that bubble pops its going to be felt all the way out West, you better believe it.
KPD;
The fundamental weakness of Canada has always been a ‘top down’ political process. Perhaps the USA has now developed the same disease. When it counted the most in 1776 the Canadian colonies did not throw in with their cousins down south and in my opinion suffered ever since.
The planned economy which Canada has always pursued gave us the Canadian Auto Pact which was to encourage manufacturing in the heartland of Ontario. Countless billions $’s went into this failed strategy and it is not even discussed in a serious way. The country’s mindset is still focused on two provinces, Ontario and Quebec, which still have the colonial mindset of stripping wealth from the rest of the country to support poor governance. On reflection probably not that different than the USA eastern seaboard.
Canada’s biggest challenge since WW II is the current international conspiracy to prevent development of the Fort McMurray oilsands. I do not consider Quebec separation in the same league as this issue. Canada has made its way in the world by exporting resources from the time the first Hudson’s Bay trapper took a pelt. Today when Canada has the capacity to export 5 – 6 mbpd of oil the country is allowing a paralysis to envelope the investment required. Canada today is still a colony without the sophistication to fight back. Corrupt politicans in the USA and Canada are aiding OPEC led by Saudi Arabia in this containment exercise.
A oil rich Canada threatens the status quo in the ME, the dependence of Canada on the USA market and perhaps more important the Artic. A rich Canada capable of funding Artic sovereignty threatens the USA and Russia. Oddly enough the only ally in this scenario for Canada is probably China.
I find your explanation to be spot on. Very well done.
One is tempted to feel sorry for the people of Morontario…but they deserve all that they are bringing down on themselves.
There are literally millions of free market conservatives in Ontario.
The union hubs of Ottawa, London, Toronto, tip the balance on most Provincial votes.
It’s easy to lump everyone in a province as the problem. When I hear westerners smugly belittle their brethren fighting the fight in Ontario, I also see the same leftist dilemma occurring in Calgary, Edmonton etc.
Got any practical suggestions?
CT
If you look China does not respect our sovereignty of the Arctic either, it’s not in it’s interests to do so. The oil sands have a lot of technical and environmental issue to obtain less than desirable quality oil. It will be hard to compete with easier obtained and better quality oil that is on the market. Our LNG is likely a better option for now and for much less risk. We don’t currently have the capacity to handle even a moderate sized oil spill on this coast. I also believe that despite the cost, building a refinery top process the oil in the Dawson Creek area will likely removed some of the environmental concerns and make it more economically acceptable to voters.
Colin;
I highly doubt crude importers have much interest in buying refined product from Canada. Review how press baron Black’s Prince Rupert refinery proposal is not receiving any interest. The logistics of piping multiple products through a line with the associated storage requirement defeats the idea. Combine that with importer’s own national security concerns. Being able to refine their own imports allows them to source from multiple locations around the world.
I agree that if push came to shove that China would serve its own interest. My point was based on Artic territorial claims which overlap both the USA and Russia. China has no such claims. Russia wants to dominate all new sources of energy and the USA has become a much less reliable ally in recent years. A very sad state when the USA prefers to buy their energy from ME despots and yes even Hugo’s successors in Venezula.
Practical? I am not sure.
What if we trade the USA; Alaska for those parts of Canada south of the 49th parallel ?
This would change the political landscape in Canada beautifully and consolidate US and Canadian coastal security problem as well.
Doowleb;
I do not consider it Western smugness when comments such as I made are leveled. It has not made any difference which side of the spectrum that eastern politicans have come from in the treatment of the west. Premier Davis ring any bells. Perhaps defeatism is a more appropriate lament. One might argue that the majority should rule but that doesn’t make it feel any better.
Yes you are right that progressives flourish in the west. Amazing how they are drawn to the cash isn’t it. In BC we have seen major industry like forestry die as idiots like Suzsuki spout their jibberish.
Probably the most disturbing part of the high power costs in Onterrible is this isn’t even on the Opposition’s radar.
I see no plan to fix the Ont. energy crisis from the PCs, hell, I haven’t even seen a campaign platform from Hudak outside of raging against Liberal mismanagement and offering no alternative. – no one but the private sector is complaining about it and they are getting sick of being ignored and just packing up.