July
12
2011
First, many thanks to all of you who wrote or phoned about the two CBC Ideas programs. The response has been wonderful and I am most grateful, especially grateful to Kathleen Flaherty and company who put so much time and effort into producing the shows. They did a truly splendid job.
Many of you have been in touch to say they missed the broadcasts. Here’s how you can get them. Go to http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes. You should have no difficulty getting both shows. Do, by all means, pass along this link to others.
Thanks. Mel
April
26
2011
Sorry that I have not been doing my blog for a few weeks. I have just signed a new contract with McClelland & Stewart to do another book about Canada, this one scheduled for next year. The tentative title is Five Things Canadians Must Do To Save Our Country. If, God forbid, Harper wins a majority government, I will try very hard to get it out earlier.
I’m sure you know the superb CBC radio show Ideas, which comes out on CBC am evenings, Monday to Friday inclusive, right after the 9pm news. On June 22nd and June 23rd they will air two shows about me which I hope you will have a chance to listen to. Included will be interviews with Peter C. Newman, Duncan Cameron. Janine Brodie and many other well-known Canadians. I think the two shows will probably be quite controversial. The National Post, Conrad Black, The Fraser Institute etc.etc will likely have a fit when they hear them. The CBC producer Kathleen Flaherty is very good so I suspect the two shows will be also.
Also, I have just come across a half-hour video that I did last year with Alan Gregg. It’s perhaps the best I’ve done. You can see it here: http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?videoid?24658105001
Please tell others about the two IDEAS shows.
March
31
2011
I constantly find it amazing how our press lets Harper et al get away with dishonest information without contradiction. Jim Stanford gave a few examples recently regarding Harper’s claim about how remarkably well Canada has performed during the recession.
For example, contrary to what Harper, Flaherty and the columnists at the Post have been telling us, Canada was a terrible 13th in GDP growth in 2010 and 18th in unemployment the same year. In other key economic measures, according to the IMF we ranked 61st and in another 25th. Does Ignatieff not have his own research people? If so, why does he allow Harper to get away with his economic garbage.
* * * * *
Milton Friedman famously said that “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” About half of Canada’s business elite agree. But in many countries, far fewer agree. For example: France, Russia,, Argentina, Netherlands, Britain, Ireland, China, Brazil, Germany Italy and Spain. The rate in Italy and Spain is about half the rate for Canada.
Strange, observing the Chamber, the Conference Board and the CCCE, I would have thought the Canadian rate was close to 100%.
* * * * *
In Sweden, over 80% of two year-olds attend preschool. Please check out my blog at www.melhurtig.ca.
* * * * *
Further to my first paragraph above, here’s Paul Krugman in the Times on March 10th:
Like anyone who writes regularly about what passes for economic and fiscal debate in American politics, I’ve developed a strong tolerance for nonsense. After all, if I got upset every time powerful people were illogical and/or dishonest, I’d spend every waking hour in a state of raging despair. Yet, there are still moments when I find myself saying “They can’t really think the rest of us are that stupid.”
Well, yes. Exactly. Either they really do think so, or these guys in the media and from big business and from parliament are themselves so really stupid. Either way, God knows we need more people like Krugman.
What a sad loss Jim Travers has been.
March
29
2011
A great letter in the Globe from Ken Dunham of Ottawa who quotes a spokesman from the Prime Minister’s Office as saying that “Our Government strengthened Canadian laws with the toughest anti-corruption legislation.” Would this include the disbarred lawyer who was sentenced to 18 months for theft who had been working in the PMO?
* * * * *
Look at what we’re missing out! Utah has designated the Browning .45 pistol as the official state firearm. Now wait for the other 49 U.S. states to follow suit. Gross, in the extreme.
* * * * *
The Economist tells us that China is now building almost as many nuclear power plants as the rest of the world combined, and India too has big plans. Both countries are, of course, prone to earthquakes.
How come almost no one has mentioned how incredibly stupid it was for the Japanese, with so very many huge earthquakes, to build nuclear plants on the edge of the sea where Tsunamis are guaranteed to come?
* * * * *
In 2009; all the following countries had a higher rate of government spending as a % of GDP than Canada: Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. Canada was at 43.8%. The top OECD countries averaged 47.7%.
Looking at government spending per person the same year, all the following were higher than Canada: Netherlands, Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, United States and Italy.
* * * * *
Paul Krugman says that in the U.S, unemployed workers, “The Forgotten Millions,” have been abandoned. That’s one sixth of all American workers. There are now 5 times as many unemployed workers as there are job openings. “The U.S. is well on the way to creating a permanent underclass of the jobless and Washington doesn’t care.”
* * * * *
All these countries have far more women as a percentage in their main national legislatures than Canada, some more than twice as many: Rwanda, Sweden, South Africa, Argentina, Germany, Mexico, Iraq, and the UAE. China is just about the same as we are, just over 20%. The U.S. is just about 18%
* * * * *
Good for Ignatieff, recognizing that only one Canadian child under the age of five has access to a certified child care space.
Child Care, Corruption, Guns, Nuclear Power, Social Spending, US Deficit/Economy, Unemployment, Women in Politics | 
Comments Off March
20
2011
Of course one of the reasons we rushed into an untendered agreement to buy the F-35 jets is because we need them pronto. But now we learn the earliest our planes are likely to be ready will be 2016, in the unlikely event everything goes according to plan. Who wants to bet that we wrote in late-delivery penalties?
* * * * *
As happens every year this time of the year, our press tells us about the rise in our household net worth. One problem is that the number is quite unrealistic. It would be O.K. if all you needed to do is take GDP and divide it by the number of households. But it’s not O.K. when our billionaires are raking in more and more and more big bucks every year while everyone else, comparatively, is falling behind. The household net worth figures are meaningless.
* * * * *
In a typical dumb Globe editorial, they ask how come Canadians don’t rank Americans higher in esteem? “This relative indifference to the U.S should be questioned. ” Huh? Apparently the editorial writer has never heard of Nixon, George W., Rumsfeld, Cheney, Pallin, Iraq, water-boarding, insane gun laws, Vietnam, etc. etc. etc.
Good grief!
* * * * *
In the past I have frequently written about how poorly we’ve done when we compare our R&D as a % of GDP to that of other countries. But, I usually included university and government R&D which tended to rank us higher.
Now we have a more meaningful comparison, business expenditures on R&D as a percentage of GDP. So, while Israel,Sweden and Finland all head the 30 OECD, by far, good old Canadian business is down in 21st place, just barely ahead of Ireland. The Canadian businessmen who left us in this position are the same guys who constantly bellyache about our poor competitive record, our poor comparative productivity, etc., meanwhile demanding even lower corporative taxes while we already have some of the most generous R&D tax incentives in the world.
March
8
2011
So, as many of us suspected, much of the flow from the proposed new Enbridge pipeline will be going down the West Coast to the U.S., not all of it to Asia as had previously been suggested. So much then for the lack of danger to the Pacific West Coast and all the more reason for even greater distrust for Gateway and Enbridge.
* * * * *
The Salvation Army’s report about poverty in Canada, The Dignity Project: Debunking the Myths about Poverty in Canada reveals that many Canadians still subscribe to the belief that people are poor because they really don’t want to find a job, they have a poor work ethic, lower moral values or they are lazy. They also believe that those who are poor in Canada “still have it pretty good” and aren’t really “truly poor”.
http://issuu.com/salvationarmy/docs/thediginityproject_report_mar2011_rgb
* * * * *
The U.S. in now far more dependent on oil from Canada than from any other country in the world (just under 24% of all imports, Mexico is second at some 14%, and Saudi Arabia supplies only 12.5%.
Libya, by the way, produces only 1.6% of all oil. Kinda makes you wonder then why gasoline prices have skyrocketed! Could it just be the nasty majors doing their thing yet once again, and our politicians doing theirs yet once again as well? What do you think?
* * * * *
Those of you who are familiar with my work will know that for many years I have been writing about foreign firms in Canada employing “transfer pricing” to transfer profits out of Canada to avoid paying taxes in this country. Of course, it’s YOU who has to make up the difference. There have been many examples of this crookedness in recent years, but the biggest of all has only recently been reported with Daimler Benz (Mercedes) and Chrysler charged with evading taxes to the tune of a whopping $1.5 billion. Yes, that’s BILLION.
Remember the big Ontario and federal government bailouts of this bunch of crooks?
An interview by Claudia Cattaneo with Leo de Bever, the head of the $70 billion Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund: “Would it be different if it were all Canadian-owned? My simple point is that when you lose ownership,you lose control”.
Bravo. Isn’t that what Mel Hurtig has been saying for the last 40 years?
There are other good points in this March 5th National Post interview Somebody should hit Jack Mintz over the head with a copy. A petrified copy. I’ll ask Jillian to post a link.
http://www.nationalpost.com/Canada+needs+ownership+local+firms/4386791/story.html
* * * * *
In The Truth About Canada I wrote about the ridiculous and costly trade deficit in automobiles Canada has with many other countries, going on now for decades. Diane Francis updates some of my numbers e.g. our trade deficit with South Korea has increased every year since 1997, while our auto exports to South Korea have dropped by 92%.
And some brilliant civil servants in Ottawa are pushing a free trade deal with South Korea. Are they nuts, or just plain stupid?
* * * * *
The latest poll on the subject shows 44% of Canadians are uncomfortable about the idea of a Stephen Harper government winning a majority government. This being the case, wouldn’t you think that the Liberals and NDP would be doing much better in the polls? People have never trusted Harper,and for good reason. Too bad the opposition hasn’t given Canadians much to support.
* * * * *
There goes the Globe and Mail again. This right-wing paper has never seen a foreign takeover that it doesn’t love. Now (yet once again!) it wants us to sell off our telecommunications industry. You know, television, radio, etc. and etc. “this would give Canadians more certainty.” Right! Like more Fox News, more Rush Limbaugh, more Beck, more military propaganda, more dumb sitcoms and more “reality” shows. Can’t you hardly wait?
I know the guy who writes most of these editorials (like the ones wanting us to sell our Potash companies). Too bad the powers that be at the Globe know so little about economics and our country.
February
24
2011
Among the hundreds of columns, editorial and rants re: the proposed stock exchange merger, I think Eric Reguly’s February 17th Globe column was by far the best. I’ve asked Jillian to attach it.
“Tampering with an exchange that is perfectly suited to Canada’s needs could bring no benefit at all to this country. “ And it could very well bring major downsides.
* * * * *
Say, I have an idea. Let’s play reciprocity. Let’s charge the Americans $5.50 every time we want to visit the US. This is to compensate for the horrible, violent gun laden society we would have to face every time we cross the border. They won’t want to pay it? Watch what will happen when American hotels, restaurants, taxis, etc. start missing their guaranteed revenue from Canadians?
Don’t you think it would be much better if the ninety million dollars benefitted Canada and Canadians instead of the US Department of Homeland Security?
* * * * *
Of interest is that the U.S. House of Representatives just voted down a proposal to fund backup proposals for an alternate new engine for the F35 intended for insurance “against possible defects that might ground the fleet.”
As well, “It is possible that the Pentagon and several allied nations will not end up buying as many of the planes as they expected.”
So says the New York Times. Strange, did not see anything about this in Canadian papers!!!!! Ground the fleet? Which nations?
Curiouser and curiouser! Hmmm!
February
16
2011
If Donald Rumsfeld were to get a U.S. “Defender of the Constitution Award”, who do you think might be chosen to give the evil man the award?
Well, it’s none other than his old buddy Dick Cheney. See Maureen Dowd’s excellent December 13th New York Times column for details. Jillian will post the attachment. Read all about how hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children plus hundreds of thousands of troops were slaughtered thanks to the colossal American stupidity of Rumsfeld and Cheney and the ignorant George W. Bush.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/opinion/13dowd.html?ref=maureendowd
All three should be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Read the Dowd column and see if you agree.
* * * * *
Many thanks to Jeffrey Simpson for telling us about the important new Focus Canada Environics poll. The results are startling to say the least. I’ve seen many polls of a similar nature, but none as overwhelming as these results.
Ninety percent of Canadians say we have a better quality of life than Americans. Only 4% of Canadians disagree. However, 88% think the gap between rich and poor in Canada has widened in the past decade, and 55% say that the tax system here is unfair to ordinary Canadians. Contrary to the nonsense in the National Post, a strong majority say they do not believe that most Canadians are becoming more Conservative.
So much for all our pro-American integrationists (Mintz, D’Aquino, Gotlieb, Corcoran, Murphy etc). As I’ve pointed out so often in the past, all these guys are hopelessly out of touch with the vast majority of Canadians.
February
15
2011
Expect those First Nations that are now opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline which proposes to export as much oil as we possibly can to China, as quickly as we can, to be bribed by big dollars from the oil companies regardless of the H20 emissions and the other important environmental considerations?
Think these proposals to influence the First Nations will come from Canada? If so, you are dreaming. Big oil will call the shots and on any list Canadian concerns are right at the very bottom. Shipping oil on the Canadian Pacific coast a problem? Forget it.
* * * * *
Again, where is the Liberal research department? There’s lots of good, reliable evidence to counter the junk from the Harper government and their friends at the University of Calgary, and the National Post, re the supposed big benefits from even more corporation tax cuts. But the Liberal protests hardly match the excellent stuff from economist Jim Stanford and others. Are the Liberals just lazy or dumb or really just another bunch of myopic Conservatives? Cutting corporate taxes from 21% down to 15%, after so many previous cuts, is just plain irresponsible, especially when the federal deficit is so high and when corporate profits are so good.
* * * * *
Check out this line from the Globe writing about the proposed “perimeter”. “There is nothing sinister about attempts to harmonize regulations.” “There is little or no basis for alarm.” Huh?
One must wonder where the Globe finds such obtuse editorial writers. There must be some well-stocked cave near Toronto.
February
11
2011
I find it difficult to understand why the Liberals, among many others, let the likes of Jack Mintz,, The National Post, and the other far-right wing sell-outs, get away with their persistent misleading propaganda about how Canadian Direct Investment Abroad is so much greater than foreign direct investment in Canada. I doubt that there is anyone in Ignatieff’s caucus who understands why that stuff is so very misleading. And so harmful.
Who is it that invests Canadian money outside the country? Can you guess?
Well, of course, it’s mostly our good old patriotic Canadian banks and our “Canadian” energy and mining companies.
Over half of all Canadian Direct Investment Abroad is by your big, friendly Canadian banks and other financial institutions (some $300 billion!) who regularly promote, finance and encourage greater foreign ownership in this country. They pour billions of dollars out of the country to buy banks and trust companies in other countries around the world while sending billions more to foreign tax havens to avoid paying taxes in Canada. These are the same people who stress that we need more foreign capital in this country, so how can you possibly complain about foreign takeovers?
Bizarre in the extreme.
Where are the research staff of the Liberals and the Canadian newspapers?
And, we are so short of investment dollars in Canada that some $270 billion in our trusted pension funds is now invested in foreign holdings!
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Who is dumb? Why our federal government of course for allowing this stuff to continue to grow every year while we sell-off more and more of the ownership and control of our country.
* * * * *
While we’re on the subject of dumb, how about the stock market takeovers being sold to Canadians as mergers.
(In Canada always be suspicious when you hear or see the word merger).
Some merger when, like it or not, over half the company Is owned and controlled abroad. Some great deal when, like it or not, the number of Canadians on the board can be chopped after 4 years. And how great is it when the biggest shareholder of the new company is some middle-east pooh-bah from the same part of the world that kicked our Canadian military out of the country.
I have asked Jillian to post a link to the excellent Ottawa Citizen (reprinted in the Vancouver Sun) editorial “No deal on merger of TMX/LSE”) that appeared in the papers this week.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/deal+merger/4264006/story.html
What a contrast to the blind stuff from the Globe. It’s amazing that the Globe can be both an excellent newspaper (Saturdays) and such a hopelessly stuck ideological right-wing,conduit for people who don’t seem to give a damn about our country. Do read the editorial mentioned above.
Let’s see how Ontario, Quebec and Alberta nix this very harmful abandonment of Canadian control. Harper probably won’t.
On the heels of the great victory on potash, let’s create a chorus of Canadians who have had enough of these takeovers. Call your local MPs and write letters to local and national newspapers.
And, remember Egypt. When people act in concert, their power is unsurpassed. It’s time for all of us take a collective stand on issues like foreign takeovers and save our country.
