Still Think FREE Trade is a good idea????

They were ubiquitous on the roads of Southern Ontario growing up ... Champion Road Graders, manufactured in Goderich Ontario were standard fare for almost every heavy equipment operation in Ontario. Afterall, in buying and using a Champion Grader, you were helping the economy of a local community that needed the economic impact that a major equipment manufacturer represented.

This was in an era when almost EVERY city and town in Southern Ontario had furniture manufacturing plants - known in our day as FACTORIES !!! Stratford, where I grew up had no less than five MAJOR factories churning out high quality furniture for the world ... and the Auto Pact kept not only car assembly plants, but dozens and dozens of parts manufacturing plants operating across Southern Ontario too !!! Stratford had more parts plants than I can shake a stick at ...

Today though, I read the discouraging news that the former Champion Road Grader manunfacturing plant in Goderich Ontario is following the Free Trade Lead of dozens of other plants and factories before it, and heading south ...

Now owned by Volvo, a large multi-national conglomerate, the Champion plant is simply another cog in the wheel of internation trade ... trade that seems to keep chewing up Canadian plants and spitting the jobs elsewhere ...

From Canoe.ca: Volvo shuts down road grader operation in Goderich, Ont.

From CBC.CA: Volvo to cut 500 jobs in Ontario plant

I remember well the debates over Free Trade back in the 80's when those in the Ontario Manufacturing sector warned that we would witness massive job losses as the plants and factories headed south ...

"Not to worry," counselled then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, a fierce advocate for Free Trade, "Canadian jobs are secure." He and his conservative hordes assured us that our nation would remain competative, and the loss of things like the Auto Pact, that assured Canadian assembly and Canadian Content of vehicles sold in Canada would not adversely affect either the Canadian economy, or the location of good paying jobs ...

Hmmmm ... looking back I can't help but wonder if Mulroney really knew what he was talking about, of was he too enamoured with his duet with Ronnie, to care a whit about the average Canadian at all ...

Methinks Brian has lived up to the moniker - "Lying Brian"

As 500 more jobs are lost to the Ontario economy, and we seemed poised to put a Conservative Government BACK in Ottawa, I can't help but wonder ... who is going to buy all these lovely good manufactured elsewhere ??? If the average Canadian isn't working how can they buy ANYTHING????

And at this point unemployment and the extinction of the Middle Class seems inevitable as plant after plant after plant closes ... and still we think about re-electing the Conservatives ... I guess the lesson of the 80's remains lost on the average Canadian ... The Conservatives aren't really interested in the average Canadian, just in preserving the profitability of business, and look what THAT got the United States !!!

Be afraid fellow Canadians - be very very very afraid !!!