We Are Being

[CHIMO]

Shafted.

Canada should pursue 'Buy Canadian' strategy: Layton
Canada should adopt a "Buy Canadian" strategy in response to the "Buy American" clause included in the proposed U.S. stimulus package, NDP Leader Jack Layton urged Tuesday.

During question period in the House of Commons, Layton said that there's a "golden opportunity" to boost slumping domestic sales with a "perfectly legal and appropriately designed 'Buy Canadian' strategy."

"The United States has had a 'Buy American' act for 76 years," Layton said. "It's perfectly legal under the World Trade Organization, and, in fact, under NAFTA, governments are allowed to buy at home in order to use taxpayers' money to create jobs for workers and to support communities and their industries.

"Mexico, China, Japan, South Korea, they all have national procurement policies, and it would be a good idea for Canada. Can the prime minister tell us what's wrong with a 'Buy Canadian' policy as permitted under continental and global trade rules?"

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/02/03/layton-trade.html

http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/asithappens/20090205-aih-2.wmv
Starts at 0:47 into the part.

I am getting fed up.

[daleo]

1. The issue is full of hypocrisy

For example, we have been told that the great thing about the Conservatives' home renovation part of the stimulus package is that there will be little "leakage" - i.e. most of the money will, in essence, be spent on a "Buy Canadian" program. Yet, we hear the very same government spout platitudes about the horrors of American protectionism.

Basically, this shows the general incoherence of economic dogma when it comes to the notion of trade.