Do you have tons of Chinese imports in Canada?

[treestar]

Toys,etc., like we have in the U.S.?

[Spazito]

1. Oh yeah! We have a multitude of Walmarts here as well...

it really is no different here than in the U.S. re China imports.

[HeresyLives]

2. It's not just Walmart, Chinese goods are everywhere,

in graduated levels of quality.

Dollar stores and Walmart just have the cheapest stuff.

Computer parts, artwork, technical equipment are high end.

[Spazito]

3. I realize that but Walmart is the 'mother of outlets' for pushing crap...

from China ergo my reference. I did point out we are no different than the U.S. when it comes to imports from China.

[HeresyLives]

4. Well the stores are always crowded so there's a market

for all of it. :)

[Spazito]

5. Yep, there sure is....

unfortunately.

[HeresyLives]

6. I don't see it as unfortunate.

Canada was founded on trade, and we've been doing it ever since.

We have products from all over the world here.

[Spazito]

8. Yes but, it used to be goods, etc, that could not be produced here...

that is no longer the case. We should be importing the raw material, if we do not have it, and then exporting the finished product not the other way around. Cheap is not always the best way to go, case in point the shit Walmart, etc, sells.

I work hard to purchase Canadian-made products but, thanks to the race to the bottom ie who can do 'it' the cheapest, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to do.

You might be happy with that, I am not.

[HeresyLives]

9. They can't be now, so we import em.

Just as we export, and it works out well for everyone.

[treestar]

10. And the job outsourcing to China/India, too?

[Spazito]

11. Here is a good article on outsourcing in Canada...

Outsourcing – often known as contracting out – has become a daily reality in the business plans of most companies. Simply put, outsourcing involves the transfer of work that used to be done in-house to an outside third-party. To call it a growth industry would be something of an understatement: Growth estimates of 30 per cent per year are not uncommon. One estimate puts the current value of outsourced goods and services around the world at a whopping $6 trillion US a year.

Mention “outsourcing” and many people will think of work that’s been shifted to low-labour-cost countries such as India or China. But outsourcing doesn’t necessarily imply a move overseas, which is called “offshoring.” Outsourced work is sometimes done by another company in the same country – sometimes in the same block.

Outsourcing is also one of those buzzwords that attracts a crowd … and everyone seems to have an opinion on the subject. The comments generally fall into two main camps. One side calls outsourcing little more than a thinly-veiled attempt to contract out good-paying jobs to cheaper – usually non-union – workplaces that may be in the developing world. The other side calls it a necessary business strategy that cuts costs and ensures competitiveness and better quality in an increasingly globalized marketplace.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/economy/outsourcing.html

We both outsource and off-shore jobs in Canada.

[HeresyLives]

12. And we always have.

[Spazito]

13. LOL, this really is a bugaboo with you, isn't it...

You do know, I am sure, that outsourcing and off-shoring has increased exponentially in recent years which is why it has now become a concern for some and while generating a defense of the practice from others.

[HeresyLives]

14. Er, no, it's just reality.

Of COURSE it's increased in recent years. The Berlin Wall fell, the world opened up and everyone began globalizing with a vengence.

Bound to happen eventually.

[glinda]

15. Easiest way to deal with that is quit buying plastics and petroleum products.

[HeresyLives]

16. What part of

'Computer parts, artwork, technical equipment are high end.' are plastic or petroleum?

[glinda]

18. Many things are made of plastics. Just saying that less plastic=less China.

[HeresyLives]

19. Plastics are made everywhere, including here.

And nobody is about to ban it. It's recyclable.

[sixstrings75]

7. Princess Auto. Enough Said. N/T.

[CHIMO]

17. Yep

The corporations rule.

Only difference now is that the Conservatives are beholden to the new empire.

[treestar]

20. Another question: what do Canucks think of NAFTA?

It is the big devil on GD; cause of every bad thing, but Canada is in on it, too.

[HeresyLives]

21. We voted for it.

The party that proposed it got the biggest majority in history, at that time.

People on GD are unaware of the millions of jobs they'd lose in exports, if NAFTA disappeared.

[treestar]

24. There are a lot of DUers

Who see things as a one-way, zero sum game.

They only see the job market for them, that's it. But not the market their employer needs to keep their job going.

[HeresyLives]

25. Yeah that's true.

Canadian as well as American DUers.

Here I call it 'back porch syndrome'...when your world is only as big as what you can see from your back porch.

[CHIMO]

22. Funny Question

What do US Americans think about Buy America?

Do US Americans think they are an Empire?

I don't know what canucks think about NAFTA. But the corporations think it's great.

[Spazito]

23. I am against NAFTA and for a FAIR trade agreement...

Trade will always occur between the countries in North America and having an agreement regarding such trade is fine. NAFTA as it is currently written is for the corporations and against the public, imo. A FAIR trade agreement would have environment and labour clauses in it and not as unenforcable side add-ons to begin with.

Chapter 11 of NAFTA needs to go, imo. Here is only one example of what Chapter 11 allows:

U.S. company challenges Quebec pesticide ban

"Chapter 11 allows investors from one NAFTA country to sue the government of another NAFTA country for actions they believe are hurting them or their investments.

Chapter 11 also circumvents local courts and puts the case in front of an international tribunal."

http://www.thestar.com/article/522707

[ConcernedCanuk]

26. Yup - so what?

.
.
.

I remember thinking as I worked through my apprenticeship to become an Auto and Truck mechanic in the early '70's how unbalanced it was that someone unskilled could work in a factory and make 3 times my salary.

Took me 5 years to get my qualifications, and I still did not make as much as a laborer in a factory, which normally performed a job that 1/2 hour of instruction would suffice.

I am not surprised or shocked that these menial jobs got outsourced, as our unions and own federal and provincial legislation "protected" their high rates of pay for basically skills that equal raking leaves or cutting grass.

WE ASKED FOR IT imo

[HeresyLives]

27. I'll agree with that for sure.