The "3:00 AM" ad -- the stupid commercial should have had "Bill Clinton" answering the phone since it would be Bill -- not Mrs. Clinton -- who would be in charge of a 3rd Clinton administration. Another great reason to support Senator Obama!
The "3:00 AM" ad -- the stupid commercial should have had "Bill Clinton" answering the phone since it would be Bill -- not Mrs. Clinton -- who would be in charge of a 3rd Clinton administration. Another great reason to support Senator Obama!
All the FEAR MONGERING is EXACTLY what Billary and Bush republicans want to keep spreading around, because people who are ignorant, and don't actually THINK for themselves will be gullible enough to fall for it!
She threw a temper tamtrum and complained that Obama was using republican SCARE tactics!
Sad isn't it, that Hillary stomps her feet and complains "shame on you, Barack Obama" at the same time she had the balls to "leak" that Somoli pic and release her "3 am" commercial?
The same old scaring people, to get what you want, like when we were all told to stock up on plastic and duct tape in case of a gas attack!? (Hate to bring it up, but here it is: "the only thing we have to fear is fear, itself!" Please don't be SO GULLIBLE!!
Wake up people!
Don't be led by the same idiotic fear mongering that Bush followers are!
I just hope that people would use their own brains to think for themselves!
I am very struck by Barack Obama and the direction he wants to take this GREAT country of ours. And Lord knows we need change very, very badly or we will become a second rate nation. Therefore, I am concerned that unless Barack find a way to difuse the negatives now being spouted by the Clinton's and their machine, that Barack will LOSE and that will be very sad for the US. The perception now is that Barack Obama is becoming too timid, and has become especially so in the recent debates I saw on TV. Hilary now seems to be coming up with the key lines which are moving people away from Barack and back to her. Barack, you and your advisors need to find a way to counter-attack the Clinton's and their machine. Also lately, you are NOT coming across as a fighter and one who WANT THE PRESIDENCY.. Rather as one who is willing to go with the flow and if you come in second would be willing to run with Hillary Clinton as her Vice President.. Phoohey on that idea or thought... This is your time and you need to GO GET IT AND MAKE IT HAPPEN.
DO YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGHT?
I have been a democrat ever since coming to this country.. BUT if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, I am afraid that although I don't want to, I will vote for John McCain. Which would be a very sad day in hell. Our country needs new leadership and you and you advisors have got to find the winning formula to win most if NOT all of the remaining states and their delegates. Especially Pennsylvania.
You have got to get very specific and be tough. You don't have to be negative, but you must be tough and come across as a figter.. and that you want it. After you swept through Maryland etc...Political news experts like David Gergen, first raised the concern that Hillary Clinton, needed to become a fighter.. and YES, looks like she and her people listened and that is what she is now pushing and winning on. You need now to step up and also let the world know that you are a fighter for all the people and will fight for them as well and will also need the peoples help as you have been saying...
You are NOT coming across as a fighter We are all in this together.
You also need to focus on the economy.. in very, very specific detail.. "It's the Economy Stupid" + Healthcare + the War.
I would say I am well eductaed, with an Electrical Engineering Degree and two MBAs and excellent job experience in the telecom industry. Yet because of globalization and shifting jobs overseas, my job was recently eliminated. This is at a time when the economy is definitely in recession. What the so called economic pundits do not realize is that a lot of the well educated and recently employed, workers are NOT as yet drawing unemployment benefits, because our severance packages are just now going into effect. Especially those like me who have been working for 20 plus years and now find ourselves in structurly defective industries like telecom. So, the unemployment figures are much, much higher than the pudnits on TV believe and it's going to be higher over the next 3 to 6 months.
Plus, jobs now going overseas, is NOT just about manufacturing jobs moving to lower cost labor regions.. what's happening is that as a result of more than 50% of the profits of major US corporations coming from outside of the US, the control, decision of what products are designed, made and by who, is also coming from outside the US. One example is Alcatel-Lucent. Lucent which use to be a US company,, now merged with Alcatel to become Alcatel-Lucent, is NOW a French company and the decisions on people, product etc.. are now dictated to the ex-Lucent US employees by the French. So, the US is subtly losing our own people and innovation in this space. So, it's NOT just the shift in manufacturing that is taking place and it's surely going to impact the US in the coming years. I am for business, but we need to find a way to make sure the US is NOT taken advantage off going forward.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to communicate with you and your Team. Hopefully, they will see my comments.
Bottom Line: 1. You need to get tougher but in a very positive way. 2. You need to come across as a fighter and show that YOU passionately want to be President of the US and not want to be President of the US, because advisors believe you can be president.. You have to want it. 3. Enough of being Mr. Nice Guy with Hillary Clinton during any future debates.. You don't have to do that, yet you can be cordial.. and be yourself. 4. You need to address the economy with a detail plan.. but you also need to keep in mind that in the next 3 months, the economic indicators could change upward, so you need to really also have a plan which will be geared toward a balance budget and surplus over the next 4 to 5 years; plus your plan for job growth and concreate plans for job and economic growth here in the US.
First Family, you are wonderful. Don't ever entertain the thought of second fiddle to anyone especially to Hillary Clinton. Her camp is in a disarray. Her attack on you is a direct correlation of her losing position. Her tears in New Hampshire were tears of desperation. She has vast experience in manipulation and distortion of the truth. If the Democratic nomination is stolen from you I will never vote for Hillary Clinton. I am sicken when someone say they would be equally supportive of either candidate. Without vision, man perishes. Keep the faith Obama and my support to you only.
First Family, you are wonderful. Don't ever entertain the thought of second fiddle to anyone especially to Hillary Clinton. Her camp is in a disarray. Her attack on you is a direct correlation of her losing position. Her tears in New Hampshire were tears of desperation. She has vast experience in manipulation and distortion of the truth. If the Democratic nomination is stolen from you I will never vote for Hillary Clinton. I am sicken when someone say they would be equally supportive of either candidate. Without vision, man perishes. Keep the faith Obama and my support to you only.
THIS ARTICLE WAS FAXED TO TODAY
TO cnn
tO hILLIARY CLINTON
The job losses are due to greedy American corporations sending jobs to China not Canada.
We are not a U.S banana republic.
Your comments and that of Hilliary clinton are offensive and yes we want to renegotiate Nafta.
You are buying or oil below market prices and have control of our water.
DO YOU WANT CANADA TO BECOME A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY.
IDIOT GREEDY AMERICAN CORPORATIONS.
LYING OPPORTUNITIST POLITICANS..
YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF LIARS AN
Web-exclusive comment
NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed
MURRAY DOBBIN
Special to Globe and Mail Update
March 5, 2008 at 7:10 PM EST
In the aftermath of Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's threats to "renegotiate" NAFTA — or pull out — the usual suspects have been activated to tell the world how wonderful the deal has been for Canada and the United States.
There is no doubt that the sector that devised the scheme in the first place and sold it to politicians have benefited greatly from this investors' rights agreement and its predecessor. The continent's largest corporations have greatly reduced regulatory impediments to their profits, radically lowered labour costs, gutted Canada's sovereign capacity to pass new environmental legislation and, in terms of investment restrictions, virtually erased the borders.
All of those corporate benefits, however, have been extremely bad for other aspects of Canada and for ordinary Canadians.
But first, let's dispose of a myth about free trade — the notion that it was responsible for massive increases in trade between the U.S. and Canada. According to an Industry Canada study, 91 per cent of the increase in trade in the 1990s was due to the cheap Canadian dollar and the sustained economic boom in the U.S. Now that our dollar is at par or higher, our manufacturing exports are plummeting.
Related Articles
Recent
Globe editorial: To write about crime is also to act
Ontario court orders newspaper to hand over sensitive documents
National Post's anonymous package could be used to identify source
But even if NAFTA were responsible for increased trade, Canadian workers have paid a huge price. Throughout the 1990s, federal governments trumpeted the need to be "competitive" under NAFTA as an excuse to implement some of the most Draconian rollbacks of Canadian social programs ever undertaken. In the name of "labour flexibility," Paul Martin implemented drastic changes to EI eligibility, and repealed the Canada Assistance Plan, freeing the provinces to gut their welfare programs. His extreme low-inflation policy deliberately kept unemployment at high levels (8 per cent to 9 per cent) for most of the 1990s.
That meant that, throughout the decade, workers' real wages actually declined. They still have not caught up to 1981 levels. And the highly paid 220,000 industrial jobs lost as a result of NAFTA are gone forever, replaced by lower-paid jobs.
NAFTA was supposed to unleash a flood of foreign investment — boosting our industrial capacity and productivity. Instead, since the first trade agreement was signed, more than 95 per cent of direct foreign investment has been used to buy up Canadian companies. Head offices and research and development money has headed south, and Canada has seen a steady decline in manufactured goods as a percentage of its GDP for the past 10 years.
Our productivity has fallen behind that of the U.S. in virtually every year since the FTA came into effect in 1989.
The environment has also suffered almost continuously since the deals were signed — and this is according to the Commission for Environmental Co-operation, the NAFTA agency responsible for monitoring the impact of the new regime. The North American Mosaic: The State of the Environment Report, released in 2001, declared that "North Americans are faced with the paradox that many activities on which the North American economy is based impoverish the environment on which our well-being ultimately depends."
It might also have mentioned that Canada has not passed a major new environmental protection law since NAFTA came into effect — at least not successfully. In two instances where it did try, NAFTA's investment chapter forced it to back off. In the Ethyl Corp. case, Canada tried to ban a gasoline additive, MMT, that damaged cars' catalytic converters (not to mention our health). The company sued under NAFTA and Canada withdrew the law. The resulting chill effect means we have no idea how many proposed new laws have been killed in their cribs.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada is an energy "superpower." But NAFTA virtually guaranteed that the U.S. would be the beneficiary of our energy, and it unleashed a massive increase in energy exports to the U.S.
Canada now exports 63 per cent of the oil it produces and 56 per cent of its natural gas to the U.S. And because of NAFTA's proportionality clause, Canada is legally obliged to continue exporting the same proportion of our oil and gas forever even if we face a shortage.
Next up is our water. The U.S. is already officially into its supply problems and it will, over the next 20 years, become a catastrophic crisis, outpacing even their predicted energy crisis.
NAFTA defines water as a good — meaning that, as soon as any provincial government signs a contract to export bulk water to the U.S. (by river diversion or tanker), nothing can stop further exports.
All of this, and for what? Allegedly, it was for guaranteed, predictable access to the U.S. market. But, of course, as the softwood lumber saga proved, there is no such thing. When its history is written, NAFTA could rightly be described as the worst agreement ever signed by a Canadian government.
Murray Dobbin, a Vancouver writer, is a columnist for the online magazine The Tyee.
Recommend this article? 146 votes
View the most recommended
Print E-mail Comments (115) Share License Search the NewsSearch News Stock
Print E-mail Comments (115) Share License Text SizeJoin the conversation
This conversation is semi moderated
115 reader comments | Join the conversation
I agree with Mile Sty. Brian Baloney owes us all and...
Wow! Murray Dobbin is still alive! Even stranger, he...
I wonder since we are culturally selling our souls...
All this controversy and NAFTA will be around longer...
Follow this writer
Add MURRAY DOBBIN to my e-mail alerts
Top Stories by Section
Report on Business: Gold roars to record high
National: PQ prefers 'conversation' to referendum
World: Afghanistan, Balkans dominate NATO meeting
Sports: Sens' woes continue
Arts: Avril kicks off Best Damn Tour
Technology: Microsoft announces ie8 beta
Life: Sexy time
Most Popular
Most Viewed Most E-mailed Most Discussed Rank Headline
1. PM's top aide set off storm with Obama NAFTA leak 05/03/08 10:38 PM 179
2. Sexy time 12:44 AM 8
3. Buffett leads billionaires' list 05/03/08 6:00 PM 10
4. Gold roars to record high 6:50 AM 3
5. NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed 05/03/08 7:10 PM 114
6. 'NAFTAgate' began with remark from Harper's chief of staff 05/03/08 8:53 PM 336
7. Lasers posing serious problem for pilots 05/03/08 7:53 PM 36
8. Small bomb rocks Times Square 7:21 AM 3
9. An $8,000 bill to pay before he rests in peace 4:48 AM 2
10. PQ prefers 'conversation' to referendum 05/03/08 8:24 PM 126
Rank Headline
1. Sexy time 12:44 AM 8
2. 'NAFTAgate' began with remark from Harper's chief of staff 05/03/08 8:53 PM 336
3. NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed 05/03/08 7:10 PM 114
4. PM's top aide set off storm with Obama NAFTA leak 05/03/08 10:38 PM 176
5. Buffett leads billionaires' list 05/03/08 6:00 PM 10
6. Copper hits record 6:30 AM
7. The teetotaller's liver disease 05/03/08 8:34 AM 13
8. Chinese metals boom to last decades 05/03/08 7:38 PM
9. Inuit artists up against an Olympic challenge 1:26 AM 3
10. Gold roars to record high 6:50 AM 3
Rank Headline
353 Ontario plans car-smoking curb 353
160 PM's top aide set off storm with Obama NAFTA leak 160
124 PQ prefers 'conversation' to referendum 124
112 NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed 112
More popular news items
close Share this articleShare on Facebook
Add to del.icio.us
Add to Ma.gnolia
Submit post to digg.com
Seed this post at Newsvine
Technorati links to this post
close What are tags?A tag is a keyword or descriptive term supplied by our editorial staff used to associate related articles with one another. Tags make it easier for you to find other stories that share the same theme or topic with the article you’re currently reading.
close Globe Insider E-mail AlertsHave all subsequent stories by this writer e-mailed to you.
You MUST get this through to the Obama campaign ASAP.
Hillary is starting to use the time honored Republican Party tactic of preying on people's FEAR to get folks to vote for her. That's what the '3 a.m. phone call' add is all about.
Obama should recognize this and tell people they have a choice between living in fear or living in HOPE.
I have been wondering. Why Barack didn’t celebrated the March 4 context the way Hillary did b’se it wasn’t a win for Hillary it was for Barack. March 4 was the only context for Hillary to justify her existence in the race, yet she managed only, and only I would say to reduce Barack Obama lead by 4 delegated after caucus and all other votes were factored in. Remember Texas and Ohio was her biggest expectation!! And that is what she could deliver after all the negative ads and all the energy. I can be convinced she can not do better than Texas and Ohio in the coming contexts if she chooses to stay in. Reducing 4 delegates in every four of the coming contexts would get her nowhere. The problem is that Hillary started her campaign in March 4, 2008 while Barack started his in March 4, 2007; she has learnt something in Texas that Obama learnt in New Hampshire. I am sure Hillary will be in a catch up game. Pennsylvania won’t be better than Ohio! Now Obama is cooling down, she is heating up at a wrong time. To make matters worse, the way she heats-up is gonna annoy superdelegated, she is attacking when her party is looking for coalition. She has discovered a strategy when her opponents’ one is matured. Tactically, Barack don’t need to attack now, he just need to be a gentleman. Superdelegated are going to hate her attacks and she may get an even bigger loss in the convention. It is too late for her, she better acknowledge. The numbers aren’t working. Democrats will lose if she stays in for anything more than a month.
i KNOW YOU REALLY WANT TO STAY POSITIVE BUT THIS HAS TO BE ADDRESS
Trial date to be set in Paul vs. Clinton on February 21, 2008
ASK HER IS SHE GOING TO GIVE THIS MAN BACK HIS MONEY, AND IF NOT THEN WILL SHE DONATE IT LIKE YOU DID AND IF NOT ASK HER WHEN IS SHE SUPPOSE TO APPEAR IN COURT, DURING HER RUN FOR THE FOR PRESIDENT, AND JOHN MCCAIN WILL TRUELY LOVE THIS STORY, BOY THEY JUST CAN'T KEEP THEIR HANDS OUT THE COOKIE JAR CAN THEY.
GOOD LUCK AND IF IT WAS NOT FOR HOPE A LOT OF US WOULD NOT BE WHERE WE ARE TODAY.
Hillary's outbursts come as if she's a drug Dependant post menopausal woman. I wish some-one would air a special on the subject, symptoms, treatment, and the behavior of women who do suffer from hormonal imbalances. I am terrified that Hillary might win the election because, we need a logical leader, and not anyone who's judgment is going to be impaired by mood swings. Her illogical outbursts point out problems with menopause. That is not a sexist statement and no president ever held office with any condition that would impaire their judgment. The statistics really have it that women have more of a problem and much more severe problems with menopause.
http://www.webmd.com/menopause/default.htm
Why not ask a panel of Gynecologists about her behavior and whether they would choose to trust Hillary Clinton based upon what they've already seen.
The "3:00 AM" ad -- the stupid commercial should have had "Bill Clinton" answering the phone since it would be Bill -- not Mrs. Clinton -- who would be in charge of a 3rd Clinton administration. Another great reason to support Senator Obama!
The "3:00 AM" ad -- the stupid commercial should have had "Bill Clinton" answering the phone since it would be Bill -- not Mrs. Clinton -- who would be in charge of a 3rd Clinton administration. Another great reason to support Senator Obama!
SMILE!
Mr. Obama
For you will be the next President of the United States of America!
We ARE who we've been waiting for!
Using your common sense, integrity, courage and abilities;
You will achieve!
Yes YOU can!
I will admit; there've been times I thought maybe I'd rather be a Canadian!
We've been living under this black cloud of Bushes and Clintons for far too long!
You have made me proud to be an American!
Yes WE can!
~Teresa
(I am a white, 30-something mom of 3)
SMILE!
Mr. Obama
For you will be the next President of the United States of America!
We ARE who we've been waiting for!
Using your common sense, integrity, courage and abilities;
You will achieve!
Yes YOU can!
I will admit; there've been times I thought maybe I'd rather be a Canadian!
We've been living under this black cloud of Bushes and Clintons for far too long!
You have made me proud to be an American!
Yes WE can!
~Teresa
(I am a white, 30-something mom of 3)
She threw a temper tamtrum and complained that Obama was using republican SCARE tactics!
Sad isn't it, that Hillary stomps her feet and complains "shame on you, Barack Obama" at the same time she had the balls to "leak" that Somoli pic and release her "3 am" commercial?
The same old scaring people, to get what you want, like when we were all told to stock up on plastic and duct tape in case of a gas attack!? (Hate to bring it up, but here it is: "the only thing we have to fear is fear, itself!" Please don't be SO GULLIBLE!!
Wake up people!
Don't be led by the same idiotic fear mongering that Bush followers are!
I just hope that people would use their own brains to think for themselves!
DO YOU WANT IT BADLY ENOUGHT?
I have been a democrat ever since coming to this country.. BUT if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, I am afraid that although I don't want to, I will vote for John McCain. Which would be a very sad day in hell. Our country needs new leadership and you and you advisors have got to find the winning formula to win most if NOT all of the remaining states and their delegates. Especially Pennsylvania.
You have got to get very specific and be tough. You don't have to be negative, but you must be tough and come across as a figter.. and that you want it. After you swept through Maryland etc...Political news experts like David Gergen, first raised the concern that Hillary Clinton, needed to become a fighter.. and YES, looks like she and her people listened and that is what she is now pushing and winning on. You need now to step up and also let the world know that you are a fighter for all the people and will fight for them as well and will also need the peoples help as you have been saying...
You are NOT coming across as a fighter We are all in this together.
You also need to focus on the economy.. in very, very specific detail.. "It's the Economy Stupid" + Healthcare + the War.
I would say I am well eductaed, with an Electrical Engineering Degree and two MBAs and excellent job experience in the telecom industry. Yet because of globalization and shifting jobs overseas, my job was recently eliminated. This is at a time when the economy is definitely in recession. What the so called economic pundits do not realize is that a lot of the well educated and recently employed, workers are NOT as yet drawing unemployment benefits, because our severance packages are just now going into effect. Especially those like me who have been working for 20 plus years and now find ourselves in structurly defective industries like telecom. So, the unemployment figures are much, much higher than the pudnits on TV believe and it's going to be higher over the next 3 to 6 months.
Plus, jobs now going overseas, is NOT just about manufacturing jobs moving to lower cost labor regions.. what's happening is that as a result of more than 50% of the profits of major US corporations coming from outside of the US, the control, decision of what products are designed, made and by who, is also coming from outside the US. One example is Alcatel-Lucent. Lucent which use to be a US company,, now merged with Alcatel to become Alcatel-Lucent, is NOW a French company and the decisions on people, product etc.. are now dictated to the ex-Lucent US employees by the French. So, the US is subtly losing our own people and innovation in this space. So, it's NOT just the shift in manufacturing that is taking place and it's surely going to impact the US in the coming years. I am for business, but we need to find a way to make sure the US is NOT taken advantage off going forward.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to communicate with you and your Team. Hopefully, they will see my comments.
Bottom Line: 1. You need to get tougher but in a very positive way. 2. You need to come across as a fighter and show that YOU passionately want to be President of the US and not want to be President of the US, because advisors believe you can be president.. You have to want it. 3. Enough of being Mr. Nice Guy with Hillary Clinton during any future debates.. You don't have to do that, yet you can be cordial.. and be yourself. 4. You need to address the economy with a detail plan.. but you also need to keep in mind that in the next 3 months, the economic indicators could change upward, so you need to really also have a plan which will be geared toward a balance budget and surplus over the next 4 to 5 years; plus your plan for job growth and concreate plans for job and economic growth here in the US.
Over and Out
We CAN do this. We pushed nearly through that 'firewall' of TX and OH and held Hillary in place.
Now, on to Wyoming and Mississippi and then the tide shifts, back to you for PA.
Congratulations Hillary.. you got bragging rights. Obama will win the White House.
We CAN do this. We pushed nearly through that 'firewall' of TX and OH and held Hillary in place.
Now, on to Wyoming and Mississippi and then the tide shifts, back to you for PA.
Congratulations Hillary.. you got bragging rights. Obama will win the White House.
We CAN do this. We pushed nearly through that 'firewall' of TX and OH and held Hillary in place.
Now, on to Wyoming and Mississippi and then the tide shifts, back to you for PA.
Congratulations Hillary.. you got bragging rights. Obama will win the White House.
We CAN do this. We pushed nearly through that 'firewall' of TX and OH and held Hillary in place.
Now, on to Wyoming and Mississippi and then the tide shifts, back to you for PA.
Congratulations Hillary.. you got bragging rights. Obama will win the White House.
We CAN do this. We pushed nearly through that 'firewall' of TX and OH and held Hillary in place.
Now, on to Wyoming and Mississippi and then the tide shifts, back to you for PA.
Congratulations Hillary.. you got bragging rights. Obama will win the White House.
We CAN do this. We pushed nearly through that 'firewall' of TX and OH and held Hillary in place.
Now, on to Wyoming and Mississippi and then the tide shifts, back to you for PA.
Congratulations Hillary.. you got bragging rights. Obama will win the White House.
Damola Taiwo
Unotech Media
TO cnn
tO hILLIARY CLINTON
The job losses are due to greedy American corporations sending jobs to China not Canada.
We are not a U.S banana republic.
Your comments and that of Hilliary clinton are offensive and yes we want to renegotiate Nafta.
You are buying or oil below market prices and have control of our water.
DO YOU WANT CANADA TO BECOME A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY.
IDIOT GREEDY AMERICAN CORPORATIONS.
LYING OPPORTUNITIST POLITICANS..
YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF LIARS AN
Web-exclusive comment
NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed
MURRAY DOBBIN
Special to Globe and Mail Update
March 5, 2008 at 7:10 PM EST
In the aftermath of Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's threats to "renegotiate" NAFTA — or pull out — the usual suspects have been activated to tell the world how wonderful the deal has been for Canada and the United States.
There is no doubt that the sector that devised the scheme in the first place and sold it to politicians have benefited greatly from this investors' rights agreement and its predecessor. The continent's largest corporations have greatly reduced regulatory impediments to their profits, radically lowered labour costs, gutted Canada's sovereign capacity to pass new environmental legislation and, in terms of investment restrictions, virtually erased the borders.
All of those corporate benefits, however, have been extremely bad for other aspects of Canada and for ordinary Canadians.
But first, let's dispose of a myth about free trade — the notion that it was responsible for massive increases in trade between the U.S. and Canada. According to an Industry Canada study, 91 per cent of the increase in trade in the 1990s was due to the cheap Canadian dollar and the sustained economic boom in the U.S. Now that our dollar is at par or higher, our manufacturing exports are plummeting.
Related Articles
Recent
Globe editorial: To write about crime is also to act
Ontario court orders newspaper to hand over sensitive documents
National Post's anonymous package could be used to identify source
But even if NAFTA were responsible for increased trade, Canadian workers have paid a huge price. Throughout the 1990s, federal governments trumpeted the need to be "competitive" under NAFTA as an excuse to implement some of the most Draconian rollbacks of Canadian social programs ever undertaken. In the name of "labour flexibility," Paul Martin implemented drastic changes to EI eligibility, and repealed the Canada Assistance Plan, freeing the provinces to gut their welfare programs. His extreme low-inflation policy deliberately kept unemployment at high levels (8 per cent to 9 per cent) for most of the 1990s.
That meant that, throughout the decade, workers' real wages actually declined. They still have not caught up to 1981 levels. And the highly paid 220,000 industrial jobs lost as a result of NAFTA are gone forever, replaced by lower-paid jobs.
NAFTA was supposed to unleash a flood of foreign investment — boosting our industrial capacity and productivity. Instead, since the first trade agreement was signed, more than 95 per cent of direct foreign investment has been used to buy up Canadian companies. Head offices and research and development money has headed south, and Canada has seen a steady decline in manufactured goods as a percentage of its GDP for the past 10 years.
Our productivity has fallen behind that of the U.S. in virtually every year since the FTA came into effect in 1989.
The environment has also suffered almost continuously since the deals were signed — and this is according to the Commission for Environmental Co-operation, the NAFTA agency responsible for monitoring the impact of the new regime. The North American Mosaic: The State of the Environment Report, released in 2001, declared that "North Americans are faced with the paradox that many activities on which the North American economy is based impoverish the environment on which our well-being ultimately depends."
It might also have mentioned that Canada has not passed a major new environmental protection law since NAFTA came into effect — at least not successfully. In two instances where it did try, NAFTA's investment chapter forced it to back off. In the Ethyl Corp. case, Canada tried to ban a gasoline additive, MMT, that damaged cars' catalytic converters (not to mention our health). The company sued under NAFTA and Canada withdrew the law. The resulting chill effect means we have no idea how many proposed new laws have been killed in their cribs.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada is an energy "superpower." But NAFTA virtually guaranteed that the U.S. would be the beneficiary of our energy, and it unleashed a massive increase in energy exports to the U.S.
Canada now exports 63 per cent of the oil it produces and 56 per cent of its natural gas to the U.S. And because of NAFTA's proportionality clause, Canada is legally obliged to continue exporting the same proportion of our oil and gas forever even if we face a shortage.
Next up is our water. The U.S. is already officially into its supply problems and it will, over the next 20 years, become a catastrophic crisis, outpacing even their predicted energy crisis.
NAFTA defines water as a good — meaning that, as soon as any provincial government signs a contract to export bulk water to the U.S. (by river diversion or tanker), nothing can stop further exports.
All of this, and for what? Allegedly, it was for guaranteed, predictable access to the U.S. market. But, of course, as the softwood lumber saga proved, there is no such thing. When its history is written, NAFTA could rightly be described as the worst agreement ever signed by a Canadian government.
Murray Dobbin, a Vancouver writer, is a columnist for the online magazine The Tyee.
Recommend this article? 146 votes
View the most recommended
Print E-mail Comments (115) Share License Search the NewsSearch News Stock
Print E-mail Comments (115) Share License Text SizeJoin the conversation
This conversation is semi moderated
115 reader comments | Join the conversation
I agree with Mile Sty. Brian Baloney owes us all and...
Wow! Murray Dobbin is still alive! Even stranger, he...
I wonder since we are culturally selling our souls...
All this controversy and NAFTA will be around longer...
Follow this writer
Add MURRAY DOBBIN to my e-mail alerts
Top Stories by Section
Report on Business: Gold roars to record high
National: PQ prefers 'conversation' to referendum
World: Afghanistan, Balkans dominate NATO meeting
Sports: Sens' woes continue
Arts: Avril kicks off Best Damn Tour
Technology: Microsoft announces ie8 beta
Life: Sexy time
Most Popular
Most Viewed Most E-mailed Most Discussed Rank Headline
1. PM's top aide set off storm with Obama NAFTA leak 05/03/08 10:38 PM 179
2. Sexy time 12:44 AM 8
3. Buffett leads billionaires' list 05/03/08 6:00 PM 10
4. Gold roars to record high 6:50 AM 3
5. NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed 05/03/08 7:10 PM 114
6. 'NAFTAgate' began with remark from Harper's chief of staff 05/03/08 8:53 PM 336
7. Lasers posing serious problem for pilots 05/03/08 7:53 PM 36
8. Small bomb rocks Times Square 7:21 AM 3
9. An $8,000 bill to pay before he rests in peace 4:48 AM 2
10. PQ prefers 'conversation' to referendum 05/03/08 8:24 PM 126
Rank Headline
1. Sexy time 12:44 AM 8
2. 'NAFTAgate' began with remark from Harper's chief of staff 05/03/08 8:53 PM 336
3. NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed 05/03/08 7:10 PM 114
4. PM's top aide set off storm with Obama NAFTA leak 05/03/08 10:38 PM 176
5. Buffett leads billionaires' list 05/03/08 6:00 PM 10
6. Copper hits record 6:30 AM
7. The teetotaller's liver disease 05/03/08 8:34 AM 13
8. Chinese metals boom to last decades 05/03/08 7:38 PM
9. Inuit artists up against an Olympic challenge 1:26 AM 3
10. Gold roars to record high 6:50 AM 3
Rank Headline
353 Ontario plans car-smoking curb 353
160 PM's top aide set off storm with Obama NAFTA leak 160
124 PQ prefers 'conversation' to referendum 124
112 NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed 112
More popular news items
close Share this articleShare on Facebook
Add to del.icio.us
Add to Ma.gnolia
Submit post to digg.com
Seed this post at Newsvine
Technorati links to this post
close What are tags?A tag is a keyword or descriptive term supplied by our editorial staff used to associate related articles with one another. Tags make it easier for you to find other stories that share the same theme or topic with the article you’re currently reading.
close Globe Insider E-mail AlertsHave all subsequent stories by this writer e-mailed to you.
Add MURRAY DOBBIN to my breaking news e-mail alerts
Manage my alerts What are e-mail alerts? close What are e-mail Alerts?E-mail alerts deliver the news to your inbox as it happens.
On-line:Help Contact Us Staff RSS Subscriptions Group Subscriptions Member Centre Mobile Newspaper Ads Newspaper:Customer Care Contact Us Staff Press Room Corrections Subscribe Vacation Stops Change Address Recognition Card Advertise:Advertise With Us Newspaper Magazines Online Marketing Solutions Group Media Central Classifieds Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Disclaimer
© Copyright 2008 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
globeandmail.com and The Globe and Mail are divisions of CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc., 444 Front St. W., Toronto, ON Canada M5V 2S9
Phillip Crawley, Publisher
Hillary is starting to use the time honored Republican Party tactic of preying on people's FEAR to get folks to vote for her. That's what the '3 a.m. phone call' add is all about.
Obama should recognize this and tell people they have a choice between living in fear or living in HOPE.
How do we get that message through??
Mike
I have been wondering. Why Barack didn’t celebrated the March 4 context the way Hillary did b’se it wasn’t a win for Hillary it was for Barack. March 4 was the only context for Hillary to justify her existence in the race, yet she managed only, and only I would say to reduce Barack Obama lead by 4 delegated after caucus and all other votes were factored in. Remember Texas and Ohio was her biggest expectation!! And that is what she could deliver after all the negative ads and all the energy. I can be convinced she can not do better than Texas and Ohio in the coming contexts if she chooses to stay in. Reducing 4 delegates in every four of the coming contexts would get her nowhere. The problem is that Hillary started her campaign in March 4, 2008 while Barack started his in March 4, 2007; she has learnt something in Texas that Obama learnt in New Hampshire. I am sure Hillary will be in a catch up game. Pennsylvania won’t be better than Ohio! Now Obama is cooling down, she is heating up at a wrong time. To make matters worse, the way she heats-up is gonna annoy superdelegated, she is attacking when her party is looking for coalition. She has discovered a strategy when her opponents’ one is matured. Tactically, Barack don’t need to attack now, he just need to be a gentleman. Superdelegated are going to hate her attacks and she may get an even bigger loss in the convention. It is too late for her, she better acknowledge. The numbers aren’t working. Democrats will lose if she stays in for anything more than a month.
Trial date to be set in Paul vs. Clinton on February 21, 2008
ASK HER IS SHE GOING TO GIVE THIS MAN BACK HIS MONEY, AND IF NOT THEN WILL SHE DONATE IT LIKE YOU DID AND IF NOT ASK HER WHEN IS SHE SUPPOSE TO APPEAR IN COURT, DURING HER RUN FOR THE FOR PRESIDENT, AND JOHN MCCAIN WILL TRUELY LOVE THIS STORY, BOY THEY JUST CAN'T KEEP THEIR HANDS OUT THE COOKIE JAR CAN THEY.
GOOD LUCK AND IF IT WAS NOT FOR HOPE A LOT OF US WOULD NOT BE WHERE WE ARE TODAY.
http://www.webmd.com/menopause/default.htm
Why not ask a panel of Gynecologists about her behavior and whether they would choose to trust Hillary Clinton based upon what they've already seen.