My feelings about where Canada is headed, and just what Mark Carney has in mind for us, have been extremely mixed this last week.
Until now, I have strongly supported Carney’s ideas, even though he tends to be a bit farther “right” than I am. I sometimes feel that his concern is more for the business owners than the workers, but in general he has been doing what we elected him to do – supporting Canadian sovereignty, and developing new trading partners to replace the losses we have experienced with the United States.
However, trading is one thing. We buy goods and services we need from others, and sell those we can supply to them. I am fully behind that.
Massive foreign investment in Canada, as Carney was selling during his Canada Investment Summit this week, is something quite different. He has stated that he is looking for up to $1 trillion of foreign investment in our country, in many different areas, and is offering huge tax write-offs to encourage the investors.
This brings up a few serious questions. The first, and most important being: do we want foreigners, even nice ones, owning that much of our country? Money means power, and the more foreign business has invested in Canada, the more control they will have over us. We have just learned how dangerous that can be with our southern neighbours. Do we really want to risk it again with someone else? I don’t think that I do.
Then there are the tax breaks the governments will be using to entice these companies. If the companies don’t pay the taxes, the government will have to get the money from somewhere else, and that always turns out to be you and me. Are we willing to pay for this?
And while we are on the subject of paying more for things, one of the subjects that came up at the summit was the idea of privatizing the running of several major Canadian airports. Right now, they are run by non-profit companies. If they are privatized, the whole intention of the company in charge will be profit, guaranteeing a rise in prices to those using the airports. Do you really want to pay even more to fly than you do now?
Last, but certainly not least, is the issue that had David Suzuki coming out of retirement for an interview on CBC. While the investment opportunities do include clean energy and climate technology projects, such as solar farms and carbon capture facilities, they also include $100 billion worth of new oil and gas projects. This is something that not only Canada, but the planet, cannot afford. Climate change is already worse than predicted, and increasing. The last thing we need is additional gas and oil projects at this time.
Oh, and let’s not forget that Stephen Harper, the most right-wing of our recent Prime Ministers, stood up and praised the summit, saying he wished he had thought of it. That alone would have concerned me, had I known nothing else about it.
Hence my mixed feelings this week. I do still support Mark Carney, and believe that he is doing mainly good things for our country at this time. I know that much of what he has done in the last while is both good and necessary, and I feel we will benefit in the end. But I cannot support these massive investments. At this point the best I can hope is that they do no serious harm.
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