Before the Crying Starts

Anyday now we will be hearing the manufacturing lobby spokesperson, former Mulroney Cabinet Minister, Warren Perrin and the Council of Canadian CEO's along with their earstwhile ally in the Canadian Auto Workers Jim Stanford starting to decry the high Canadian dollar.

The fact is that it is now the international currency of choice as the Petro-dollar. And our commodity prices for metals and ores, shows a boom in the mining industry, and of course a boom in the Canadian loonie. While the oil and mining sector directly impacts on the Toronto Stock exchange. That boom is resulting in further monopolization of the mining sector in Canada, through a heated round of mergers and aquistions.

Mining merger mania timeline

Multibillion-dollar mergers are breaking out across the mining sector and a few mutual funds are well-positioned to reap the gains.

The real reason that there will be an impact on Canadian exports to the US is NOT because of the loonies rise but because of a tightening of the American market due to the US dollar's decline.

So before David Dodge and the Bank of Canada start screwing around with interest rates, that is raising them, which has had no effect on the loonie, we should remember this.

That the loonie is now seen as the Petro-dollar and a secure investment, which will attract more international finance, to offset those losses incurred by reduced market purchases from south of the border.

As well our position of exporting into the US market has made us popular with foreign manufacturers such as automobile companies, and Mittal Steel.

Of course the last time we had high foreign investment in the Canadian dollar and in Canada we had the right wing whining about debt and deficits and how we owed, we owed, to foreign investors. Ya just can't win with these guys. Ever.

On the rise
What impact will a strong Canadian dollar have on Durham Region?

May 15, 2006
By Izabela Jaroszynski

Staying cost-competitive in relation to the United States is vital for a manufacturing industry already suffering from job losses.

Earlier this year, KPMG released its Competitive Alternatives report, citing Canada as the cheapest place to do business among G7 countries and giving Canada a 4.5 per cent advantage over the U.S. when it comes to overall cost of doing business.

But with the stronger dollar, will this advantage erode?

Mark MacDonald, director of Competitive Alternatives for KPMG, says yes, but insists that the value of the Canadian dollar against the American is only one factor that goes into determining overall competitiveness.

"It is very case specific," he said. "Having said that, it is certainly not a secret that people in Canada are concerned."

For Mr. Myers, the concern goes deeper than just a strong dollar.

"It is also the reason behind the increase," he said. "Part of it is an increase in the cost of doing business, with energy prices going up and commodity prices going up. The other part is a weakening American economy."

That worries Mr. Myers because it will mean that sales in the U.S. can decline.

"It is easier to adjust to a higher dollar if your sales in the U.S -- your major market -- are booming, but right now there are indicators that those sales are going to weaken in the course of the coming year."

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Putting the Boots to Outsourcing

Here's a good news story about insourcing, Kodiak boots are now being made in Canada. Again. After being outsourced to Asia.

KODIAK COMES HOME It's been quite a hike for an iconic boot to Asia and back, and Kodiak Group Holdings Inc. is out to prove manufacturing can still survive and prosper in the Great White North

And here is why, Candaian productivity. That is variable capital; technology and labour. Which is called in modern economic parlance; value added production.

But before we begin cheering, its a speciality high priced boot that will be made in Canada, to sell to the branded market, which wants Made In Canada and will pay more for it. While their main low cost commercial boots will continue to be made in labour intensive low waged Asia. Until the workers in those countries form unions in the shoe industry.

But Mr. Huckle would not be making Kodiaks in Markdale, located two hours northwest of Toronto, without the confluence of special circumstances. For one thing, he was able to acquire two highly automated shoe plants from the takeover of rival Terra Footwear, a Canadian company famous for fast production turnarounds.

Terra's 110-worker plant in Markdale makes only a few models of high-end Kodiaks with a retail price of more than $140. Even with these more expensive boots, Mr. Huckle is giving away 7 to 8 percentage points in margin compared with making the same boots in Asia -- where he still sources the majority of his boots.

But he wants the domestic production to offer quick, efficient service for Canadian retailers, who may require only small numbers of boots, but need them in a hurry.

With Asian production, he has to contract for long production runs -- more than 1,200 pairs -- and has to carry a lot of inventory. With domestic manufacturing, the plant keeps enough materials around for relatively short runs. Because of automation and location, it can turn around Canadian production orders in 21 days, compared with 90 days for orders from Asia.

Mr. Huckle, who was on a five-country tour of Asia last week, says the developing world is still best for making products with high labour content. Wages in his Asian contract plants are a fraction of the average $15.50 an hour earned at Markdale, which has an in-house union.

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More Evidence For A Social Wage

A new report on Canada's Social Safety net proves what I have been saying here about the need for a Social Wage for ALL Canadians, that is a Living Wage or what was once called The Guaranteed Annual Income.

"When you look at the income-security policies, nothing has fundamentally changed for these folks in 40 years even though the labour market has changed enormously," she said. "Income-security programs are out of sync with the needs of people who are working in our modern economy." Coalition to unveil recommendations on social safety net

The report itself is interesting since those on the panel came from the left and right.

In addition to the Conference Board of Canada, the Caledon Institute and the C.D. Howe Institute, the members include top business leaders (Falconbridge chairman David Kerr and Nestle Purina Canada president Karen Kuwahara), labour leaders (Canadian Labour Congress president Ken Georgetti), bank economists Don Drummond (TD Bank) and Warren Jestin (Bank of Nova Scotia), social agencies, academics, foundations and a group of low-income individuals.Coalition to unveil recommendations on social safety net

And while calling for reforms they do not go far enough. Women in Canada not working need wages for housework , and all working class Canadians employed or not need a base social wage for those who earn less than $60,000 a year. As for tax breaks there should be NO income taxes on working class Canadians earning $100,000 or less.

Task force calls for social reforms

Income security programs are failing Canadians and need a federal overhaul that could cost $8.5 billion each year, says an exhaustive report by a task force of Toronto community members and civic leaders. The task force recommends the federal government reform employment insurance, create a new refundable tax benefit for all low-income working-age adults and provide a national disability income support program for those unable to enter the workforce.

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Stupid Human Gets Bear Killed

Another bear has been killed due to a stupid human.

The stupid human was mountain biking in the wilderness, well in the wild, well in Banff on a bike trail in the woods.

Wilderness. National Park. Animal preserve. Spring. Bears come out of hibernation and are looking for food. It's their park too.

Stupid human was biking along a wilderness trail in bear country. Stupid human was not paying attention to his reality. Nope he was listening to his IPod in the woods, as if we was in the city riding down the street. So he did not hear the bear approach.

It was a pitiful specimen of a bear, underweight and obviously in need of a good meal. The bear obviously thought the stupid human was food on wheels, sort of take out and delivery in one, and could not believe his luck.

Stupid human did not hear the bear until it was too late. Then he cried out Grizzly. Stupid human could not have been stupider, it was a black bear. An underweight one. Hungry. In a national park. A protected species, supposedly protected from stupid humans.

Well unfortunately for this poor bear, he met stupid human and attacked him. Resulting in the death of a bear, in his woods, in his national park, in his protected area. Thanks to a stupid human on a bike with an IPod in his ears thinking he was traveling down Younge Street in Toronto instead of being in BEAR COUNTRY. And the Greenies want to promote eco-tourism, please spare me, and the bears.

The black bear was likely three or four years old. In the spring, bears forage in the valley around Banff for food before moving into the mountains in summer when the snow is gone. Young bears generally have a tough time competing with older bears for food and this black bear was "particularly thin," Mr. Syme said. It was about 57 kilograms (125 pounds) and was probably seven kilos (15 pounds) or so underweight. "[The bear] was in poor condition," Parks Canada said in a press release.

The attack underscores the need to adhere to safety advice, which people sometimes spurn, Mr. Syme said. This includes travelling in groups, making noise and carrying bear spray. Mr. Flaaten was also wearing headphones, which is not good practice in the mountains. "Listening for those little subtle signals is important," Mr. Syme said. "If they're drowned out by music, it's not something I'd encourage people to do." Cry from the woods saves cyclist after black bear mauling

See More of my articles on Bears

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The Sun's Loonie Editorial

The Editorial in yesterdays Edmonton Sun was a piece of fiscal fiction. Pulp fiction reads better, and the supermarket tabloids are more reliable on economics. Really they claim that the loonie is doing well because we elected a Conservative government.

Stretching the facts, really stretching, really, really stretching, they try and equate the dollars rise and fall with the coming and going of Conservative federal governments. Except for its rise under Trudeau, oh and its fall under Mulroney. What twits.

The loonie is rising because, as I have reported here see links below, it is now the international petro dollar, and because we are now in a floating exchange rate. It rose last week because the US dollar fell. Not because we elected the Harpocrites. But hey the Sun being the Sun would claim the Conservatives make the Sun rise in the east. After all it is an Eastern paper transplanted to the west.

A tip o' the blog to the Dan Report for this.

See:

Forward To The Past

Boom Boom

Alberta's Boom = Ontario's Bust

The Real Debt and Deficit Crisis

Canada's New Finance Minister?

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Harpers Made In America Green Plan

Like everything else the Harpocrite does his governments environment policy comes from the Republican playbook. Conservative climate strategy said to be inspired by US communications expert

And that policy whether Made In America or Made In Canada is not a solution to Global Warming, Climate Change or even good for creating hybrid cars.

The new "Made in Canada" plan is expected to be based upon the current U.S. government policy that the Bush administration adopted in 2002 after rejecting Kyoto. In other words, the new emissions plan is not really being made in Canada. Even the title is an uncreative copy of the "Made in America" label used by President George Bush.It is worth examining the problem with a U.S.-style policy. In 2002, the Bush administration called for a reduction in the greenhouse gas intensity of the U.S. economy by 18 per cent by 2012. The greenhouse gas intensity is not the total emissions; it is the greenhouse gas emissions per dollar of GDP. The catch is that the greenhouse gas intensity of the U.S., of Canada, and of virtually every industrialized country has been decreasing for years as our economies become more productive and our technology improves. How much? Here's the funny coincidence. In the U.S., the greenhouse gas intensity decreased by about 18 per cent between 1990 and 2000. In other words, the Bush administration climate policy is just a statement about staying the course. It does absolutely nothing to address climate change.
Simon Donner is a Toronto-born research scientist based at Princeton University.

And if nothing is done, which is what the Conservatives Made In Canada plan will do, the result will be?

Climate change a 'deadly threat'

Christian Aid has demanded greater carbon dioxide emission cuts

The Christian Aid charity has warned that 184 million people in Africa alone could die as a result of climate change before the end of the century.

Climate-induced floods, famine, drought and conflict could reverse recent gains in reducing poverty, it says.

Its report says rich nations must aid poorer ones to adopt non-fossil-fuel energy sources such as solar power.

The report comes as almost 190 states gather in Bonn, Germany, to discuss climate change.

The Christian Aid report, entitled The Climate of Poverty: Facts, Fears and Hopes, says rich countries must end their dependence on fossil fuels and aid poorer nations to switch to wind, solar and wave energies.

Also See

Harper is Bush-Lite

Global Warming

Kyoto

Climate Change



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NDP Flip Flops on Afghanistan

NDP Foreign Affairs critic Alex McDonough made a trip to Afghanistan and has returned with a change of heart regarding our troop deployment. On CTV's Question Period today she told Craig Oliver that we need to have troops in Afghanistan and Darfur, as well as Haiti. This is not an either/or position as previously reported by the media. And McDonough was clear that she saw Canada's involvement in Afghanistan as long term. A shift in policy direction for the NDP. Now all she wants is a debate and vote on that long term commitment.

The NDP under Layton has moved to the right when it comes to Canada's role as an Imperialist nation. He abandoned the long historical opposition the party had to NATO and now the party shifts right supporting the coup de dat in Haiti, troops in Darfur (which like Chad is rich in oil, which is why the Sudanese and the rebels are fighting over the region) and now they support the Canadian US Enduring Freedom pacification campaign in Southern Afghanistan. As long as Parliament gets to debate the issue.

This is a far cry from the party that opposed WWII, The War Measures Act of 1971, and the Viet Nam war. What next for the NDP support for the Conservatives plans to militarize the arctic for PetroCanada?



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A Different Kind Of Second Hand Smoke

Put a lid on fumes from cremation

B.C.'s chief medical health officer says crematoriums could be emitting harmful fumes, and should be regulated by the provincial government. The health authority says crematoriums should never be operated in urban residential areas, because of concerns that possibly harmful emissions pose a public health risk. Call for closer scrutiny of crematorium emissions

Yep another environmental toxin that could cause lung cancer. So while the anti-smoking adovcates whine on, they over look yet another emission that adds to the potential for cancer. All those dead bodies being inhaled. And the industry is not regulated. Imagine that. It gives new meaning to it's your funeral. Literally.

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Nothing New Here

Liberals hid gun registry costs

report: Auditor general to reveal huge expenses were buried in routine reports for several years

Ms. Fraser is expected to lay the blame at the feet of top public servants and their former Liberal masters when her report is released on Tuesday.

The report will say that the registry's costs continued to grow after 2002 because the federal government was under contract to two competing computer firms for years before deciding to switch to a more advanced information technology system that could be adapted to the needs of the gun registry.

The decision to switch from the original IT firm, run by EDS Canada, to Team Centra, a consortium of computer firms led by CGI Business Solutions, was held up for almost four years thanks to long-delayed legislative changes to the firearms program, several ministerial reviews and the seemingly ever-changing requirements of the registry's computer system.

The myriad amendments to the computer contracts over that four-year period, made to adapt to the program's changing mandate, steadily drove up the cost of doing business, at huge expense to taxpayers.

Well that was already reported by Fraser in her earlier audits as it was by the KPMG auditor hired by the Justice department as I have documented. So what's new here? Unless she is going to name names of the Liberals and bureaucrats that screwed up. But this is less about an ADSCAM type scandal than the failure of the neo-conservative ideology of Public Private Partnerships (P3's) and privatization of the State.

But Joe Comartin, the NDP justice critic, noted The Tory case against the registry is not, at bottom, an economic one, said Comartin. "It's an ideological, philosophical argument.'

As it is the release of her report is a serious breach of government confidentiality which leads right back to the PMO. And that in itself is a scandal.

The conservatives are hell bent on linking the Firearms Registry to the Liberal ADSCAM that they have violated parliamentary secrecy and confidentiality which will backfire on them. And they will NOT do anything to reform the Firearms Registry because the money has already been well wasted.

Leak prompts call for RCMP probe

GLORIA GALLOWAY

OTTAWA -- Opposition MPs are calling for an RCMP investigation into the leak of an Auditor-General's report on the beleaguered gun registry that was to be released next Tuesday.

And Auditor-General Sheila Fraser, said to be furious that details of the report appeared in newspapers this week, has been asked to appear before the Commons Public Accounts Committee on Monday to tell what she knows about the unprecedented breach of secrecy.

Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told the House of Commons yesterday that the government is taking the matter very seriously.

He rejected accusations from Liberal MP Marlene Jennings that the leak had come from Ian Brodie, Mr. Harper's chief of staff, as being "absolutely scurrilous" and completely baseless.

Methinks he doth protest too much.

More on the Firearms Registry Scandal:

Smoking Gun

More Firearms Registry Scandal

How Many Audits Does It Take?

The Neo Liberal Canadian State

Also see Privatization


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Whyte Avenue Trashed Again

Violence on 'Blue Mile' mars Oilers celebration

A predictable headline. The violence was a stabbing. Which has also occured during the ever popular Fringe Festival last year, and on other occasions on Whyte. The other stabbings and violence occured downtown. So linking it to the rowdy partying on Whyte as if it was the main event after the Oilers stomped the Sharks on Friday night is a bit much. Otherwise it was a party on Whyte. Except for the Riot Cops.


No rioting broke out such as what happened in the Whyte Avenue area on Canada Day in 2001. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage occurred then.

The police closed off Whyte Avenue access at 99th Street within thirty minutes of the game ending. I know I watched them from my local pub where I enjoyed the game with the rest of the crew. Having learned from the July 1st riot the cops were in control of the Avenue. Any trashing would have been because of their armed and dangerous prescence, as if having riot cops appear. That is bound to provoke.

“I think as soon as the riot police come out, I think it creates a different attitude among everybody,” said Andrew Wilcox, who was in the crowd. “People have a sort of need to rebel.”

And as I have said here before since the area is overrun with bars and lounges they should have a tax for clean up placed on them. After all they already overcharge for beer.

Jenny Sherwin, a restaurant owner near the disturbance, said she was stuck hosing down pools of urine from the front of her store yesterday morning.



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