Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Free Trade Between Canada and the EU?

The Globe and Mail had a story that the Canadian government is brokering a deal to bring free trade with the EU. Great! What does this mean for the Canadian consumer? Great wines and beer at a cheaper price? French cheese? No tariffs on German cars? I had to get far down into the article to see what it would mean:
It is hoped that the free trade deal, which will seek agreements in areas including labour mobility, customs procedures, trades in services investment, food safety, sustainable development and goods, could be signed within a year.
Oh. Labour mobility is great but I have a feeling those European goods that people want will be as expensive and difficult to obtain as ever.

It's like NAFTA. Our northern climate in BC is not great for growing certain foods. But try getting anything other than a BC grown tomato, which are awful. Why can't I get California tomatoes, the best in the world? Protectionism for the few hothouse tomato farmers in the province.

For that matter, you can't buy freshly squeezed orange juice in Canada. It's all frozen concentrate. Pick up any orange juice carton in Canada and it will say product of Markham, Ont. or some such place. Why doesn't it say Florida? You can buy freshly squeezed anywhere in Seattle or Portland, not far from where I am. It's some kind of special interest scam to protect a few distributers in Canada.

Free trade, never means true free trade.

2 comments:

  1. We don`t even have free trade between the Provinces. Truckers will tell you BC means bring cash. I remember being in Washington, and Moosehead beer was the big trend at restaurants and bars. We had to explain to Americans how Moosehead beer was illegal in Ontario. What a F-up!~

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