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Originally Posted by JustDisGuy
Softwood lumber? Canadian live beef? The only thing that's going to change these issues ahead of WTO/NAFTA schedule is full support for the Yankee war in Iraq. I don't think that's worth it, personally. We just need to investigate alternate markets and learn to become less dependant on the US market. The Chinese can take all of our export market and more. Make them competitors for limited goods and see where that gets us in trade relations. I also think that we're going to end up with a value-added capacity that the instigators of these trade actions will rue when our finished goods start rolling across the border.
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Or, fight fire with fire. The USA is breaking WTO and NAFTA agreements. So, hit them back just as hard. Cut oil exports. We are the largest supplier of energy to the USA in the world.
There is little sign that support for Yankee military action gives Canada any leverage. Those trade disputes predate the Afghanistan action, for which Canada was a major supporter. Hell, Canada had more forces supporting the USA Iraq war simply due to force exchanges than did many of the countries that officially supported the USA.
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Protest the President? Bah. He doesn't give a fuck what we think, and why should he? At least a welcome in the House of Commons would have put him on happy, touchy-feeling footing for a brief time but thanks to the morons we elected, we don't even have that.
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I agree. The House of Commons should show one face to Bush, and another to the people of Canada. He shouldn't be all that hard to fool, just kow tow to him, and he'll be molified. We should build up a trade and military deterant sufficient to deal with American threat, while speaking and acting on the surface deferentially.
Building up alliances outside of NAFTA sounds like a good idea. Possibly we should be sending high muckity-mucks to various places (like, sending the GG on a goodwill tour of Northern nations, or large trade missions to China or India) to encourage trade. Who would object to that?
A few nuclear weapons should be enough to defend against military threats by the USA. In reality, we have the knowledge and materials to build them. In the event that things chill off between us, we should be able to manufacture some nukes. What we need to work on is delivery systems. The oppertunity to get into the American missile-defence system on the ground floor shouldn't be ignored. Missiles that can intercept missiles, and missiles that carry payloads, are not that different a technology.
This message broght to you by the CCC (Committee for Canadian Conquest). 95% of our population is already massed within a few km of the American border -- they will never suspect a thing.