Mashiki Amiketo wrote on Sep 17, 2011, 18:12:
Cutter wrote on Sep 17, 2011, 17:12:
This is one place we agree entirely and it's tiresome. I've finally hit the point where I'm really looking at getting out. It's just a question of where to go. I don't see this country changing for the better anytime soon. Let them revel in their mediocrity.
The liberals never pushed for liberalization of industry and competition. They pushed for whatever could milk the country the most and fill their coffers the best while screwing everyone at the bottom. If you need a finer example of this all you need to do is look at the legacy trudeau left us. NAFTA is probably the greatest fuckup of canadian politics at the time, short of adscam and the fleecing of taxpayers. While the premise of NAFTA is good, it's no free trade agreement. It's a fair trade agreement. A true free trade agreement would have been great.
I'm looking at Japan. Massive loss in the older population, with a serious gap in younger workers required to fill the gap. Nearly 40% of their population will be retiring in the next 10 years. And if I'm going to be getting screwed, I know exactly how I'm going to get screwed and in what way. Plus I don't mind the lifestyle, or the cultural mentality.
Trudeau may have supported free trade, but it was a conservative that forced the issue during a majority rule and signed it into effect despite protest from both the Liberal and NDP opposition. A fact that seems conveniently forgotten in your diatribe. They also called forth an arcane constitutional provision to help them force the GST through the senate while completely ignoring the fact that 80% of the population disapproved of the additional tax.
That said, the liberals had 20 years to correct either of those blunders, and they did nothing about them, so they're not on any higher moral ground, but blaming NAFTA on them while excusing through omission the people who actually enacted it is nothing short of re-writing history.