the audacity of individuality

The doomsayers say banks first, than the rest of the economy comes tumbling down. Sort of a no-brainer, seeing as how much our globalized economic state relies on the credit and deficit radical free market. While bipolar America wrestles with its ideological roots in the free market economy, the Canadian government is appearing to step it up a notch with a confident, if delusional, declaration that we will more or less unscathed by the American and global recession (just don't say the "d" word). Ideologues, at least in the United States, are unsure of what root to follow: former hardline libertrarian conservatives are supporting big bank bailouts and left-wing liberals are signing off on government paychecks to fatcat CEOs.

Yet while Milton Friedman is rolling in his grave, many other Americans on both all sides of the political spectrum, are opposed to such bailouts. Here in Canada, however, the opposition to government support of troubled industries, whether banks (relatively secure) or auto-makers (on the verge of collapse), is thoroughly ideological and have been ignoring the future ramifications of their (in)action. In the same news day that had Financial Minister Jim Flaherty pronouncing that the Canadian public is against "bailouts" of the "domestic" auto-makers (without differentiating between the American companies and the Canadian plants), the Globe and Mail was reporting that unemployment may reach its highest rate in two decades due to auto layoffs. No connection was made in either article.

Jim Flaherty has made it quite clear that the current policy is inaction. "Monitoring" the situation at best. He then past the buck over to Industry Minister Tony Clement. With the newly expanded cabinet, expect a lot more of this situation (funny how the promise to cut down on pompous Liberal titles has not suited the purpose of the Conservative government). Will Clement pass this problem along to the Transportation Minister before the government announces nothing will be done, hoping that the economic situation will resolve itself? 

I'm not in support of bailouts with public money. I am not in support of ideological warfare against Canadian blue-collared workers either. The question I have is whether the Conservative government can overcome its partisanship in this matter. If the political stalling is the genuine result of not having a clue what to do, then reaching out to ideas outside of the conservative box should be on the plate. If, however, the conservative box is all that the Canadian people will be given, is this stalling a conscious decision by our government to let the free market reign supreme and allow Canadian blue collared workers to lose their livelihoods because of the incompetence of the Detroit Three to make a decent product? 

To clarify my question - how many options is the Conservative government in Canada considering in the matter of the potential collapse one or more of the three major North American auto-makers and its affect on the Canadian plants?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 8:56 pm and is filed under politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.