Posted on: 28-11-02 11:46:18
This is good article - especially for those canadians who love to bash US!!
Quote:
For decades, Canada's foreign policy has largely been dictated by a desire to prove some vague superiority to the United States, to embrace any difference for its own sake. Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau's "Canadianization" of the western oil industry and his intent to redirect trade to Europe were largely driven by antipathy toward the U.S. So was the "soft power" initiative of Lloyd Axworthy, Mr. Chrétien's former foreign minister.
The belief that we are simply better than Americans remains a binding dogma among many Liberals and Canadian institutions. It's no coincidence that Françoise Ducros felt safe telling a CBC reporter the president was "a moron" -- anti-Americanism is rampant at the CBC.
It can only be hoped that this incident will have a salutary effect -- it has at least brought Canada-U.S. relations to the forefront of public discourse, and perhaps it can lead to positive change.
On military matters, we have little basis to criticize the United States. It has been the calculated abandonment of our own armed forces that has forced Canada to seek shelter even deeper beneath the U.S. military umbrella. Canada's governments have exploited American goodwill to freeload militarily since the 1960s. Now we are shamelessly doing the same as the U.S. acts against international terror and we waffle.
Canada has largely freeloaded off the recent American economic boom, too. The Liberals have relied on a low-dollar policy to remain competitive, rather than cutting taxes and the size of government. The low dollar and free trade have enabled Canada to prosper without having to innovate much, or to suffer many of the pains and dislocation of industrial retooling.
Even before the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement, our export economy was dependent on the U.S. market. By 1970, 65 per cent of the goods and services we shipped outside the country went stateside. By the time freer trade commenced, that had risen to nearly 75 per cent.
Today, it is 87 per cent. That accounts for more than 40 per cent of our total gross domestic product and most of our economic growth since the early 1990s. The truth is, without the power of the U.S. economy, most Canadians would be poorer, and many millions would be unemployed.
COmplete article at :
http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?id={C901A9B1-5DF2-4277-8BB7-6AC6715E8A85}
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A Proud Indian Canadian
