Conference kaosws::canada

    It seems like everybody except manufacturing in Kanata were affected.
    With the closure of Burlington Vt. and Springfield Ma. some of their
    business was transferred to Kanata, creating some new jobs there.
    
    To be honest the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) is quite
    scary for Canada ... with Canada - US free trade, it seems like a lot
    of Canadian manufacturing jobs have gone south of the border, in part
    because of higher Canadian wages and taxes.  With Mexico in the picture
    too, it will likely mean that a lot of companies will start using the
    cheap Mexican labour, less stringent working standards and environ-
    mental controls, taking more jobs from Canada and the USA.  It will
    get to the point where Canada and the USA are predominantly service based
    economies ... and I for one can't see that as being good.
    
    While it is due for signature, it still must be ratified by the
    governments of the three countries ... it could be in for a bumpy
    ride here, with an election due in 1993, and Mulroney and the
    Conservatives are on the bottom of the pile now in popularity.
    
    Stuart

    
    Thanks for the information on NAFTA and the layoffs.  The unemployement
    office here has been told to prepare for 60 within the next couple of 
    weeks,  I don't know how many if any will come from manufacturing.  
    Albuquerque has a high unemployment rate all the time.  There are a 
    lot of government offices and a lot of blue collar workers when
    government gets cut unemployment goes up.
    
    I understand NAFTA might help the corporation but it will hurt so many
    other people.  The people in one of the companies in Mexico, I think
    it was TRW were paying their people $9 per day (that's right not per
    hour).  When their contract expired they went on strike for $12 per
    day,  after a while they got their $12 per day but no contract, 9 
    months later they were all replaced with new workers.  It's not ok
    to make a buck at any price, these are people who need to live.  The
    poverty level is incredible there.  I don't know what the solution
    is, their president has been working for this since it will help
    get work there but if it's slave labor then it's an ethical issue for
    the companies that go there.
    
    Hopefully, it will help us to have Clinton as our new president, Bush
    was much more interested in foreign policy than local unemployment.
    This was brought up several times during the election and Clinton said
    he will turn the economy around by creating more jobs.
    
    Neither Canada nor the US can survive as service only.  I liked Ross
    Perot's speaches,  he was right when he said you make money by making
    things, there's not much money in service.  He said we started moving
    in the service direction with Reagan (another dodo).  
    
    Let's all hope for better times ahead, I would like to see all three
    countries be successful.  Even Japan's economy is in big trouble,
    people aren't buying.  When I was in Canada last summer I didn't
    buy anything because of the new tax, I couldn't believe it.  How 
    can small stores and businesses survive are people still buying
    things?
    
    Take care and hang in there.
    
    Adele
    

    One of the major problems of being a "service" economy is the large
    difference in wages for various services. A stock broker and a counter
    person at McDonalds are both in the service industry. If the trend
    continues, we can look at both the US and Canada becomming more like
    Mexico, where there is a huge under-class, a few really rich people,
    and almost no middle class. I think the whole thing smells fishy. As
    usuall, the coperate backed politicians are looking out for their
    buddies, and ignoring the people who actually cast the votes. I can
    only hope that we (in Canada) get our own "Ross" so that I can have
    someone to vote for in our next (long delayed) election.
    
    								Derek 

    
    It's too bad that Ross wasn't able to get elected, he did better than
    any other independent but he didn't take any states.  Maybe next
    time.  He was able to rouse people up out of their stupor and make 
    them aware that they had to get out there and take the government
    back, we had the largest voter turnout ever.  He deserves a lot
    of credit and I hope we'll see him again.
    
    I agree regarding your commend on a service economy, I only hope that
    we won't keep going that way.  someone somewhere is making lots of
    money.  I'm often worried about DEC because I'm seeing a lot of 
    old boys protecting each other with less focus on saving money and
    good people...  
    
    Adele
    

When you were in Canada you didn't buy because of the new tax (GST)?

Actually, you could have gotten a full GST refund when you left Canada.
There are some forms to fill out and receipts to provide though.

/Mario

    
    Hello Mario,
    
    Unfortunately, I didn't know that until I stopped at the duty free
    store entering the US.  I hadn't been to Canada in three years since
    I was working in Valbonne.  What's this new tax for and is it hurting
    retail business?  
    
    Bon courage,
    
    Adele
    

    GST (goods and services tax) replaced the hidden Federal Sales Tax,
    and was supposed to be revenue neutral with that tax and is collected
    at the retail level rather than the manufacturers' level.  It has the
    advantage that it taxes all taxable goods equally whether they were
    imported or home grown, which had been a long standing complaint by
    Canadian manufacturers agains teh old FST.
    
    The GST is a "Value Added" tax, in that tax is levied every time there
    is value added.  The final consumer of a product or service always pays
    the entire whack of the tax on the product, although, it is collected
    any time there is value added.
    
    It certainly did hurt retail business ... but then retail business was
    hurting and is hurting even worse now, but how much of that one can
    lay at the feet of the GST alone is questionable when looked at longer
    term ...  there are just too many other factors.
    
    Stuart