Remember MP from CRAP* Jeff Watson warning that any attempt to meet Kyoto targets would result in :
"job loss, anxiety, depression, bankruptcy, domestic violence, costs to employment insurance or retraining, loss of charitable dollars in communities for people who used to have high-paying jobs but don't anymore and the social services that are funded by those, and in rare instances, suicide."
And this guy is on the Clean Air Act Committee.
He was particularly troubled about "the impact of tough regulations on industries such as the auto sector", noting that he "is the only representative of Ontario and the auto industry on the committee."
Say, didn't Chrysler just lay off 2000 Canadian autoworkers in Ontario on Valentines Day?
Surely Jeff's suicide watch would more properly apply to those layoffs than to any future possible compliance with Kyoto.
Over at his "Getting Things Doner"** webpage, Jeff, a former Chrysler employee himself, bemoans the fact "The Opposition ...conceal their zeal for extreme auto emissions standards".
He explains that "his thoughts and prayers are with his fellow lineworkers", but "DaimlerChrysler will be more successful in the market of tomorrow" and "The Big 3 are making product decisions that will guarantee their future will be bright".
Well, good for them but the rest of us are gonna hafta wear shades.
And Jeff, who the hell do you think you are representing on that Clean Air Act Committee?
*CRAP - Conservative Reform Alliance Party. Jeff ran for all three.
** "Getting things doner"TM - Mes Amis
Alright, if you insist : Sex, nudes, feuds, death threats!
Monday, February 19, 2007
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6 comments:
Alison,
Thanks for my informative chuckles today . . . Went to the "sex, nudes, feuds, death threats" link.
Don't you just love seeing right-wing conservatives getting caught with their pants down? High Larious!
Actually "anonymous" above was me . . . Don't know what happened there.
"the cheap tricks. It's like a bad Tom Clancy novel."
"This is just terrible for the whole brand. We all look like a bunch of morons."
Yeah....heh.
Buzz Hargrove, big cheese of the CAW doesn't take the opportunity to recognise the opportunities presented by the exigencies of the prospects of climate change but instead laments that asian countries are introducing luxury taxes for north american-styled gas guzzlers:
from http://www.thestar.com/article/181619
He took special aim at Japan for tariff and other barriers.
“One story is that if you buy an import, right away your income tax is audited,`` Hargrove said, adding that inspection processes are another way foreign vehicles are kept out of Japan.
Hargrove said Canada was the world’s fourth-largest auto-producing country not long ago but will drop as low as 10th by the end of this year.
“We’re throwing people out of work and young people have no opportunity.”
The majority of Chrysler’s Canadian cuts — 1,300 — will come in Windsor, where Chrysler used to have car and truck assembly plants, engine and spring plants and a foundry. The car assembly remains, producing minivans and the related Pacifica crossover.
Another 350 cuts will come in Brampton and the rest will be in “other operations,” said DaimlerChrysler Canada spokesman Ed Saenz.
About 1,100 of those jobs are expected to be cut this year — more than 700 in Windsor, 350 in Brampton and 30 in west-end Toronto, according to CAW officials.
Eddie Francis, mayor of Windsor, said the cuts are a tough blow to the city.
“It’s difficult to digest and accept just because we are Windsor and we know so many people who are affected by this,” Francis said, adding that possible buyout packages for employees are no comfort.
“It doesn’t soften the blow because we are a city that has been dependent on manufacturing and we are feeling the pain and paying the price.”
“For every job lost here, seven people in the community will be affected,” Windsor Chamber of Commerce president Peter Hrastovec told CBC Newsworld.
The blow in Brampton was softened somewhat as Chrysler announced Tuesday the new 2008 Dodge Challenger will be built at the plant west of Toronto, which will maintain its third shift.
“The unhappiness naturally is the people that are on layoff now and the potential of more layoffs coming in the future,`` said CAW Local 1285 president Vince Bailey.
Torben Williams, 37, a Stoney Creek, Ont., father of an 18-month-old boy, has worked at the Brampton plant for nine years. He noted there was almost a sense of relief Wednesday, but also regret for those losing their jobs.
“I try and build my own buffer and protect myself,” said Williams, who has gone through layoffs and callbacks before.
In the House of Commons Wednesday, government ministers brushed aside calls for a plan to help the auto sector, saying they are already acting.
“Canada’s new government has already taken concrete steps to help the automobile industry and all businesses by reducing corporate taxes and also with Advantage Canada,” said Industry Minister Maxime Bernier.
International Trade Minister David Emerson added that the government “is committed to negotiating better market access into Asian economies."
Never Mind The Bullocks....
or
Check out Jim Bobby's latest:
'Sing Us A Song, You're The Enviro-Man'
.
It's too hard to change the status quo, so we better not even try.
That is until events overtake us and force us, screaming and kicking, into facing an new reality.
Thirty years ago a forward looking president named Carter saw what was down the road.
If a continued increased demand on resources by that most North American of affections was left unchecked, things would come to a abrupt halt.
His successor chose to remove any controls and instead of a soft landing, we're now on the brink of a sudden change.
And it's that rocky in between times that's most difficult.
The MP quoted has an electorate beholden to the auto industry and has been feeling the heat from them if his party is getting things doner™ about it ;)
As long as the government continues to let a free trade stance dictate a new equilibrium things will go on their merry way.
No doubt this can cause problems for CPoC MPs like job loss, anxiety, depression, bankruptcy, domestic violence, costs to employment insurance or retraining and in rare instances, a bad case of the crazy rants.
For cars, we basically follow a standard set by California, and it has about the same population as Canada.
We could have had near the same influence but it was never a priority, more like political poison ivy, until now.
Welcome to the new status quo whether we like it or not.
Smaller cars made offshore will result in lower overall CO2 emissions.
That's probably their only positive immediate impact, well that and it being a a swift kick in the pants to the domestic auto industry.
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