Posted on 10/18/2005 3:12:52 AM PDT by HAL9000
There wont be a problem after the eco fruiti gets down the throats of the Canadian Timber Industry like they have here.
They've virtually closed it down in various parts of the USA.
'Be tough on us'
Tue, October 18, 2005
Canada is right to take a firm stand against the United States in the battle over softwood lumber, but we need to stick together on pressing global issues, ex-president Bill Clinton tells a London forum.
By RANDY RICHMOND, Free Press Reporter
Canada and Prime Minister Paul Martin are right to take a tough stand against the United States in the softwood lumber dispute, former U.S. president Bill Clinton said last night in London.
"If I was in his position, I would be very firm. I can't see how your prime minister could be anything but tough on us.
"You've lost some jobs out of this, and a fair amount of money, a few billion dollars."
Clinton predicted even more trade arguments, saying disputes over lumber, fishing and wheat are just "the tip of the iceberg."
Leaders of both countries will push for job protection as globalization shifts the world's workforce, Clinton predicted.
But he warned Canadians and Americans they had better stand together in a world where any number of factors -- from global warming to the emergence of Asia -- could shift power.
"I think we should fight our differences out as hard as we can and then go on."
The two countries are too intertwined to let any rift have a long-lasting effect, Clinton said.
"Anything we do to you, we do to ourselves. Anything you to do us, you do to yourselves."
Clinton delivered an hourlong speech and took part in a 20-minute question-and-answer session before about 3,700 people last night at the Canadian-American Relations Conference at the John Labatt Centre.
Canadians should always tell Americans when they disagree, Clinton said.
"When you think we are dead wrong, you have to disagree with us."
Americans shouldn't retaliate, he added.
"I can't think we have a right to expect our neighbours to always agree with us."
But Clinton warned Canadians that they'd lose their voice with the U.S. if they complained about every little disagreement, over and over again.
And, he added with his trademark grin: "I think you ought to cut us a little bit of slack, because we have to do some things as a world power."
In a wide-ranging speech that touched on globalization, the AIDS crisis and climate change, Clinton drew parallels between Canada-U.S. relations and relations among countries globally.
Showcasing the intelligence of a Rhodes scholar and the flavour of a self-described Arkansas redneck, Clinton juggled facts, figures and anecdotes.
It was a pitch that worked well with the crowd of mostly middle-aged fans who paid as much as $100 a seat to listen.
From the moment Clinton walked on stage to the sounds of Aretha Franklin's Respect, he had the crowd in his constantly moving hands.
"The wonderful thing about being former president is you can say exactly what you think. The terrible thing is no one cares anymore," he said to laughter.
Laughter and applause frequently marked Clinton's appearance.
Near the end, a lone voice from the upper bowl shouted, "Why don't you run for prime minister?" That drew cheers.
Clinton laughed at the suggestion he was jealous of former prime minister Jean Chretien because he got to run for three terms. "I was just tickled to get a second term. Our side has a pretty hard time holding on to power."
But it wasn't all good ol' boy country hokum the Democrat was selling last night.
He painted a dismal picture of the world if countries continue to focus on their disagreements and ignore the threats of disease, poverty, terrorism, pollution and climate change -- all linked to one another.
"Everyone likes to act like nothing really bad can happen."
But terrible things already are happening, Clinton said.
He spoke of a luxury golf course in China smothered by pollution.
"It was a combination of the Versailles palace and the Taj Mahal, but I could only barely make out the outline of this magnificent structure (from 300 yards away)."
The warming of the planet will swallow entire island countries and the coastline of the developed countries, the former president warned.
Meanwhile, the poverty of nations will continue to fuel terrorism.
Yet Clinton held out much hope for the world.
Three changes in the world have given ordinary people more power than ever, Clinton said.
"For the first time in history, more than half the people in the world are living under governments they elected."
Clinton told a story of appearing on a call-in show in China with one of the elected mayors. "I was the sitting president of the United States and the mayor got three times the calls. The people were calling and giving him hell about the traffic." Those people understood who held the real power in their lives, Clinton said.
The rise of the Internet has given people even more power, he added. When China's leaders refused to act on SARS, the country's youth jammed government websites.
After the Internet protest, China "turned on a dime" and started co-operating with the world, Clinton said.
The rise of non-govern- mental organizations also has given ordinary people the ability to accomplish change, he said.
Before last year's tsunami hit South Asia, most of Muslim Indonesia thought poorly of the U.S., Clinton noted. After aid arrived, that attitude changed.
After his speech, Clinton moved from podium to easy chair and answered questions from CBC reporter Sue Ormiston. Her seven-year-old son wanted to know how Clinton thinks President George W. Bush is running the U.S., Ormiston said.
Putting on a pained look, Clinton asked to laughter, "You wouldn't be making up something like that?"
Clinton listed a handful of key Bush initiatives he disagreed with, including tax cuts for the rich and the invasion of Iraq.
But Clinton said he liked both Bush and Bush's father, his longtime political rival.
"Maybe because I am older, I spend more time looking for common ground."
There was a message in there for Canadians and Americans, too.
Recognizing common ground gives credence to complaints when they arise, Clinton said. "It entitles you to be heard over your differences."
IN HIS OWN WORDS
On his role as husband to U.S. senator and possible presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton:
"I'm not much good to her in New York except at the State Fair. She sort of drags me out as the token redneck . . . someone who knows one end of the cow from another. (Whatever her future) . . . Just sign me up. I'm on the team. "
On globalization, which he supports:
"It is well to remember half of the world's population doesn't like global integration because it has not benefited them. "
On how much he likes to come to Canada:
" If I come two or more times, the prime minister promises to offset the dispute on trade by charging me income tax. "
Why protect an inefficient trade at the expense of the American consumer?
I though NAFTA was supposed to tear down trade barriers like this...
What the hell is it with these EX Democrat Presidents?
Can't they STFU, and stop meddling in international relations, and stick to their gutter sexual relations?
Semper Fi
More bad news - the suspension on his law license ends in three months.
I would imagine Bubba Clinton is doing all he can to encourage said trade wars. His goal in life is to smear, denigrate, and diminish the status of America in the eyes of the world. He is a sick man.
85% of Canada's legal trade and all its illegal trade is with the USA. Encouraging them to run off the edge of the cliff like the horde of lemmings they are (meaning the government and the passive mob of sheep who vote them in again and again) may be the best medicine for them, but nobody in Canada seems to realize how going on a hunger strike against your parents is so not a good idea.
We evil environment killers, on the other hand, have carefully managed our forests for decades, especially in the East, so that we never run out of this renewable resource. Now these forestry management techniques are going national. We've had some fungus problems with softwoods. That's one factor that cuts into supply. Attempts to help our own timber industry and our own remaining sawmills in order to reign in prices here at home is another.
Martin knows all this. He's acting like another Chretien.
Welfare states then feel they're bring victimized somehow, like the chronic dependants in NO who refused to evacuate and then expected their government to save them and make all the mess go away overnight.
Eight years later and he still can't grasp it's not his spotlight any longer. His ugly smirk was on the cover of "Woman's Day" or some such magazine this month, too.
Six... just seems like he's been hanging on eight.
I have always thought he was just an anti-american jerk, but the more this guy says and does, I do believe that he has severe mental problems. I think you hit it right on the head. The people in Arkansas knew what they were talking about when they warned us that he would never go away.
Somehow for some reason I thought his life goal was to get as much stramge poon-tang as possible.
What the hell is up with the Democrat Governor of Arizona going to N.Korea to discuss Jimma's nukes?
is this supposed to be unusual or out of the ordinary?
Bill Clinton is a false prophet of doom.
LOL! From the man who sent Jimmy Carter to meet with No Korea to "negotiate" and left the negotiations having committed to No Ko $1 billion of US taxpayer money to pay for nuclear development in No Ko.
Now Clinton wants to command authority he squandered. Do you think that he likes himself now that he knows how to start the coffee machine and to use the ATM? :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.