Posted on 01/09/2006 1:04:21 PM PST by RWR8189
This year, our two neighbors and fellow members of the North American Free Trade Area will have general elections -- Canada on Jan. 23 and Mexico on July 2 -- and from north and south of the border we'll hear some disconcerting rhetoric. But we shouldn't get too alarmed. Our two neighbor nations are asymmetrical demographically and economically -- Canada has 32 million people with per capita incomes of $24,470; Mexico has 104 million people with per capita incomes of $6,230. Oddly, though, they do have symmetrical political party systems.
Each has only one party with substantial support in all regions -- the Liberal Party in Canada and the PRI in Mexico. These parties have been governing for most of the recent past -- the Liberals for 28 of 38 years since 1968, the PRI from 1929 to 2000 -- and both have been beset by corruption.
Both countries have left-wing parties to which voters have not been willing to entrust their national governments -- the New Democratic Party in Canada, the PRD in Mexico. Both have right-wing parties often criticized for being too pro-free market and too pro-U.S. -- Conservatives in Canada and PAN in Mexico.
Canada also has the Bloc Quebecois, on the ballot only in Quebec. The right and left parties also have limited geographic appeal. Conservatives win few votes in Quebec, and the NDP runs third outside a few metro and mining areas, while Mexico's PAN is weak in southern Mexico and the PRD is weak in the north.
In Canada, the Liberals have impressive advantages -- wide geographic reach, a seasoned leader in Prime Minister Paul Martin, an economy that has been growing impressively and greater acceptance in possibly separatist Quebec. But they also have scandal problems, including revelations that an anti-separatist ad campaign in Quebec set up by then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to well-connected Liberals. More recently, there has been a criminal investigation of alleged insider trading involving Finance Minister Ralph Goodale.
In 2004, the Liberals led Conservatives in popular votes by 37 percent to 30 percent, but won only a plurality of seats and had to govern with support from the NDP. Recent polls show the two parties tied or Conservatives ahead, and there are enough seats within their reach for them to form a government with the Bloc Quebecois.
Martin's trump card is anti-Americanism: He pointedly refused to cooperate with the United States on missile defense and got into a verbal spat with the U.S. ambassador. He has charged that the Conservatives' Stephen Harper has a "hidden agenda" -- code words for suggesting he's a clone of George W. Bush.
In Mexico, the leader in the polls could be even more hostile to the United States. The PRD's Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has won wide popularity as mayor of Mexico City and is running on the platform of "the poor first." President Vicente Fox tried to have him declared ineligible, but backed down.
It's unclear how far Lopez Obrador would retreat from the market policies of Fox and his PRI predecessors Ernesto Zedillo and Carlos Salinas de Gortari. But Fox, with no PAN majority in the Congreso, has been unable to open up the oil industry to foreign investment and has sharply criticized the Bush administration and Congress for not allowing easier immigration. Lopez Obrador and Roberto Madrazo, the PRI candidate with longtime ties to old machine politics, would most likely be even more critical. PAN candidate Felipe Calderon, from a different faction of the party than Fox, has been rising in polls, but might be critical, too.
So the prospect is for rhetorically hostile governments in our two neighbors. Even if Harper and Calderon win, they will probably lack legislative majorities, and they will have to deal with the chattering classes in Toronto's Rosedale and Mexico City's San Angel who, like their counterparts in Georgetown, reflexively oppose U.S. foreign policy and ooze with contempt for Bush.
Back around 1990, Canada's Brian Mulroney and Mexico's Salinas strengthened ties with the United States. Those days are gone. But neither country seems about to give up the economic benefits of NAFTA or to join Fidel Castro or Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. We might not like our neighbors' campaign rhetoric, but we can live with the results.
© Copyright 2005 US News & World Report
Distributed by Creators Syndicate
Why should we have to? These cretins depend on the U.S. for their very existence. Close borders and cut off all aid. If they want to complain about the U.S., let's give them something real to complain about.
Please note not all Canadians agree with their government - many of them are Freepers, like myself.
The left gets a LOT of support from US leftie celebrities including those idiots M. Moore and G. Clooney. They refer to Toronto as Hollywood North (I shudder).
We get spoonfed liberal (and LIBERAL) rhetoric from the CBC which is publicly funded (my tax dollars against my will).
We also only get CNN (Fox News is not only premium cable, but by separate subscription which includes DeutchNews in the package for some odd reason).
The long way to my point is - we need an influx and FAST of conservative/traditional Americans to speak the truth and counter your own nationals from perpetuating a fraudulent gov't up here. Shutting borders hurts us all - opening minds will help. Speak up!
Ping, fellow conservatives, Ping.
Canada Ping!
Please FReepmail me to get on or off this Canada ping list.
Some of my family came to the States via Canada. My great great grandfather was the mayor of Parkdale back when it was a decent place to live rather than a Toronto slum.
Although I empathize with the plight of conservative Canadians, I've had it with the non-stop bashing of the U.S. - a country that kept it from involuntarily learning Russian. I doubt actual closure would be required. A mere announcement of border closure within 90 days would do much to put the liberals in their place...and preferably out of office. I hope that in my lifetime I see Canada split with Quebec becoming independent and the Western Provinces joining the U.S. in some fashion - as an independent nation, a commonwealth, or as states.
What a bunch of Carp! Bull Carp!
No leftist slant here! /sarc
I appreciate & respect the anger - my husband is American. I have highly skilled immediate relatives that have made the jump to literally greener pastures in the US.
All I am asking is that conservative America get busy with us. The US left is a solid backer of our the Canadian Left. We need the US right to get in on the action.
Closing borders hurts farmers, auto workers, companies large and small right across the board. We need to show concretely that we work better together. That would go a long way to wiping out a corrupt, wrong thinking government.
Canada is mostly self sufficient. They don't have much of a military, but no serious threats against them either.
Mexico relies on the US greatly. Canada on the other hand is just mainly irreverent for the most part.
They have the ability to be a valid ally economically and militarily, however they cannot take a leading role in either, so instead their efforts to show their independence end up negatively offsetting any benefits.
Mexico is a country that is rich in natural resources and has much scenic beauty. Yet it's riches are concentrated in the hands of a few who like the power that gives them and see no reason to share in the wealth. While encouraging economic development would make them even richer, it would dilute their power.
NAFTA may help build a middle class in Mexico given time, but what really needs to happen is the Mexican people need to take control of their own destiny. They need to demand an end to the corruption that prevents economic development and keeps them poor.
He may be wrong about Canada. I believe the Conservatives are going to win.
Mexico...well, good luck, amigos.
Regards, Ivan
With the exception of recent developments, such as Free Republic, the term 'conservative activist' has been somewhat of an oxymoron.
To the extent that there is a unified conservative message in Canada that is pro-U.S., I'm sure that U.S. conservative counterparts will support it in a variety of ways. However, it seems that the current situation in Canada is such that conservatives lose votes at the polls if seen too closely aligned with U.S. interests even if those interests are good for Canada.
Starting in the 1980s, conservative GOP members went out of their way to help the relatively conservative Mexican party, Partido Acción Nacional (PAN). Although Vicente Fox has been a big disappointment, he would never been elected president without the assistance of the GOP...which saw PAN better representing conservative principles than PRI. I suspect that similar assistance would be available to conservative Canadians.
As of 2003, 87% of Canadian exports went to the U.S. Shutting down the border would collapse the Canadian economy. Threatening to do so would be sufficient. Time for the liberals up there to shut up or pay the consequences. Blame could be squarely placed on the leftists up there for massive unemployment due to Martin and co. continuing to trash the U.S.
They don't have much of a military, but no serious threats against them either.
Canada doesn't have a military because we've subsidized them by providing their national defense with our military. A note informing Canada (cc: Putin) that we would not protect them in the event Russia decided to expand its borders would do much to lay the cards on the table on that front too.
NAFTA may help build a middle class in Mexico given time
There are approximately 40 families who have run Mexico as an oligarchy since the Mexican Revolution. Until they are deposed, the rise of a middle class will be virtually impossible.
Nice to see that ignorance and stupidity is not restricted to
only the left-wing wackos on this side of the border.
While a minority of Canadians are anti-American, I'm pretty sure
your attitude is such that you'd be disliked by the vast majority
of Canadians. - and I'm sure that doesn't bother you and frankly
we could could not care less either.
Your anti-Canadianism is as immature and ignorant as the
anti-Americanism of our left. No diff in my book..
I see these posts (shut down the border etal) every day here
and my recommendation is - go ahead.. Put up or shut up.
All these empty threats make you look kinda dopey.
YAAFM. Read the rest of the thread prior to posting.
I'm pretty sure your attitude is such that you'd be disliked by the vast majority of Canadians.
How shall I ever sleep at night? If it was possible, I'd exhume the bodies of my family buried in Canada and bury them in the U.S. so that they wouldn't be tainted by what you and your ilk have done to turn Canada into a socialist Third World anti-U.S. cesspool.
Nice to see that ignorance and stupidity is not restricted to only the left-wing wackos on this side of the border.
Nope. Guess it applies to you too.
If you wish to report this as abuse (and being a Canuck you'll always need the help of someone to bail you out), note that you started this by posting personal attacks.
At least, he didn't call you "Chretiens"...
BTW, to preach and promote sedition and closing of the border
at the very time we are about to elect a Conservative, pro-American
Federal Gov't ain't all that bright either.
I guess emigration from Canada to the U.S. is not all "brain-drain".
I couldn't agree more. But how can we help?
It seems every time U.S. assistance is detected in Conservative quarters in Canada Martin and the Grits go bonkers.
I mean, admittedly it's a double standard, but how can we combat it?
LOL. Now them thar's real fightin words, pardner... ;-D
This is a good point. The same b*stards that run down the Bush administration (and conservatives in general) in the US are effectively the same people who are behind anti-U.S and anti-conservative rhetoric in Canada and Mexico.
More Americans would do well to take Barone's balanced view: It's not Canadians or Mexicans in general that despise the U.S.; it's their leftist/socialist elites that do.
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