June 10, 2010
My View: Canada needs "hands-on" leadership

While it appears that the global economy is beginning to recover, Canada’s economy remains quite fragile.

The Conservative government’s hands-off policies and short-term vision have continued to devastate jobs, particularly in Ontario’s industrial base. Manufacturing is a major economic factor in our province, but the recent global economic downturn and this Conservative government’s policies have left many of the factories in Southwestern Ontario, and elsewhere in Canada, with no option but to shut down for good.

Our manufacturing base has been hollowed out and is only a mere shell of what it once was. The industrial heartland is becoming barren. Many of these industries have simply gone under, moved south, or been taken over by foreign owners.

One major factor is Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s policy of allowing more and more foreign buyouts of our companies and our natural resource industries. Companies like Falconbridge, Stelco, Inco and Alcan have all been bought out by foreign conglomerates.

While foreign investment in Canada is important, we should not allow our natural resources and large industries like Nortel to fall under foreign control. We end up losing out on highly-skilled “value-added” jobs as well as our intellectual property.

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Touring Neptune Terminals as the Liberal Labour Critic
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Nation building, not nation wrecking

By Maria Minna, MP

As Labour critic for the Official Opposition in Ottawa, I have been attending many townhall meetings and roundtables and have heard directly from workers, unions, and employers their visions on how we move forward through the restructuring of the global economy and the new environment in which Canada must now compete.

One such meeting was held in Hamilton, Ontario – arguably one of the hardest hit regions of Canada in recent years. The conference was organized by United Steel Workers of America Local 1005 and an entire day was spent on the theme: “Nation Building – Not Nation Wrecking”. I participated in the full day of discussions and was the only Member of Parliament in attendance.

The discussion centred on what is happening to Canada’s industrial base – from the loss of large Canadian-owned natural resources companies like Inco and Stelco, through foreign takeovers to the export of our raw materials and the loss of highly-skilled Canadian jobs and pensions.

Our manufacturing base has been hollowed out and is only a mere shell of what it once was. The industrial heartland is barren. Many of these industries have simply gone under, moved south, or been bought out by foreign owners.  [Read more]



  
 
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