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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