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Indeed however that particular MP did not speak for the government and was also merely a personal opinion, wrong as it may be.

   

Canada already has a number of trade agreements with many countries around the world (Israel, Korea and Europe come to mind), there is nothing stopping you from expanding your trade with those countries, except of course costs. The government did its job by establishing the trade agreements, now its economic interests and competition that take precedence.

   

Exactly, the costs. Which is also a primary reason why we trade primarily with the U.S is because of convienience which is what HL said. It helps of course to trade with the richest nation on Earth, that is a given but to say that it is in our "only" interests is misleading. It's up to the government of this country to dictate, not economics 101 sorry, on how our trade should go and if that means losing more markets in the U.S, which would be unlikely and unfortunate, then thats that. It also doesn't help when our primary interest proves to be more of a hinderance than a benefice hence more market diversification. IMO, I would want more diversification in our markets and not rely on 80% of the U.S but then again, I am not the government of this country.

   

Costs are not a convenience, the cost of your product to the end user will dictate where you sell your product. Try for example liquifying your natural gas and selling it abroad, the costs would be too high, granted there might be some market out there, but you can't compete with pipelines.

Can you explain to me how your government would drive Canadian companies to compete in other markets when your costs of manufacturing and mostly your costs of shipping make you uncompetitive?

   

I said imports, not total energy usage. Check out your own gov't websites if you don't believe my numbers

Dep't of Energy

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petr ... mport.html

Canada (1.493 million barrels per day)
Mexico (1.468 million barrels per day)
Saudi Arabia (1.180 million barrels per day)
Nigeria (1.094 million barrels per day)
Venezuela (0.909 million barrels per day)...

Total crude oil imports averaged 9.380 million barrels per day in October(2005)

1.493 Million divided by 9.380 million = 15.9168%. I guess I under-estimated by almost one whole percent...

More proof from the US Embassy...

http://www.usembassycanada.gov/content/ ... ons_102805

Overall, of course, Canada provides over 15% of net U.S. oil imports, over 90% of net U.S. natural gas imports, and 89% of net electricity imports. Canada also provides 27% of uranium used in U.S. power plants, a trade that is also likely to grow given strong U.S. support for nuclear, and its many clean air benefits.

   

Wow. Talk about holding a grudge. Not to mention the whole manifest destiny thing........ That still creeps the shit out of me, that the mentality that your country should rule an entire continent(and with these new radicals, the world) was acceptable at the time, and still going....Just look at the expansionist party..........

   

Actually you have to look at the overall picture. We consume 21 million barrels of oil per day. The total amount of oil imports from Canada represents 7 to 8% of our energy consumption. When you combine that with our natural gas consumption it is even lower.

The point I was trying to make was your oil and gas are significant, not detrimental.

   

Gee Zuzz, start a thread on Manifest Destiny, you may learn a thing or two.

   

America starts to expand westward, and begin to accumulate territory rather quickly, They think it's a sign of God that he wants them to rule the continent. SO they start to think that way.


The End.






I'm just glad that the sentiment is not that widespread anymore. Phew.....

   

Well if you say so.

   

The wink means I'm being sarcstic. You need to learn that about me, until an issue become truly serious, I will treat it with alot of sarcasm.

   

Actually I realized you were being sarcastic, I sometimes get lazy and don't add smilies

   

Ahh, mah bad.

   

Bah, you're cool in my books, I like your posts

   

I am glad the Peace Arch is made of stone.... It will last a lot longer than any politician's words.

   

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