[amorak]

Originally Posted by Bownesian

I'd rather this group than yet another anti-Israel resolution out of the broken, corrupt and useless United Nations General Assembly.

The member states (and meta-states, in the case of the EU), represent the most powerful world economies. In a world where I have no choice but to buy stuff that is made half a world away in China and where bad mortgage regulation in the United States can lead to state bankruptcies in Europe, it is the height of foolishness to think that the leaders of these economies shouldn't get together from time to time to talk about what works, what doesn't and make macro-economic decisions to help everyone.

New World Order theories aside, Canada has a choice -
1) Participate in international trade discussions (including having a voice on social justice and environmental issues, if that's your thing) and participate in international trade.
2) Don't participate in those discussions but participate in international trade and hope that the decisions made by others aren't too damaging to our economy.
3) Don't participate in international trade and get used to being poor like all the other non-trading nations.

I am in favour of our government having a voice in international trade issues but I understand the point of view that says we should keep our money to ourselves. I have no time for anti-scientific, anti-trade groups who would have us stop using oil, stop trading and return to the 19th century.