Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee
5. Our country’s survival depends on very quickly establishing the sale of our resources to global partners.
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I'm old enough to remember when Canada and the U.S. started talking about the bilateral Canada-U.S Free Trade Agreement, which of course was quickly replaced by NAFTA. At least I am old enough to remember what the adults were talking about at the time, and my parents were politically active, therefore it was talked about a lot within my proximity. During that time, it dominated the news and there was a lot of contention about the pros and cons of getting in too deep with the U.S. It was something that Reagan had initiated and Mulroney, being a Reagan lap dog, bought in completely.
I remember specific talking points from critics at the time saying that we would be selling out to the Americans, it would make us too reliant on their market, we would lose industrial capacity, Canadian businesses would be bought my American interests, more prone to American whims, and so on. It took 35 years to play out, but it seems like a lot of critics were right at the time. Critics back then warned that we should diversify and not put all our apples in one basket, but it was just too easy and tempting for politicians. And to be fair, it wasn't just Mulroney. Every subsequent government has no issue milking that teat and did nothing to change anything.