I don’t know if Iceland is a country we want to emulate given its present circumstances (though I do agree that their district heating systems are great).

“My idea is simply this: First we fix our own damned country, our own economy, and our own lives, and THEN let’s worry about trading with other nations once we’ve set the example by fixing our own systems here at home.”

I believe this is called the “North Korean Plan”.

the comments about EU “free trade” are interesting, given that to compete with them we should have a distinct advantage … that is the average worker in Europe puts in about the same number of days on the job, on an annual basis, as the average member of Parliament.

I sure do hope the next election features attack ads trying to link Harper to Sarkozy (Gordon Brown would be the more obvious comparison). Is Stephen Harper going to ditch Laureen for a supermodel like his hero, Sarkozy? We just don’t know. He won’t say.

“My idea is simply this: First we fix our own damned country, our own economy, and our own lives, and THEN let’s worry about trading with other nations once we’ve set the example by fixing our own systems here at home.”

Uhhh, the biggest problem with our economy is THAT OUR EXPORTS ARE GOING TO HELL BECAUSE OF THE DOWNTURN IN THE US. More trade elsewhere fixes that.

“A free trade agreement with the EU is fine but we certainly do not need or want closer ties or political links to it…”

If those political ties involve Sarkozy giving a middle finger to the separatists on a regular basis (like he just did), I am all for them. Sarkozy just became my favourite French President (take that VGE!).

Regardless of who we have free trade agreements with Canadian firms will still need to compete with those goods/services produced in parts of the world with much lower labour/regulatory input costs.

The expansion of free trade agreements is inevitable, the salient issue to Canadian governments is whether we’ve taken the appropriate steps to maximize the benefits of FTA’s to the Canadian people by solving our troubling productivity crisis.

Canadian ingenuity needs to be our greatest resource, not the stuff we were lucky enough to find in our backyards.

“Canadian ingenuity needs to be our greatest resource, not the stuff we were lucky enough to find in our backyards.”

I don’t know if that is quite true. Canada is too small to engage in high-tech competition in more than a few advanced industries (or in niches like commuter jets). Moreover, because of the high degree of foreign ownership, as well as our size, Canadian firms have and should continue to do well through technological transfer from the US, and research conducted overseas.

Industries tend to cluster in particular areas, thanks to government help, and the proximity of institutions like universities. Silicon valley, for instance, is conveniently close to Stanford and Caltech. It is easy to say “we need to innovate more”. In practice, however, it may pay off to import technology, while focusing on making Canadian firms producers, rather than innovators.

You are right that Canada’s productivity performance is dismal – we are only 11% more productive since the early 80′s (with most of that happening over the last ten years), compared to 25% for most of the OECD over the same period. It is a particular kind of innovation, however (process innovations rather than product innovations) that are likely to catapult Canadians to greater productivity and prosperity. Reducing the costs of doing business by removing barriers to trade are one way of getting the same effect of improved productivity, at least vis-a-vis the EU.