OVER THE EDGE
Gctober 10-24, 2007

Opinions

11

The World Upside-Down According to Mitch

Mitch Grant - Photo Editor

YES! Another column to be printed in the most pretentious
paper in Prince George, Over the Edge, the Official Under-
graduate Student Newspaper! And what’s worse? It’s yet an-
other branch by the Photo Editor away from taking pictures.
From freelance photographer, to photographer/writer, to photo
editor/ writer and now to photo editor/writer/columnist, what
can’t I do?

Now that you, our readership, are quite aware of how pom-
pous and self-assured I am, maybe I should introduce the idea
for my column.

Every two weeks now you will get a rmndown on ssnpaeehaiig
happening nationally or internationally that I think is import-
ant. You will have the option to read my opinion and take on it,
or use it to clean up your pet or roommate’s mess.

My greatest hope is that you will hate my column, and being
pretentious yourselves, dispute my opinion by writing into the
editor so we can publish your work as well. Or you may love
it and write in, in agreement.

So what will end up on the chopping block for the com-
mencement of this column? Stephane Dion, his Liberal Party,
and the current value of the Canadian dollar (CAD).

The end of the twentieth century saw the collapse and ref-
ormation of the Conservative party and its predecessors. Is it
possible that the beginning of the twenty-first could spell the
same for the Liberals? Current events could make one think
so. Since Jean Chretien stepped down in 2003, Canadians
have been able to watch the Liberal party move from a ten
year strong majority government to a party riddled with in-
: fighting and a real lack of strong, central leadership, rocked
by issue after scandal. As Chretien stepped from the seat of
power, knowledge slowly filtered to the public through the
media, of a scandal within the Liberal party of Canada over
endorsements. This_Jeft the new leader Paul Martin — the fi-
nance minister during the time the scandal is reported to have
taken place — to deal with the aftermath. Shortly thereafter
the Liberals managed to squeak out a minority government in
2004 that sat for two years until the Conservative party, lead
by Stephen Harper, won a minority government. They ran on
the basis of a change from not only the scandal of the Liberal
party but also from the current prime minister at the time, Paul
Martin, and a new unheard of accountability in the workings
of the federal government.

Seeing that his fifteen minutes were up, Paul Martin stepped
aside and what can be described as only a gong show ensued,
' as different candidates vied for the Liberal Leadership pos-
ition held in the past by great men, the like of Pierre Trudeau.
However, what the Liberal Party of Canada got was a man
barely able to speak the primary language of Canada, Mr
Stephane Dion.

However, this language ineptitude should not be held against
him as the current PM has about as much trouble with French
as Dion does with English. So now the Liberals are left with a
bright new star, who not a year after taking the reins of party
leadership, loses three ridings in Quebec in the September
18th by-elections to the Bloc, Conservatives and NDP, in-
cluding the 70 year stronghold (minus 5 years of belonging
to the PC) of Outremont! And so we come to the most recent
Liberal weakness, Jamie Carroll, one of Dion’s largest leader-
ship supporters, and current Liberal Party National Director,
who is quoted by three Liberal MPs as commenting, “If I hire
more Francophones, then I will have to hire more Chinese as
well.” Since that point only a few days ago, Liberals, includ-
ing notable senior Quebec members, have demanded Carroll’s
resignation/termination, which Dion has refused, supporting
his right hand man the whole way and so has cut the liberal
party in nearly half as more members begin revolting against
Dion and his decision.

However, with the throne speech only a few days away, the
Conservative party is looking only slightly stronger in parlia-
ment then the Liberals are in public. Both the NDP and Bloc
are refusing to budge on their demands from the Speech from
the Throne, else they will vote against it.

This leaves the Conservative party’s current fate in the hands
of a Liberal party whose leader changes his mind depending
on which media company he is talking to. I myself have heard
him say or read about him saying, that the Liberals will wait

and see about, support, and vote down the throne speech from
multiple news sources.

With their party in such an apparent condition, are the Lib-
erals really ready for an election that will cost the Canadian
people millions in taxes and give Stephen Harper and his Con-
servatives a good chance at a majority, and perhaps even give
Jack Layton and his NDP a chance to snag more seats from the
crumbling Liberal Party of Canada?

The only seeming reliefs to the Liberal party in recent news
have been two snafus committed by the Conservatives. Sep-
tember 27th saw the conservatives announce a surplus of 13.8
billion dollars, which they decided to use towards a minor cut
towards personal taxes (approximately $30/taxpayer) and put
the remainder towards paying off the national debt, which has
caused quite a stir with many large Canadian communities.
Saskatchewan Finance Minister Pat Atkinson was so angry
over the matter that he called Mr Harper “stubborn”. He said
that they should have applied the funds to contested equaliza-
tion payments for the provinces, to help finance the building/
upgrading of the crumbling infrastructure in major Canadian
cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Regina.

However, had he spent the funds in the provinces it would
have thrown yet another nail on the Throne Vote of the Bloc,
as one of their more severe demands was the ceasing of spend-
ing by the federal government in provincial areas. The next
seeming snafu to the Conservatives, though less publicized,
was that of Stephen Harper’s old leadership campaign man-
ager, and confidante, Tom Flanagan. Mr. Flanagan recently
submitted a paper on C2C Electronic Journal, questioning the
reliability of a Governor General who was nominated by the
Liberal party under Paul Martin and whose husband is/was a
supporter of separatism.

He posed. that, were-the. Conservative government to be de-
feated, would Her Honor call a new election or step across the
floor to the Liberals and ask them to form a coalition govern-
ment?

However, Mr. Flanagan has since apologized publicly, in-
cluding on Mike Duffy Live, to Her Honor Michaelle Jean,
commenting that there has been no reason yet to doubt the
Governor General’s actions.

Mr. Flanagan has also recently published a book that the
Liberals have been using as a leverage to say that, if the Con-
servatives were to win a majority government then their hid-
den agenda would come into the light and we would have a
“Thatcherite government, a Reagan government, a Bush gov-
ernment”.

And so we move to my next rant, that of the current standing
of the CAD. While researching this I had the ability to watch
the CAD rise and finally, on sitting down to write this, I see the
CAD is worth $1.0042 US.

This means that for the first time in 31 years, our dollar is
worth more then the American dollar. Many attribute this to
the rising price of oil and natural gas as the CAD has so been
dubbed the “petro-curréncy”, meaning most people wishing to
invest in oil, may also, or may instead, invest in the CAD.

Not only are we seeing our dollar break a 31-year record, but
also five years ago in 2002, the CAD reached a record low of
$0.6179US, showing a total rise of $0. 3863US i in
the value of the Canadidndollar. °°" =~

To many average Joe Canadians, this has been
heaven as we purchase even more over the bor-
der goods, from items on EBay to cars.

Why this ever increased spending? As Canad-
ians watched their dollar rise and their economic
inferiority complex to the US lower, many looked
at the price of goods on their shelves, and noticed
that they were still paying the same price, and
Americans were still paying less.

Many students at UNBC are Business, Com-
merce, or Economics majors, minors or have
taken courses.

Would someone care to explain why one should
or would continue to pay up to 1.4 times more for
the same product simply because they are buying
it from a retailer within our own borders?

I am not talking about Canadian made lumber

or wheat, but every day products, like hobby supplies, clothes,
shoes, food and even vehicles. Unfortunately, many retailers
in the States, including major car dealerships, are now refusing
to sell to Canadians, forcing them to buy from their Canadian
dealerships, putting more money in their pocket and stinging
the Canadian customer the difference.

This is no reason for cheering for the “booming Canadian
economy”, since if one takes the time to compare the exchange
of the CAD to the British pound, the Euro, or the Chinese
Renminbi, they will find that the American and Canadian ex-
change for nearly the same value, with the CAD only slightly
(sometimes less then a cent) more valuble. Because the US is
Canada’s primary trading partner, what effects their economy
effects ours.

Many are blaming the current USD value slump to the Euro
— in fact the lowest it has ever been — to the current slump in
home sales and the credit crunch in the United States.

Does this mean the value of the CAD will continue to fall?
In this Editor’s opinion, Canada should take this opportun-
ity to increase trade negotiations with other economic super-
powers within the world like China and the EU.

This will help shore up the value of the CAD even more,
while it still holds a short lead of that of the USD, and in turn,
strengthen our own economy in case something dire should
happen to the American economy.

Not to be a doomsayer or what-have-you, but every major
nation in the history of the Earth has fallen at some time or an-
other. Were the US to go the path of Egypt, Greece, Rome, or
other major powers throughout history tomorrow, they would
not bear the burden alone and Canada could unfortunately,
easily be hauled with them.

And so I draw myself to a close. If you are still reading I
thank you, and assure you that, as.I get more used to this idea
of a column that my skili in writing and reporting will grow.

Why these two stories?

Why are they important?

We have a large population of POLS/INTS majors at UNBC
and I believe news of that realm is more then welcome. Also,
as active and future participants in the political system our-
selves - students have traditionally been quite active within the
political arena, yet we are so often ignored by politicians as
being young and uninformed - we should know what’s going
on, so we may better make informed decisions.

The CAD was simple, in a globalized world, we buy over
borders through electronic means on a regular basis. I know
many who do on a daily basis, so it informs others that this is
more then feasible now.

On top of that, we as students often have tight and overspent
budgets, and I believe you have the right to know that many
companies are putting the pinch on OUR pockets at their gain,
even more so then normal!

Stay tuned. Next issue I go international and jump on the
reporter bandwagon as I plan to address the current situation
in Myanmar, if you still want to hear my take that is. Until next
time, cheers!

_AnicL. Booth PhD, ‘MES, BA, MCI :
Associate Professor