Build Canadian! No Beggar Thy Neighbour We

by Diane Wilson

Howard Dean did it for me. Last night in an interview with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC Former DNC Leader Dean praised President Obama's proposed health care reform, saying it will be "a saviour for America. Maybe our automobile companies will finally be competitive with Canada's again."

Mr. Dean, Canada does not have any car companies. We have foreign car companies -- yours among them -- and they are not shy about going cap in hand to our federal and provincial governments. Recently, Chrysler and GM asked for C$10 billion in government aid, in a restructuring plan that will cut GM's workforce to from 20,000 in 2005 to a measly 7,000 in 2010, as noted on the CBC.

Dean spoke only hours after Pittsburgh-based US steel announced its plans to lay off 1,500 workers in Canada. According to The Globe and Mail, this will be the first time that the storied Stelco plant has been shut down. And these cuts follow a host of cuts by other foreign owners like Rio Tinto Alcan (1000)and Vale Inco (423). News late today confirms that Chrysler is eliminating the third shift at its Windsor, Ont. assembly plant, slashing 1,200 minivan workers.

In view of the cuts to Canadian workers, it is time to build Canadian. I would like Research in Motion creator Jim Balsillie to have lunch with Magna's Frank Stronach. I think these guys could dream up a fantastic new Canadian car before their entrees arrive on the table. They could buy Chrysler or GM -- both are cheap and come with loads of government help -- or pick up one of the shuttered plants in Windsor. We already have the aforementioned health care in place. We have great brainpower from places like Waterloo. Why can't Canada build a car that has the same Wow factor as the Blackbery? Maybe the Trackberry Hybrid. It can't come soon enough.