Canada is Too Nice
Since returning home to Montreal, I have reacquainted myself with the joys of the morning newspaper read. While in China and London I got all my information by squinting at my laptop screen, so I have to say there is nothing quite like sifting through that newsprint with a nice cup of caffeine in hand (steaming tea, in my case). Currently, my papers of choice are the Montreal Gazette, the Globe and Mail and the New York Times, when it’s around.
The Canadian press, it seems, has always been fond of lamenting the state of the Canadian economy in regards to our much larger, and richer, neighbour to the south. Casually disregarding that the US is the world power and has a population approaching 300 million people, it has been somewhat of a Canuck tradition to point out that we are less productive, less competitive and all around less capitalist than the great American behemoth. This viewpoint tends to forget that, despite our deceptively large land mass, we are a small country of 30 million people. We cannot be a United States, and we are just going to have to deal with that.
Nevertheless, I’d say Canada is a pretty damn good place to live. Enormously wealthy, stable and clean according to any standards, it’s the type of place where you want to raise your family. What we have here is a nice society that mostly manages to get along in nice, relatively safe cities surrounded by picturesque countryside and stunning natural beauty. Needless to say, I’m proud to be Canadian.
So I have to say that, recently, my morning newspaper read has been a source of a lot of eye-rolling on my part. When I left Canada in 2002, the favourite point of comparison to highlight Canada’s economic shortcomings was the United States, as I mentioned above. Recently, however, the new comparison of choice is-you guessed it-Asia. Not a day goes by without some politician, corporate exec or business journalism hack warning that Canada’s lack of productivity and competitiveness is putting us in danger of ‘losing out’ on the global stage. If we don’t shape up, we are warned, we will soon be overtaken by China, India and all sorts of other countries none of them have ever visited but nevertheless remain darlings of their economic world.
It all comes down to a strange obsession with economic growth. Apparently, China is doing better than Canada because the former is growing rapidly while the latter can only manage a paltry percentage. Apparently, countries like China have tapped the secret to achieving global competitiveness. If us bloated, welfare state losers in Canada would just shake off our false sense of comfort and get serious about competitiveness and productivity, then we’ll stand a fighting chance against the behemoths of Asia.
Of course, to put it mildly, this is all nonsense. If there ever was a country that has the potential to kill our habit of equating pure economic growth with success, that country would be China. The place is an environmental, financial and, increasingly, social mess. You name it, China’s got serious problems with it. It is certainly easy to get swept up in the China Dream- I should know, because once upon a time it happened to me. There is no denying that what is going on in that country is certainly having an impact on the planet. But implying that the quality of life in China will overtake that of Canada even in the long-term is, quite simply, absurd.
I guess what frustrates me is the dishonesty of these pundits. They are using the simplistic mantra of global competitiveness, along with the threat of Asia’s rise, as a cloak for their domestic political machinations. Invoking Asia’s economic growth as a wake-up call to increasing Canada’s competitiveness and productivity is just a PR-friendly way of pushing the usual right-wing line and its obsession with deregulating everything but the kitchen sink (well, actually, maybe that too).
As Canadians, we are instructed to shape up economically, tighten our proverbial belts and strive for the utopia of efficiency and competitiveness. Of course, the advice never really goes further than that. We are not often told exactly how we are supposed to match up to a country such as China. Well, to that end, I think I could offer some simple suggestions, having lived in China and maintained a significant interest in its development. So, here is how, as Canadians, we can become globally competitive:
1) give up our democratic rights and political freedoms
2) welcome millions of peasants into our cities- and treat them like shit
3) scrap all pollution controls
4) scrap all labour laws, safety codes and quality control regulations
5) encourage rampant corruption and illegal land seizures
6) start working 13 hour days, getting paid sporadically if at all
7) welcome beatings or imprisonment for complaining about, or even publicly questioning, any of the above
What a global loser!
The smell of success
If those pundits love economic competitiveness so much, well maybe they should move to China. What’s that, you say? They live in nice suburban homes outside Toronto? Curious.