Canada doesn't exactly have demographics on its side... especially if you were to cut out Alberta. You'll see the majority of future production either go to Mexico (for labor cost and skill considerations) or the U.S. (for geopolitical reasons... Shinzo Abe gets it while Merkel clearly does not).

Canada and Mexico bent the knee. ;-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

It was pretty well inevitable. The Liberal Party in Canada would have lost big if a deal was not made. Any party in power in Canada would have lost bigtime if a deal was not made. Milk and cheese will be cheaper now. Besides we are just getting started on that big bridge. Which I heard the other day will take 6 years to complete once construction is started. I think it took 6 years to get the thing approved.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

What happened up in Quebec yesterday with that election? Oof!

And yeah, it took years to get the Gordie Howe Bridge approved mostly because of Matty Moroun and his crime family fighting it every step of the way. Google that guy. To me, he's the very definition of slum lord and block buster.

So now, the bridge has been finalized and they say they can do it for such-and-such amount of money and in about six years or a bit less (it's almost 2019 now). Hell, we can't even get piddly-a$$ road repaving done quickly because of lockouts and strikes, so yeah... we'll believe it when we see it.

I say let the Canadians build the entire thing. Then it would get done right and they'd be very polite about it, too. ;-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Infrastructure is a major problem. My town has 4 major bridges over the Thames. Right now two are closed because we had no choice. Engineers found critical defects. We are only fixing them because we have to. Increasingly facing detours out in the county as bridges are closed because we did not maintain them.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Infrastructure is a major problem.


It's a problem in Canada and the U.S.and something I don't really understand.

Every politician in history has pledged big infrastructure projects which tend to create good jobs within the respective country, if done right would use local manufacturers and materials and is generally a good use of taxpayer money. Every election there are promises and every year there end up being big delays, projects not getting off the ground etc.

I'd love to see more of these as public/private projects where government can help clear hurdles (environmental) and then private enterprises take over because they know how to actually get things done. I'm always baffled why more aren't done and we end up with crumbling infrastructure where we only react once things have fallen down.

Countries like Singapore have left us in their dust and it seems to me that it would be a no-brainer to focus on creating high paying domestic jobs. I must be missing something.

I am reading a book called Tailspin right now that has a whole chapter on that. Have not read that part yet. Part of the answer is rich people don't want to pay for higher taxes to do infrastructure. Due process to get bridge built is more expensive (environmental approvals, environmental mitigation etc.) and other things. You are right other countries left us in the dust. Driving around Norway was an eye opener. They have lots of oil money but we do to.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I feel a song coming on.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Sounds like the house Dems have finally gotten on board and agreed to pass the trade bill. This could be the rare win/win for everyone.

Maybe it was they petitioned for some stronger labor protection and Trump and his team conceded and made those changes. I guess that is contrary to what trump said in his state of the union address that they can continue to investigate or we can get stuff done?

But yes it is a win win.

https://thehill.com/...nafta-deal-this-year

I thought it was the "Do Nothing Dems" that couldn't walk and chew gum?

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Suffer Well.