BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America

Subject: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 02:54 PM

Soooo, whaddya think? I am especially interested in comments for peeps like LH, Q, etcetera.

CBC...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed a series of agreements during their first meeting together Monday.

The agreements are aimed at opening up air travel between Canada and Brazil and funding scholarships for students. The two leaders also agreed to set up a Canada-Brazil business forum.

Brazil is the first stop on Harper's six-day tour of South and Central American countries that will see him trying to improved trade relations in perilous economic times.

Against a backdrop of debt crises in the United States and Europe and market turmoil globally, Harper's arrival in Brasilia is perfectly timed to seek a larger share for Canadian exports in that country's booming economy, the CBC's James Fitz-Morris reported.

"It's important to note that Brazil's economy is larger than Canada's by about 25 per cent and they're growing at a phenomenal rate," Fitz-Morris said of the world's seventh-largest economy. "Their economy grew at more than seven per cent last year" — double Canada's rate — "and that was a time of global economic recession."

Ties between the two countries have been strained, particularly in disputes over government subsidies for Embraer, Brazil's huge aerospace conglomerate, and Bombardier Inc., Canada's Quebec-based aircraft manufacturer.

Harper went to Brasil looking to secure new export markets, which could help stabilize Canada against the financial havoc besetting its largest trading partner, the United States.

An estimated 400 Canadian companies already operate in Brazil, Canada's 10th-largest trading partner. Exports of Canadian merchandise to Brazil totalled $2.6 billion in 2010, up 60 per cent from the year before, and imports were $3.3 billion.

Canada can expect plenty of competition for Brazil's business

Negotiating a free-trade deal with Brazil is trickier, since it needs the consent of three other South American countries — Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay — that are members of a common economic bloc called Mercosur to enter into such an agreement.

The Conservative government has sought bilateral free-trade deals with a number of countries, placing a special emphasis on the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2002, Canada signed a free-trade agreement with Costa Rica, where Harper will stop on Thursday.

Three years ago, Canada inked a free-trade agreement with Colombia, where Harper visits Wednesday. That deal comes into force next week.

And on Friday, Harper will travel to Honduras, where negotiations have been taking place for quite some time to reach a free-trade agreement. There, the prime minister is likely to highlight the role that Canada has played in trying to restabilize Honduras, which went through a military coup d'etat in 2009 and a lot of turmoil since as different factions fought for control. Canada was part of Honduras's truth and reconciliation settlement that helped steady the country to the point it has been readmitted to the Organization of American States.

The Prime Minister's Office proudly points out that Harper will be the first foreign leader to visit Honduras since the acknowledgment that it has re-established democracy, the CBC's Fitz-Morris reported.

Officials from Canada and Honduras have met twice since December. Talks with the so-called Central American Four, comprising Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, have dragged on for a decade. Canada is closer to striking a deal with Honduras than with any of the other countries.

However the PMO has said it does not expect to announce a free trade deal with Honduras on this trip.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: GUEST,999
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 02:59 PM

I take it he didn't ask how many's in a Brazillion . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 03:00 PM

... and 999, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 03:00 PM

Exports of Canadian merchandise to Brazil totalled $2.6 billion in 2010, up 60 per cent from the year before, and imports were $3.3 billion

I hope he is not giving away the farm.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 03:01 PM

How about ex-pats?

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: GUEST,999
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 03:17 PM

I never once saw you post as Pat the Sailor.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 03:19 PM

Both Canada and Brazil have large subsidies. Elements of a trade war are present. They also hurt chances for a fair trade agreement for the Americas. Canada has $1.7 billion in subsidies.
Talks may help minimize some of the problems.

Little of this gets into the press, but trade both ways is several billions.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 03:35 PM

LOL... Ya ever get the feeling that people don't read your posts? Or the original article?

"Exports of Canadian merchandise to Brazil totalled $2.6 billion in 2010, up 60 per cent from the year before, and imports were $3.3 billion"

999, I have only posted to this forum as an ex-pat. But, its only fair to tell you that I didn't post as "Pat the Sailor" there. I posted as "Pat the fannie."

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 03:59 PM

EX? Once a Newf, always a Newf. Of course, I know lots of Newfs that don't consider themselves a Canuck.

Anawhay eh, will Bombardier move a bunch of it's operations (and quip and engineers paid for by the Canuck taxpayers) to Brazil in a hookup with Embraer? My cousin travels to Mexico quite frequently to the Boeing plant that could only have been established through NAFTA. I am wondering if similar deals of whatever shape will happen in this instance.

Will mining will be an issue for Canucks? Ain't thar a lotta gold in them thar hills? I assume Q could speak directly to this issue with authority.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 06:28 PM

Boeing in Mexico?? Their new plant is in South Carolina.
It is under attack by the Labor Relations Board and the Obama administration because South Carolina is a right-to-work state.
BSloggers have mentioning moving to Mexico or China as a result.

Unions have caused loss of jobs in the U.S. since labor is less structured in many countries abroad.
These same BSloggers complain that Chrysler has a plant in Mexico because of U.S. labor meddling, but the plant in Mexico has been there since the 1950s at least (Volkswagen also has a plant there)and is not Obama's fault.

Are you suggesting that the Latin American countries should continue to be hewers of wood and drawers of water? Brazil is becoming a world power.



NAFTA includes Canadan Mexico and the U.S. Brazil not involved yet, I don't think

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 06:45 PM

Boeing in Mexico... yeah. My cousin is there quite ofetn sorting shit out. It's a mess but the labour is cheap.

Ah, if this is not public knowledge, maybe I should not have posted that. He does some "sensitive" engineering with military aircraft.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 06:51 PM

"It is under attack by the Labor Relations Board and the Obama administration because South Carolina is a right-to-work state. "

It is under attack because Boeing brass is on record saying that they built that plant to punish the union.

That is what I have read anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 09:57 PM

Took me a while to figure out the reference to a "Boeing plant" in Mexico. The SATMEX company, which filed in the spring for bankruptcy protection in Delaware, formerly was owned by Hughes, absorbed by Boeing, but now under Loral a. o. ownership.
The Mexican government has awarded a $1 billion contract to Boeing Defense to build three satellites- how this will affect SATMEX, who plan to build their no. 8 satellite, no one seems to know. SATMEX bondholders rejected a buyout bid from Echo Star of Colorado.

Where Boeing will build the satellites is known for one; Orbital of Virginia on a farm-out; a possibility for the other two is South Carolina.

All this is digression, unconnected to the Harper trip to Latin America.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: GUEST,999
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 11:54 PM

Maybe not, Q.         

"Money doesn't speak, it swears."

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 11 Aug 11 - 03:36 PM

Not much reporting on the demonstrations in Costa Rica except a pic of Harper watching them.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: GUEST,999
Date: 11 Aug 11 - 03:50 PM

I got ten bucks says he didn't have a hair outta place. He knows what's important in life.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 11 Aug 11 - 03:53 PM

9... I wonder if his travelling makeup artist uses extra hold?

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: GUEST,999
Date: 11 Aug 11 - 04:00 PM

Indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 11 Aug 11 - 04:18 PM

I wonder if he is required to wear a safety helmet in construction sites? Not the helmet nor the hair could be any harder or thicker than his skull.

Sorry, that was uncalled for. But I HAD ta say it. I just don't like they guy's policies.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 11 Aug 11 - 04:46 PM

nothing like a curare tipped dart from a blow gun to immobilize a monkey

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 11 Aug 11 - 04:48 PM

Ya got any more a that, Ron? Pass it over eh?

Or was that part of his tour? Blowin monkeys? I mean, the part about the darts.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 11 Aug 11 - 07:02 PM

Stephen Harpoon and the Blow Monkeys... so you think you can dance ?

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Aug 11 - 01:33 PM

The important talks are still to come. Free trade with Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay). Free trade with any one of the four depends on the agreement of the group.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 12 Aug 11 - 03:03 PM

Thanks Q... I did not know that.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 01:42 PM

Honduras is onboard. Will Sobeys put bananas on sale soon?

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 08:59 AM

At the stores in town we are paying 89 cents a pound. And that's way too much. Besides, after ya skin 'em and throw away the bone, there's nothing left to eat!

I had a dream last night that Harper lost his passport. One can hope.

Subject: RE: BS: Canucks: Harper in Latin America
From: gnu
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 01:26 PM

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!