Towards a level playing field: why Canadian workers must adjust to global realities

When Stephen Harper signed free trade agreements with Colombia and Honduras last year there was an implicit admission that Canada has a long way to go to become competitive with our new partners.

Canadian employers are green with envy at the freedoms that their counterparts in South and Central America enjoy.

Some  pinko union organizer trying to stir up your workers?  Shoot the fucker!

Some human rights smarty-pants giving you a hard time?  Shoot him too!

Our southern partners know that human rights and environmental legislation aren’t worth more than the wink and the nod they were passed with, and they conduct themselves accordingly.

Meanwhile, Canadian employers have their hands tied at every turn by nonsensical labour laws that cover everything from children working in mines, to work hours to minimum wages.  

Not only does this stymie our employers’ efforts to be global players, but it discriminates against Canadian children who would like to work in mines.

And our lavish Employment Insurance featherbed keeps a million and a half lazy Canadians cosy on the couch when they could be sitting in ditches in Northern Alberta welding pipe.

So the current attack on EI  is but the latest attempt to create a level playing field with our new free trade partners.

We still have a long way to go.