20. February 2009 by Kari Calder.

What is protectionism? It is the economic policy restraining trade between nations, through tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas and a variety of other regulations that are there to discourage importing. This contrasts with our “free trade” agreement and creates problems. I can understand why, in theory, President Obama wants to put this in place to stimulate the American Economy, but would it do more harm than good? It certainly shows a lot about the United States of America’s need to preserve themselves but doesn’t it show some disregard to the other nations that they have been dealing with for centuries? When the tough get going…the US puts on the brakes?

Should Canada get on the same train as the president of the United States? The huge economic stimulus plan was passed and is called a ‘good start’. He has made it his mission to stimulate the US economy and warns of a deepening financial crisis unless the bill is passed.

On February 14th, 2009 the G7 leaders rejected trade protectionism. They agreed that each needs to get their stimulus packages flowing as quickly as possible and to improve access to financing but the also cautioned against trade protectionism. It seems that any of these measures taken now would be regretted down the road and that was spoken by Canadian Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty. It is short sighted.

At the debut of US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, he assured his counterparts that President Barack Obama’s $787 billion US plan to resuscitate the economy, which has been approved, would not violate in any way the United State’s commitment to free trade.

Canada and the US have the world’s biggest trading relationship with more than $1.5 billion a day.

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.

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20. February 2009 by Kari Calder.

Up to 1000 layoffs are possible at Potash Corp, however we have to keep in mind that this is a unionized entity and they have to forewarn of any possible layoffs and the reality of it may be a small fraction of this amount. Also that no one is permanently fired and these workers can collect some benefits when they are laid off.

At Potash Corp approximately one third of the employees that were given lay off notices have been working on maintenance and expansion projects although this has been pushed back. In another mine near Saskatoon, Agrium, they were set to lay off 380 employees but have already pushed this back by a month and it is very likely that it will continue to be pushed back.

You have to keep in mind that crown corporations and the Potash Corporation lays people off and rehires them all the time. It is part of the business. Most people in Saskatchewan understand that and realize that news sources such as CBC are uninformed but it is unfortunate that the news insists on focusing on the negative when they need to do more research before they try to drag a great booming Saskatchewan economy down with the rest of the world.

People need to eat so farmers will continue to buy potash which means that Saskatchewan will not be going down the toilet like all the doomsdayers want to believe. Houses in Saskatoon continue to sell and people continue to move to Saskatoon. 

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.

Posted in Saskatchewan News, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon News, Saskatoon | No Comments »