Buzz Off

Buzz Hargrove is quite a chameleon. You just never know where he's going to be next. He started off NDP orange, then changed to Liberal red. How long before we see him with Steve Harper in Tory blue? His ability to adapt and play the field would be admirable if it was only backed up with thoughtful union policies; "Strike, strike, strike!", is all you can come up with?

So where is Buzz today? First he opposed strict, mandatory emissions targets for vehicles in Canada, worrying that they would bankrupt the auto industry and decimate his membership. Sounds exactly like the alarmist reactions coming out of the Fraser Institute. Woe to the economy if we consider the planet! Global warming makes strange bedfellows doesn't it Buzz?

Now he's demanding free trade agreements with the Far East to stave off massive layoffs at Chrysler. Free trade agreements? His argument is that they have been locking out the North American industry while we have been inviting them in. There is probably a measure of truth in what he says but a quick check online found Ford Japan and GM Japan in seconds. So what's the problem, you're there?

You see that Buzz, his members' employers and the Fraser Institute are all trapped in a gigantic bubble. This bubble contains massive gas guzzling vehicles, fat immobile Canadians and Americans and ideas about what is normal and desirable. The rest of the world, including the Far East cares little for these wasteful vehicles. Gasoline and roads are expensive for them. You couldn't sell them an SUV if you tried.

So at the core of our layoffs and bursting bubbles is our own fantasy. Buzz, no one wants to buy our vehicles and we, if we only knew, shouldn't want to either. No free trade agreement on earth can save North American companies. Farewell.