Hewers of wood and drawers of water.

[densa44]

This is how Cardinal Richelieu described Canadians to Louis the 14 th. For you scholars out there you will recognize it as a quote from the Bible. It was not a faltering characterization of Canadians.

I didn't want to add this to the Trump post already running.

My question is; why don't we process all of the softwood lumber right here? We can turn the logs into 2x4s plywood and IKEA furniture if we wanted to. Why not?

I have been opposed to shipping our raw materials off shore for many years, here is a great chance to add manufacturing in Canada with the American tariff helping. Why not?

[Badgerbadger]

Originally Posted by densa44

This is how Cardinal Richelieu described Canadians to Louis the 14 th. For you scholars out there you will recognize it as a quote from the Bible. It was not a faltering characterization of Canadians.

I didn't want to add this to the Trump post already running.

My question is; why don't we process all of the softwood lumber right here? We can turn the logs into 2x4s plywood and IKEA furniture if we wanted to. Why not?

I have been opposed to shipping our raw materials off shore for many years, here is a great chance to add manufacturing in Canada with the American tariff helping. Why not?

Because it provides greater shareholder value to multinational corporations to ship raw materials to places where people work for pennies a day, and regulations are of the "low cost" variety, to be turned in to useful products.

[thumper]

Originally Posted by densa44

My question is; why don't we process all of the softwood lumber right here? We can turn the logs into 2x4s plywood and IKEA furniture if we wanted to. Why not?

Because Cardinal Richelieu was right. It's the same reason why we ship live cattle to the US, don't process our own oil into gasoline, or wheat into pasta (or even flour). We just rip stuff out of the ground and ship it out of the country for others to 'add value'. Go on out to Prince Rupert and see the bay choked up with floating raw logs waiting to be loaded up and shipped out.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Badgerbadger

Because it provides greater shareholder value to multinational corporations to ship raw materials to places where people work for pennies a day, and regulations are of the "low cost" variety, to be turned in to useful products.

Not enough Canadians to make it worth their while, that's why we keep hearing we need more immigrants.

Grizz

[Big Grey Wolf]

I thought it was illegal to ship raw logs out of the country without at least cutting them into plank/lumber or timber/cant. I believe it is only FN that can ship raw logs.

[ren008]

So long as the demand for Ikea and Walmart quality goods remain we will continue to export our raw resources for processing. Sad when it is cheaper to ship material across the globe and back vs paying wages for someone to process it here but that's the way it is.

The scary part is that "Chinese-Junk" products are getting better and still staying cheap, same cycle the import car market faced years back and even if I have to buy a Chinese made doodad 2 or 3 times vs a "quality" NA made product its still probably gonna be way cheaper most of the time to go China.

[JamesB]

Canadian businesses are over regulated, over taxed, and forced to pay higher energy costs that businesses in most other countries. The only way to get Canadians to pay more for Canadian made products would be to become more isolationist and restrict foreign imports. This is unlikely to ever happen, and waiting for business friendly governments to make Canada more attractive to business owners is taking a long time.

[fitzy]

Someone ask a union rep why it's so expensive to process material here ...