Month: August 2006

OK all you political trivia masters — here’s one: Have a father and his son ever served as an MP at the same time in the House of Commons? We ask after noting that 30–year-old Ryan Warawa is out to seek the Conservative Party nomination in the riding of Burnaby-New Westminster, a riding currently held by the NDP’s Peter Julian. Ryan Warawa is the son of Mark Warawa, the 56–year-old MP for the riding of Langley.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty recently spoke to the annual meeting of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association. His department has posted his remarks on its Web site and here is an excerpt:

Corner stores are the cornerstone of our economy in Canada. You are the heart and soul of small business. You keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive from generation to generation and many of you, I know, work long hours alongside your families. Many of you provide young Canadians with their first jobs and their opportunities to learn and to teach and to be taught the value of hard work and responsibility and the value of a dollar. So your contributions cannot and should not be underestimated and certainly are not underestimated by the new Government of Canada.

In Ontario alone, convenience stores contribute $12 billion a year to the Canadian economy and provide more than 70,000 jobs, which is an enormous contribution to the province of Ontario, Canada. As your association itself has noted, every 30 days Ontario’s convenience stores have as many visitors as Canada has people—that’s about 32 million people. This impact is profound and your determination is inspiring.

 

Benoit Sauvageau (left) died today in a car accident. Sauvageau was the MP for the riding of Repentigny. I knew him only because he was an effective member of some of the committees, namely Public Accounts, that I covered. He was, it seemed to me, a highly intelligent man with a good sense of humour. A former professor, Sauvageau was first elected to the Commons in 1993 and handily won in the last election, winning by a margin of more than 25,000 votes and taking 62 per cent of all votes cast.

[Wow — the Wikipedia entry for Sauvageau is already updated with news of his death.]

Here is Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe on M. Sauvageau’s death:

« C’est avec un immense chagrin que j’ai appris le décès du député du Bloc Québécois de Repentigny, Benoît Sauvageau.

Mes premières pensées vont à son épouse, Jacinthe, ainsi qu’à ses quatre charmantes filles. Je sais bien la douleur qu’elles doivent ressentir actuellement. Ensemble, ils ont construit une famille merveilleuse.

Benoît était pour nous également un membre de la famille, un frère. C’est pourquoi je tiens à assurer ces êtres qui lui étaient si chères : ses filles Laurence, Catherine, Elizabeth, et Alice, son épouse, Jacinthe, ainsi que ses parents, qui ont toujours été extrêmement présents au cours de sa carrière, que nous sommes entièrement avec eux en ces moments pénibles.

Benoît était un collaborateur de longue date. Il avait été élu la première fois sous la bannière du Bloc Québécois en octobre 1993 et il a ensuite représenté la circonscription sans interruption jusqu’à son décès tragique.

Sur le plan parlementaire, Benoît Sauvageau a accompli un travail remarquable, autant par exemple au niveau de ses responsabilités face aux dossiers liés aux langues officielles que ceux touchant les comptes publics.

Je sais à quel point il aimait son coin de pays, sa circonscription, comme il aimait profondément le Québec à qui il a consacré ses meilleures années.

Les événements comme celui que nous traversons actuellement sont toujours particulièrement pénibles. Durant les treize ans où j’ai côtoyé Benoît au sein de la famille du Bloc Québécois, je peux dire que nous avons vécu ensemble un large pan de l’histoire de ce parti. Ensemble, nous avons traversé les moments heureux comme les moments les plus difficiles.

En 13 ans, des liens très forts se créent. C’est particulièrement vrai quand nous sommes impliqués dans une aventure aussi enivrante que celle de vouloir se donner un pays. Je veux aujourd’hui simplement tenter d’exprimer l’immense vide que je ressens personnellement aujourd’hui à l’idée de son départ.

Professionnellement, Benoît Sauvageau était un député consciencieux, compétent, intègre et dédié à l’endroit des gens qu’il servait. Il a également toujours su relever les défis qui se sont dressés devant lui. Il abordait ces défis avec l’enthousiasme et la bonne humeur que nous lui avons toujours connus. Il était un homme respecté et apprécié de ses collègues du Bloc Québécois comme de ses adversaires.

En privé, Benoît Sauvageau était de ceux qu’il fait bon côtoyer. Il était un homme patient, généreux et qui illuminait son entourage par sa gentillesse et sa joie de vivre. Le matin même de son terrible décès, il faisait savoir aux gens de mon équipe à quel point il se réjouissait de ma visite qui était prévue dans quelques jours dans sa circonscription.

Croyez-moi, Benoît était de ce type de personnes qui sont appréciées de toutes et de tous. Il nous manquera beaucoup. Notre travail, lui, doit toutefois continuer. Benoît ne verra pas un Québec souverain. Soyez sûrs toutefois, et je parle ici au nom de toute la famille du Bloc Québécois, qu’une part de lui restera bien présente en nos coeurs. Nous poursuivrons la tâche comme il l’aurait souhaité.

 

 

The United States buys much, much, much, much more from the world than it sells to the world. Most economists believe that this is an unhealthy trend for the economy of the United States if it persists over the long term. Many economists also believe that, since the U.S. is the single largest national economy on the planet, this is also an unhealthy trend for the global economy. For example, for the first four months of 2006 — these are most recent stats that are available — there were only nine countries in the entire world that bought more stuff from the America bought from them.
Recently, I took a look at the most recent foreign trade numbers issued by the U.S. Census Bureau and present the following snapshots:

• For the first four months of 2006, the American trade deficit is $259.5-billion. In other words, the value of the stuff Americans bought exceeded the value of stuff Americans were able to sell to the rest of the world by nearly $260-billion — and that's just for the first four months of the year.

• For the first four months of 2006, the nations with the biggest trade surplus with the U.S. (or America's biggest trade deficits to turn it around) are (all figures in US$):

1. China ($64.4-billion)
2. Japan ($28.9-billion)
3. Canada ($27.6-billion)
4. Mexico ($19.7-billion)
5. Germany ($16.5-billion)
6. Venezuela ($9.5-billion)
7. Nigeria ($8.6-billion)
8. Saudi Arabia ($7.5-billion)
9. Malaysia ($7-billion)
10. Italy ($6.1-billion)

• For the first four months of 2006, the nations with a trade deficit with the U.S. (or America's biggest trade surpluses) are:

1. Netherlands ($4.6-billion)
2. Australia ($3.2-billion)
3. Hong Kong ($2.9-billion)
4. Singapore ($1.9-billion)
5. Belgium ($1.7-billion)
6. Egypt ($394-million)
7. Switzerland ($69-million)
8. Argentina ($49-million)
9. That's it. The U.S. has a trade deficit with every other country in the world with which it trades.

• So far this year, the U.S. has managed to sell $327-billion worth of stuff to the rest of the world. Here are America's biggest export markets:

1. Canada ($75.3-billion) (That's more, by the way, than all of the European Union countres combined; three time as much as all of South and Central American countries combined; and about six times more than the combined purchasing of OPEC countries)
2. Mexico ($43.4-billion)
3. Japan ($18.7-billion)
4. China ($16.9-billion)
5. United Kingdom ($14.6-billion)
6. Germany ($12.9-billion)
7. Korea ($10.7-billion)
8. Netherlands ($9.7-billion)
9. France ($8.1-billion)
10. Singapore ($7.4-billion)

• So far — so far, at this point, being the four months of this year ending April 30 — America has bought $583.7- billion worth of stuff from suppliers in foreign countries. One-sixth of that came from Canada. Here are the countries that are America's biggest suppliers:

1. Canada ($102.9-billion) (Canada sold twice as much stuff to Americans than every OPEC country combined; and more than twice as much as every South and Central American country combined; Canada also sold more to the U.S. than Japan, Germany, and the UK combined)
2. China ($81.2-billion)
3. Mexico ($63.1-billion)
4. Japan ($47.7-billion)
5. Germany ($29.4-billion)
6. United Kingdom ($16.7-billion)
7. Korea ($14.7-billion)
8. Venezuela ($12.085-billion)
9. France ($12.083-billion)
10. Taiwan ($11.9-billion)