Kevin Steel - Monday,31 October 2005
Western Standard
While economists have warned for years that implementing the Kyoto accord will kill jobs, Ottawa insists that fighting global warming requires sacrifices. Of course, those sacrifices are easy to make when it's western Canada's energy sector at risk. When fighting global warming might mean lost jobs in Quebec's bicycle manufacturing industries--well, that's a price the Liberals may not be willing to pay.
How better, after all, to cut down on car and truck emissions, which environmentalists claim contribute to global warming, than for millions of urban commuters to start biking to work? But Ottawa isn't likely to encourage Canadians to make that choice if they proceed with proposed price hikes on bicycles sold in this country. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal recommended in September that the federal government slap a 30 per cent tariff on low-end imported bikes (most of which come from China, Taiwan and India) to protect domestic makers. The tariff will drop to 25 per cent in the second year and 20 per cent in the third year. Canada's largest mass-market bike manufacturers, Procycle Group and Raleigh Canada, say they can't compete with foreign producers. They had asked for a 48 per cent tax.
"With gas going the way it is, with us trying to achieve Kyoto regulations, what the federal government needs to do is promote cycling more," says Brian Sibthorpe, owner of Bow Cycle and Sports in Calgary, and a member of the Independent Bicycle Retailers of Canada, who are fighting the move. "If anything, they should be offering credits for riding bikes," says Sibthorpe, not piling on taxes.
That may make sense economically, but not politically, since about 80 per cent of bikes made in Canada come from Quebec. The federal finance minister must still decide whether to follow the trade tribunal's advice, but the Liberals know they can't afford to anger that province further. Recent revelations of endemic Liberal corruption have devastated the party's popularity in Quebec. A September poll by Leger Marketing shows the federal government's disapproval rating in that province at 72 per cent--the worst in the country.
The proposed tariff will protect only about 700 jobs, but they just happen to be at factories in two Liberal-held Quebec ridings. Sibthorpe suggests those jobs aren't worth protecting anyway. The bottom line is that low- and mid-range Canadian bike makers just can't compete, on price or quality. "If you go to the U.S. and buy a Raleigh, . . . it's a far superior bike than what Raleigh Canada is putting together," he says. Rather than lobbying for trade barriers, he suggests the better long-term strategy is for Raleigh and Procycle "to reinvest and make a better-quality product." Besides, all those cheaper, better-quality bikes coming into Canada are sure to help us meet our Kyoto targets. Surely the loss of a couple of electoral ridings is a sacrifice the Liberals are willing to make.
Western Standard
While economists have warned for years that implementing the Kyoto accord will kill jobs, Ottawa insists that fighting global warming requires sacrifices. Of course, those sacrifices are easy to make when it's western Canada's energy sector at risk. When fighting global warming might mean lost jobs in Quebec's bicycle manufacturing industries--well, that's a price the Liberals may not be willing to pay.
How better, after all, to cut down on car and truck emissions, which environmentalists claim contribute to global warming, than for millions of urban commuters to start biking to work? But Ottawa isn't likely to encourage Canadians to make that choice if they proceed with proposed price hikes on bicycles sold in this country. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal recommended in September that the federal government slap a 30 per cent tariff on low-end imported bikes (most of which come from China, Taiwan and India) to protect domestic makers. The tariff will drop to 25 per cent in the second year and 20 per cent in the third year. Canada's largest mass-market bike manufacturers, Procycle Group and Raleigh Canada, say they can't compete with foreign producers. They had asked for a 48 per cent tax.
"With gas going the way it is, with us trying to achieve Kyoto regulations, what the federal government needs to do is promote cycling more," says Brian Sibthorpe, owner of Bow Cycle and Sports in Calgary, and a member of the Independent Bicycle Retailers of Canada, who are fighting the move. "If anything, they should be offering credits for riding bikes," says Sibthorpe, not piling on taxes.
That may make sense economically, but not politically, since about 80 per cent of bikes made in Canada come from Quebec. The federal finance minister must still decide whether to follow the trade tribunal's advice, but the Liberals know they can't afford to anger that province further. Recent revelations of endemic Liberal corruption have devastated the party's popularity in Quebec. A September poll by Leger Marketing shows the federal government's disapproval rating in that province at 72 per cent--the worst in the country.
The proposed tariff will protect only about 700 jobs, but they just happen to be at factories in two Liberal-held Quebec ridings. Sibthorpe suggests those jobs aren't worth protecting anyway. The bottom line is that low- and mid-range Canadian bike makers just can't compete, on price or quality. "If you go to the U.S. and buy a Raleigh, . . . it's a far superior bike than what Raleigh Canada is putting together," he says. Rather than lobbying for trade barriers, he suggests the better long-term strategy is for Raleigh and Procycle "to reinvest and make a better-quality product." Besides, all those cheaper, better-quality bikes coming into Canada are sure to help us meet our Kyoto targets. Surely the loss of a couple of electoral ridings is a sacrifice the Liberals are willing to make.