If I was having a garage sale and my daughter bought something from my wife and my son bought something from my daughter, we’ve made a few sales but we didn’t bring additional money into the household. If we sell something to a neighbour, that brings new money into the household that wasn’t there before and increases our household wealth. Exports from Canada to other places have the same effect of bringing money into the country. Canada’s top exports by a long shot are oil and vehicles. Mineral fuels including oil are Canada’s number one export, representing just over 20 per cent of the total exports from Canada. Vehicles are the second largest export accounting for nearly 15 per cent of Canada’s total exports. The next closest export at a distant third place is machinery including computers, representing approximately eight per cent of Canadian exports. We don’t seem any closer to selling Canadian oil to world markets. Pipeline after pipeline has been cancelled to the detriment of our exporting potential and prosperity. I thought that things were going much better in eastern Canada until I saw the news this week that General Motors is closing its assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont. Nearly 3,000 jobs will be lost in this closure, which will have a negative impact in the Oshawa area and this closure will also impact Canadian export of vehicles, our second largest export in Canada. I certainly do not have all of the answers but the way I see it we cannot continue to tear down our top export industries and expect a prosperous future.
