[Wild Bill]

I thought I'd start this thread after all the posting about Canada's military, or lack of it, in the "10B dollar" thread.

It's easy to list our accomplishments from decades ago. What are we doing today? We have brave soldiers. Both of them. We send them out with bows and arrows against the lightning. Our navy has a few modern frigates but we can only afford to fuel a few at a time for active sea duty. When the balloon goes up like in Kosovo we send our canteen ship to supply coffee and sandwiches.

We built the CanadArm for the space shuttles and the space station. Where's the other arm and the legs?

I'm not suggesting we've done NOTHING since the mid 70's! Just that the pace seems to have dramatically tapered off.

Please, let's not have someone drag out that hoary old saw that we are a nation of only a small population. We've ALWAYS had a small population! Yet there is a LONG list of what Canada invented and produced, from baseball to walkie-talkies that seems to peter out about 30 years ago.

What happened? When did we decide to become a nation of only resources, like any country in the third world? What happened to all our Alexander Graham Bells or Reginald Fessendens?

We still produce world class artists and writers but a country can't survive with ONLY Margaret Atwoods!

Premier McGuinty talks about how Canada will develop 50,000 'green jobs' that will pay as well as the auto manufacturing industry, yet Ontario bans the ZEN electric car!

Was it losing the Arrow? The Studebaker? When did we abandon having the resources to be serious PeaceMAKERS in favour of basically a heavier armed police force, that has to hitch a ride from some OTHER country in order to get where it needs to be?

How many satellites have we built and launched in the past 30 years? Even with having to have some other country put them into orbit for us?

Have we become just a nation of tired old men and women, dreaming about past glories?

Anyone care to venture an opinion?

[M.Dancer]

Wild Bill, on Jul 16 2009, 10:19 AM, said:

Anyone care to venture an opinion?

RIM

[Wild Bill]

M.Dancer, on Jul 16 2009, 10:23 AM, said:

RIM

I was waiting for that one! I was selling parts to them when they were still just a small engineering outfit at the local university.

OK, we have ten fingers to count on. You've just used one.

Will we need all our fingers? Will we actually have to take our shoes off?

THAT's my point, after all!

[M.Dancer]

MARs

[M.Dancer]

Wild Bill, on Jul 16 2009, 10:19 AM, said:

How many satellites have we built and launched in the past 30 years? Even with having to have some other country put them into orbit for us?

5

[AngusThermopyle]

Actually I agree Bill, we just don't seem to be doing much of anything noteworthy anymore. Anything we do engage in is actually pretty small potatoes compared to other nations. Sure we have a few research projects on the go at some of our universities, but once again, pretty small potatoes compared to others out there.

We did have some people who developed Bio Steel, sometimes known as Spider Steel, but they couldn't get any funding from our government so they took it to the States. The US of course was more than happy to fund these guys as this new form of steel is expected to revolutionize just about everything that utilizes steel. Actually quite a number of things that currently don't use steel are also expected to utilize this product.

So we had another chance to become world leaders in an important area and as usual we just blew it away. It looks as though the problem is actually short sighted brain dead politicians, not a lack of talent or will.

[Wild Bill]

M.Dancer, on Jul 16 2009, 10:31 AM, said:

5

5?

That's IT???!!!

5???!!!

[stranger little]

CANDU? well maybe if our government would support our institutions and achievements we would be a little better off!!!!

[Wild Bill]

AngusThermopyle, on Jul 16 2009, 10:54 AM, said:

So we had another chance to become world leaders in an important area and as usual we just blew it away. It looks as though the problem is actually short sighted brain dead politicians, not a lack of talent or will.

Yeah, seems so. We have the talent. We just discourage it.

We've become the farm team for other nations. We send them our most capable and in return we accept as immigrants everybody's grandparents.

I'm still wigged out about Dancer's post. 5 satellites!

He seemed almost proud!

We really had better break this penny ante mentality soon or this country might as well petition to become part of the USA.

[Wild Bill]

Here's a list:

http://careerchem.co...Inventions.html

As I had said, if you look at the dates it gets kind of thin for the last 30 years. Foxcroft invented a whistle. Gosling invented the Java programming language.

A few others.

[Jerry J. Fortin]

The talent gravitates toward the dollars. Since we are not a research intensive nation that means our young folks in the field are going where the research dollars are.

[Smallc]

Yes, obviously we have nothing to be proud of in this country. It seems there are those that would nitpick this country to death. Thankfully, they now appear to be firmly in the minority.

[CAMP]

Wild Bill, on Jul 16 2009, 10:26 AM, said:

I was waiting for that one! I was selling parts to them when they were still just a small engineering outfit at the local university.

OK, we have ten fingers to count on. You've just used one.

Will we need all our fingers? Will we actually have to take our shoes off?

THAT's my point, after all!

Sadly the manufacturing of most of those blackberries are done overseas Asian rim. And the factory here pays only a bare wage of survival at approx 15$ hr. I know because I have a son working there.
Yes there are some upper end jobs but not that many.
The real problem here in Canada and the US has been that our manufacturing sector has not been at least protected from 3rd world country poverty wages that large corporations take advantage of. Our government doesn't seem to care. Now it has finally hit the biggest manufacturing sector right in the heart.... the auto industry.
We will continue to bleed our manufacturing off to other places because our government is in the back pocket of the big big multinational manufacturers.
We can invent all the stuff you want. It's all going overseas as soon as the quantity rises.
Seen it many times in my business.

[madmax]

Wild Bill, on Jul 16 2009, 10:19 AM, said:

What happened? When did we decide to become a nation of only resources, like any country in the third world? What happened to all our Alexander Graham Bells or Reginald Fessendens?
Anyone care to venture an opinion?

We decided to become a resource nation when we abandon the policies of Sir John A MacDonald, and energy polices of Adam Beck. Where have you been the last 15 to 20 years?

This was a choice. That choice was completed following with the elections of Mulroney and then Chretian for Biased Trade Agreements that put Canada back into the colonial mode of the 16 to 18 hundreds. Just like in the time before Sir John A for hundreds of years, we were a resource exporting nation to Europe. Sir John a Changed that and fought against Liberal Trade policies as did successive Conservative Leaders and Prime Ministers up to Brian Mulroney when he reversed over 100 years of Conservative policy and adopted the Liberal mantra for Open Trade.

Not certain what else you expect to happen, but one of the benefits of technology and trade is that human resources can be outsourced to Honduras, or India as can all Engineering and other technological aspects. THere is no reason to do it in Canada when it can be done outside of Canada for a very very small fraction of the price.

There is little need for Manufacturing or Technology to be done in Canada when it can be done elsewhere for less money.

People support this policy today and certainly on MLW from the postings that I have read over the past 3 years.

Most people don't support it when their R&D centre is shut down, and they realize that they are easily replaced and outsourced.

Some call it the Global economy, to compete in the Global Economy, you compete with the 3rd world which can punch out Engineers and Computer Specialists dirt cheap and in mass quantities at 3rd world wages.

You wonder why we are degenerating into a 3rd world status? Hey, the 3rd world technology and value added sectors are growing.

Enjoy.

[bush_cheney2004]

CAMP, on Jul 16 2009, 02:29 PM, said:

....The real problem here in Canada and the US has been that our manufacturing sector has not been at least protected from 3rd world country poverty wages that large corporations take advantage of....

Does not correlate...the US is "achieving" despite losses in the manufacturing sector.

Seek true love elsewhere.