C-FAR #316 - October, 1997
Feds Throttle Gun Clubs
We've cut away the deficit! (Unfortunately, we lost the patient) The
health and welfare of Canadians are boring issues Ottawa politicians would
rather not hear about, with one notable exception - guns. When it comes
to guns, the feds are strangely committed to protecting us, and strangely
uninterested in the prospect of picking our pockets or taxing us to death.
To that end, "The new federal gun registry will screen and regulate
all gun clubs, shooting ranges and gun shows in Canada. ... Owners of clubs
must register their names, employees and club members. They must also have
at least $2 million in liability insurance." (Toronto Sun, October
31, 1997) Justice Minister Anne McLellan says, "The goal of these
regulations is to foster a culture of safety across Canada." And around
the world, if everyone else would just obey Mr. Chretien and hand 'em over.
And they are: "Handgun owners across Britain surrendered their weapons
yesterday under a new law banning guns larger than .22 calibre. ... Australians
have turned in 600,000 firearms under a police buy-back program. The government
has paid almost $225 million in compensation." (Toronto Sun, October
1, 1997)
The New World Order Means Decline
in National Sovereignty, Says Clark
Joe Clark, a voice from the past, keynoted a recent academic conference
in Calgary, October 24. His talk "The International Country"
opened a conference entitled Europe, North America and Asia Pacific: Co-operation
or Conflict? Clark, who now heads Joe Clark & Associates, is all in
favour of the New World Order. He noted "the inexorable decline of
sovereignty." However, he felt Canada has a valuable place in this
order. "Our advantage will be our reputation: our ability to manage
diversity and respect complexity." Clark's is very much a top-down
attitude to government. He complained: "The reality is we haven't
moved attitudes as much as we must; such attitudes as favour protectionism
which is comfort with the familiar." Clark, like most of the speakers
at the conference, was very enthusiastic about the allegedly boundless
opportunities of trade with Asia. Yet, his own statistics seemed to undermine
his case. He explained that, in 1996, 81 per cent of Canadian exports went
to the U.S., as opposed to 75 per cent in 1991. In 1996, 9 per cent of
Canada's exports went to Asia, down from 8 per cent in 1991! Clark was
disappointed by the resistance of nationalist forces. "The most important
international institution, the UN, is burdened by skepticism and anger
(Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir) and by the isolationist leadership
of people like U.S. Senator Jesse Helms." He went on to mourn the
alleged "decline in internationalist consciousness on the part of
govrnments that have traditionally led such movements, as is the case in
Canada." He warned: "Those of us who come from the West must
realize that we cannot have a monopoly in defining international institutions.
If international policy were conducted by polling, Prime Minister Mahathir
would win the poll."
Other speakers at the conference offered insights into the New World
Order. William Coleman, professor of political science at McMaster University,
explained the manipulative nature of international agreements, especially
certain trade agreements, in shortcircuiting democracy. "Nation states
have had significant roles in liberalization in the move to a New World
Order. Free trade was one way to force domestic reforms. The responsibility
of the nation state is not to protect domestic interests from outside,
but to help people adjust to regional and global changes." But, what
if they don't want to change and don't want their governments signing them
up for such changes?
Trade, Not Aid, Leads to Development
"In the 1970s and '80s, few countries were better at attracting
foreign aid than Bangladesh. Dollars by the billions flowed into the small
country. Canada donated part of a railroad. The United States flooded Bangladesh
with grain. The Japanese built bridges. Then came the end of the Cold War
and the loss of the Third World's strategic importance -- and a swift decline
in foreign aid almost everywhere. From 1990 to 1994, development assistance
to Bangladesh fell from $19 per capita to $15. Many observers predicted
disaster would follow, but something very different happened. Private investment
poured into the country, exports soared, and its economy grew at its best
rate in years. For Bangladesh, it seems, less aid is more. The ssme story
is being told throughout the Third World. Nearly a decade after the end
of the Cold War, one of its favourite children -- foreign aid -- is still
alive, but consigned to the margins of global development. The main reason:
Despite falling aid levels and notwithstanding some high-profile pockets
of crisis, developing countries as a whole are doing better than ever,
thanks largely to a boom in global trade and investment. At the annual
meeting last month of the world's finance ministers in Hong Kong, the usual
talk of aid obligations was scarcely heard. Bangladesh Finance Minister
Shah Kibria, in his address to the gathering wasted little time on aid
and instead waxed enthusiastic about the nine reasons to invest in his
country. ... With aid flows slowed to a trickle, a huge wave of private
money has rolled over most of the Third World, from Venezuela to Vietnam.
... Official development assistance fell last year to $56.1-billion (U.S.)
from $58.9-billion in 1995. ... However, the OECD [Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development] found that in 1996, total private flows to
developing countries grew by nearly $80-billion to $234-billion. ...
A more innovative approach to development was announced this week in
Bangladesh. To help the country deal with its extreme housing shortage
-- its capital Dhaka is the fastest-growing city in the world -- the World
Bank's private sector arm and two Bangladeshi insurance companies have
created a new mortgage-finance company. A decade or two ago, the World
Bank might have loaned money to Bangladesh's government to build apartment
blocks. Now it is banking on private markets to take charge.
Poverty, however, can be reduced without aid. In Costa Rica, the end
of the Cold War meant the loss of two-thirds of its handsome aid budget,
which, at $76 per person, was among the highest in the world. The small
Central American country then watched its economy take off, reaching a
growth rate of 5.1 per cent for the first half of the 1990s (compared with
1.8 per cent for Canada). Its merchandise exports reached $2.6-billion
-- 35 times its aid receipts -- and the government won big investment agreements
with the likes of Intel Corp. , which now has plans for a $450-million
plant in Costa Rica. ... Even cuts to aid for specific projects don't necessarily
hurt the poor. In Bangladesh, the World Bank cancelled $30-million for
a major fisheries project in the mid-1990s. The reason: Local politicians
and bureaucrats had combined to sell fishlings to the project at inflated
prices. (One result of Bangladesh's huge aid budget in the 1970s and '80s
was a doubling of the size of government). Eventually, the project was
redesigned with much less money to push for legislative changes that would
give local communities control over their waterways. For years, it has
been clear to economists that there is no correlation between more aid
and less poverty. In West Africa, foreign aid to the Ivory Coast doubled
from 1990 to 1994, to $1.6-billion, and yet its manufacturing sector shrank.
The country did not see an economic turnaround until it agreed to a sharp
devaluation of the regional currency, which is pegged to the French franc,
a move it had resisted for years." (Globe and Mail, October 18, 1997)
Canada -- Out Third-Worlding the
Third World
If Third World 'standards' mean pampering the elite, exploiting the
poor and rampant corruption, Canada really is becoming a global player.
Vancouver is providing frogmen, dogs and snipers in an all-out effort to
shield rights-abusing APEC [Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation organization]
trading partners from any unpleasant democratic demonstrations at the upcoming
summit. Meanwhile, a scandal redolent of Mogadishu has just broken in Toronto:
at a time when the destitute have reached epidemic numbers, "Generous
food donations from large corporations were regularly sold to low-price
liquidation outlets in the Metro Toronto area. Although their two-month
investigation is incomplete, the police said the proceeds are estimated
at millions of dollars." (Globe and Mail, November 5, 1997) In an
example of the 'new' Canadian democracy, less than a week before Toronto's
election day, five candidates for school-board trustee in the North York
Humber/Black Creek ward discovered that, "forged letters of withdrawl
[had been] submitted to the North York clerk's office last month. ... Incumbent
Stephanie Payne stands to win the race by acclamation." (Toronto Sun,
November 5, 1997) Payne claims no knowledge of the hi-jinks. North York
city officials say the ballots will be corrected, it would be nice to think
the miscreant will be corrected in turn. "Three Pearson Airport ground
handlers were chased by Canada Customs agents after an attempt to unload
12 kilos of cocaine from a flight arriving from Trinidad. It was the third
shipment of cocaine from Trinidad -- all worth $12.4 million -- seized
in the past five weeks. ... About 19 kilos of marijuana, worth $285,000,
were also seized from two flights from Jamaica last weekend. ... The RCMP
said more than a dozen corrupt ground handlers at Pearson are being paid
by drug cartels to unload dope smuggled here on commercial flights."
(Toronto Sun, November 6, 1997)
Rich Red Chinese Markets An Illusion
Despite everything we are told about mushrooming Chinese markets, the
truth is considerably more modest. A nationwide Gallup poll, the biggest
ever conducted in China, indicates that the economic miracle (and our part
in it) is as shaky and superficial as Asian markets. "Only 2% of homes
have hot running water, but 89% have TVs. ... 73% of those polled said
they prefer Chinese-made goods. ... Of the 20 best-known foreign brands,
half were Japanese, unchanged from Gallup's last China survey, in 1994."
(Toronto Sun, October 27, 1997)
Diplomats Run Bootleg Operations
"Unscrupulous diplomats at several Ottawa embassies have been
abusing their diplomatic privileges -- and making money on the side --
by feeding the market for cheap liquor. ... [October 8], two Ottawa-area
men were charged with illegally possessing and distributing liquor. Police
say they had an accomplice, a Kuwaiti embassy attache who was 'directly
and knowingly involved in the illegal diversion of goods.' Const. Pierre
Hamel, of the RCMP's customs and excise division, said: ' If he was a Canadian
he'd be charged. But, with diplomatic immunity and the political sensitivity,
it's out of our hands. The higher-ups will make the decision.' ... Hamel
says several foreign diplomatic personnel in Ottawa are taking advantage
of their tax-exempt status and padding their wallets by running illegal
liquor schemes. ... Embassies ... are entitled to an excise tax exemption
on liquor. ... This means instead of paying $40 for a 40-ounce bottle of
hard liquor, embassies pay between $5 and $7." (Toronto Star, October
10, 1997)
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