Brought over from my Facebook page

The following is a rant I posted on Facebook on Sept 30.

First of all, I'm a CAW member, and make no mistake, I'm very happy to have the job that I have and the benefits that go along with it. I'm certainly a liberal. I am, however, also a realist, and some of the old-fashioned union thinking I've been a party to lately has made me think.

First of all, in this day and age, what does "Out of a job yet? Keep buying foreign!" mean? This bumper sticker has appeared on a lot of vehicles at work lately. I'm happy to say that I drive cars made in Brazil, Japan and England. They are the cars I wanted. As a car enthusiast and former mechanic, I know what breaks. American cars break all the time. I don't want a car that breaks all the time. I also know what I wanted in size, style and fuel economy, and I didn't find it at Ford, GM or Chrysler.

Why should I choose a major purchase based solely on the location of their headquarters? THEY'RE ALL FOREIGN. In fact, as part of the Commonwealth, we should support British cars before American. It's a market, and the American automakers have dug their own hole by producing an inferior product. Case in point: during the 90's, the Cavalier and the Civic battled it out for top seller in Canada. I fixed Cavaliers EVERY FRICKIN DAY. I rarely saw a Civic.

We live in Canada. American automakers are closing their Canadian factories. Japanese automakers aren't. Who is supporting the Canadian worker better? Unless your VIN starts with a 2, your car wasn't made here! Why the sticker? GM is giving their cars away right now, because they have to. Buying a GM, and paying as little as you can for it, does less than nothing for the economy - they're not making a penny at this point. They're the next bailout.

The Japanese-owned factories, for the most part, aren't unionized. There's a reason for this. Unlike the American companies, they don't have a long history of treating their workers like crap! The fact that they don't NEED union representation for their workers makes them a GOOD employer of Canadians, not the devil.

There are now more Canadians employed in retail, medical and education than in manufacturing. Closing a factory is a bad thing, but it no longer has the effect it used to, in spite of the headlines. There are 300,000 people in London, and only a very small percentage working in manufacturing. To talk about the labour movement as a major political force is no longer legitimate.

Wal-mart is also seen as the devil. I shop there. Not a fan, but it's a matter of economy. I'm in it for my family, and I simply cannot afford a high horse. Every dollar I can save will be saved. They also supply hundreds of jobs to unskilled workers, which gets people off of welfare at least. It would be great to be able to shop exclusively at specialty shops and so on, and those who can afford it are very lucky. I say God bless the 7-year-old who made my daughters' shoes. Who wants to run a rubber moulding machine all day? Canada is becoming an exporter of grain and fuel, and an importer of crap. It's better than a manufacturer of crap.

Take bikes, for instance. The best are still made here. Cheap ones aren't, and you get what you paid for. This isn't rocket science. I'd always buy the good stuff if I could, but I can't, not for disposable items like kids' bikes. They ride pink $50 pieces of junk and they will until they stop growing!

Desk chairs are another example I like to use. You can get one at Wal-Mart and have it fall apart within the year, or you can get one at a high-end office supply store and have it last forever. Of course. But I only have $50 to spend. I'll have it again in a year when the seat falls off.

The jobs right now are out there. They're in the trades (NOT the auto repair trade - the OTHER trades) ... it's tough but if you can get yourself trained as an electrician, plumber or anything recognizable (DO YOUR RESEARCH) you can have a paycheque for life. You are NOT entitled to a job.

I know that reality isn't popular (Talk to me about religion or carbon emissions...) but it happens to be where I live. Please comment, good or bad! This all came to me in the shower this morning and I had to get it down!