canada in crisis?

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kobayashi

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it's been a couple of years now since nortel crashed to the ground and along with it predictions of canadian prosperity for many years to come. well nortel continues to crash to the ground with each passing quarter, the fears of canadian peril have been largely unfounded. while 'hi-tech' lost significant jobs relative to it's size, the effect of this is relatively small on the national or even provincial economy of even our biggest provinces.

all this having been said, there are significant problems, some of which have only come to light in the last seventy two hours. the very public leadership squabble between PM Chretien and finance minister martin has the potential, in the long run, to be very troubling to the canadian economy. if martin's actions lead him into power many in the international finance community are likely to see this is somewhat of a coup, especially since chretien is well liked for his international dealings. though the canadian economy has stabilized since the stock market falls of the recent months(spurred by both 9/11 and uncertainty in technology), the appearance, whether deserved or not, of instability on the international markets will not catalyze canada's economic recovery. in fact it is likely to hinder if not reverse it.

at the same time as the liberal's infighting, bell canada enterprises(bce) threatens to take on the appearance of canada's enron. bce is a company that virtually every other investment in the nation has some direct or indirect relationship to. when bce has a bad day, so does canada. though the stock has just recently improved slightly, there are still significant problems at bell canada. their experiment with media conglomerizing has largely been a failure as the globe and mail now stands a good chance of being sold off, ctv consistently loses out to global in ratings and profits. significant conflicts have arisen between different cultures at bce and the merger of varied media divisions is proving more difficult than originally forecasted by bce management. the well being of the company is largely dependant on new ceo sabia, an individual who had only been with bce for two years when he was appointed ceo in may.

any thoughts or opinions? any other canadian's concerned at this point?

odds on anyone else replying to this...8 to 1:mac:
 
Well I am a concerned Cdn I guess you could say. I lost my job due to Nortels crash and burn. Many people lost their jobs due to Nortel's crash and burn.

I'm a Liberal supporter and am concerned about Chretien's strong willingness to stay in power. Paul Martin is also a strong political figure here. I think Paul Martin's views are sollid ones for this country.

I don't think it's good to have 2 such strong figures/leaders fighting over power. It will do nothing but hurt the strength of our dollar, which in recent days had just starting seeing highs which we haven't seen in awhile. Only to fall down with uncertainty of government.

Privatization is increasing, prices are increasing, confidence is decreasing. I don't know what will happen in the future but what I do know is the fallout of the workforce will take a very long time to rebound. I worry for the future as I think everyone does.
They may not post here kobeson but that doesn't mean they don't worry...to better days...
 
i've never been a big fan of martin but it is becoming clear that progress will push chretien out of power sooner rather than later so it may as well be martin who gains it. i'm going to have a tough time voting liberal with either one in power at this point(and the rest of our parties present me no options).

i think it's going to be a while before bce returns to any sizable strength with sabia at the helm. he didn't do much for cnr in his previous post.

at this point, aside from the recent months economic upswing(though i still have plenty of friends who just graduated with degrees and are in a 'States-or-else' position cause they can't find work here), there is little reason to be confident in our present government.
 
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