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Path: utzoo!mnetor!yetti!unicus!craig
From: craig@unicus.UUCP (Craig D. Hubley)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: uunet access from Canada
Message-ID: <729@unicus.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 5-Jul-87 22:07:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: unicus.729
Posted: Sun Jul  5 22:07:04 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Jul-87 01:14:27 EDT
References: <954@van-bc.UUCP> <824@looking.UUCP> <132@bby-bc.UUCP>
Reply-To: craig@unicus.UUCP (Craig D. Hubley)
Distribution: can
Organization: Unicus Software Inc., Toronto, Ont.
Lines: 52

>> You underestimate the capacity of the Canadian government for getting
>> in the way of people trying to do cross-border business.
>
>I think you could more reasonably put this down to the desire to make
>what the traffic will bear than governmental interference.  If what
>you are saying was true I wouldn't have been able to send a 5kg package
>from Vancouver to Texas by UPS for $8, or a 24kg package from LA to
>Vancouver for $45 (by UPS), or get a return airfare from Vancouver
>to LAX for $285 on CP Air.
>
>It is not the Canadian government it is business that results in the
>higher prices.

Nonsense.  Drivel.  Trash.  If it weren't for government regulations and
tariffs and other sorts of interference, I could buy the thing from the 
States myself for $1270+shipping.  They'd sell it to me, too.  Right now,
Canadian business doesn't have to compete with that.  That is clearly
the fault of the government, who makes the rules.

If various incompentent Canadian businessmen make a lot of money because
they aren't really forced to compete properly, whose fault is that?
Wouldn't you do the same?  And they have to deal with borders as well, plus
smaller volumes, high shipping costs, higher taxes and labour costs.  Add
it all up, and it doesn't leave much.

> Why does a Sony CDP1302 list for $1900 at a time when the US list is
> approx. $1270 ($950 US) - they both have to come from Japan.

This is particularly vile as applied to imports, since the ONLY place those
extra bucks will go is into the hands of government and the 'free-riders'
who know we don't have a choice.  The only "Canadian jobs" it protects are
those who have to work that much harder to sell the stuff at inflated
prices.

If some industries are subjected less than others to this abuse, and manage
to deliver goods cheaper, more power to 'em.  As for the rest, open up the
borders.  Outdated trivia like separate CSA vs UL standards ought to be
cleared out along with it.  If the "free trade" flap does that much, it'll
be to the better.  The more attention I pay to this stuff, the more I think
that these regulations exist only to foul the traffic.  How much better off
would the Canadian economy be if Canadians paid US scale for capital goods?
"Tax Reform", Wilson style, only throws more sand in the gears.

>This sort of stuff really pisses me off but I don't think you can
>lay the blame at the government's door.

I do.  The only thing between me and that $1270 Sony is the border.  
Government manages the border, not business.  If they don't let me take
it across, or void my warranties when I do, or charge me tariffs, it's 
them doing it, not business.  Business just deals with the red tape
itself and charges us for the trouble.  And then you pay taxes on the 
trouble.