Tom Rideout, Time Lord.
Jack Layton, Space Cadet.
Same concept.
Jack managed to finagle an invitation to share his genius with Lou Dobbs on CNN. Supposedly they were talking about the North American Free Trade Agreement. That's the agreement that allows goods, services and people to flow more freely through Canada, the States and Mexico because they are - after all - North America.
Jack thinks NAFTA is bad.
Because we ship things to China and they ship them back.
China is now in North America.
or Canada is in Asia.
Just to give you some examples. We ship raw logs from our forest all the way over to China where they are turned into products and they come back and we buy them. We even find sometimes the products don't meet our standards our here. I heard you talking about toxic toothpaste in the U.S.
And that last bit was a mention of toothpaste made in China - not Mexico, the US or Canada - which turned out to have some little goodies in it that we don't allow in toothpaste made or sold in North America.
But Jack wasn't finished there.
Not by a long shot.
We've been facing toxic toys here in Canada. There goes the jobs. The trees go and they take the jobs with them and I know the West Coast is experiencing many of the same things. We need some fair and sustainable trade. That's what we've got to put together.
Toxic toys? That would be the ones made in China which is not in North America, except in Jack's universe and the whole toy fiasco had nothing to do with NAFTA at all.
Jack talked about logs going to China. He didn't mention a single word about Canadian lumber products that have trouble entering the United States contrary to NAFTA.
That would be trade between two countries party to the agreement Lou and Jack were supposed to talk about.
That's the North American free trade deal.
Not the Chinese one.
Because China isn't in North America.
Except in Jack Layton's world.
Next week, Jack will amaze Lou with his explanation of how putting up trade barriers within Canada will affect the gravity on the moon and allow Americans to become more loving and caring towards their Taliban brethren since, after all, Kabul, is just south of Detroit and Jack has, ya know, been advocating peace with the Taliban because Jack loves America.
But seriously, is this kind of basic stupidity now the pre-requisite for being a politician in Canada or are Tom Rideout and Jack Layton actually related?
To infinity and beyond! Update: There's video. And yes, Lou Dobbs did refer to Canada as a parallel universe. That would be the parallel universe in which China is evidently in North America. or Canada has moved to Asia. One or the other, depending on which way Jack's leaning in the shot.
h/t to BCer in Toronto for the vid link.
-srbp-