Trudeau’s Natural Resource Comments Miss the Point Says MP Cullen
Prince George, B.C.- Skeena-Bulkley MP Nathan Cullen is anything but pleased with recent comments by Prime Minster Trudeau that placed the importance of natural resources in Canada on the back burner.
In an address to world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, the Prime Minster said “My predecessor wanted you to know Canada for its resources, I want you to know Canadians for our resourcefulness.”
The comment sent a ripple of disbelief through last week’s Natural Resource Forum in Prince George where representatives from forestry, oil and gas, mining, LNG and agriculture had gathered to talk about the challenges and the future for the sector.
Cullen says he believes Trudeau’s comments will set up a “false debate between the special resource sector and other sectors, we need both strong. What we need on the resource front is value added, not simply ignore something that adds so much to the Canadian economy.”
Cullen says if the Prime Minister would like reframe his comments in a call for value added, the NDP would support that move “We would like to not see projects that continue to talk about shipping things out raw, to simply say Canada shouldn’t be known for its natural resources but our ingenuity kind of misses the point. One, there is a lot of ingenuity in those that work in natural resources, and two, it’s just a false debate, as if we had to choose between having natural resources as part of our economy and having ingenuity as part of our economy and that’s a juvenile way to look at things.”
Oil has been the number one revenue generator for the Canadian economy as a whole. In B.C., mining and forestry are both critical top contributors to B.C.’s economy.
But with a glut of oil on the market the supply has far eclipsed demand sending prices, and the Canadian dollar , in a downward spiral.
During the forum in Prince George, Premier Christy Clark referred to natural resources as the “bedrock” of the nation, and promised support during this difficult period when commodity prices have hit new lows, resulting in job losses and curtailment of mining operations. “We will always, in British Columbia, depend on the resource sector for the basis of everything we do. It is nothing less than who we are.” Clark says that when it comes to natural resources, “We should never ever forget what we depend on, the fundamental bedrock, of British Columbia and Canada and what it is today. “
Comments
What.. a con disagrees with the ruling party… I am shocked and stunned.. I do like the 180 degree spin the cons did now agreeing with trudeau on running a deficit to help the country.. Cons are still a joke but no one is laughing…we are just paying.
He did not say that Canadian resources are not important anymore. He pointed out that Canadians are resourceful well educated people.
Of course Cullen has to put a spin on it! That is what his party is supposed to do in its opposition to any other party’s agenda. Is that a surprise? No.
If only Justin would keep his stupid yap shut! He is such an moronic embarrassment who is hell bent on making Canada the laughing stock of the entire planet!
A sample of his recent gaffs:
Umm, uh, did all uh um of you uh catch um my wife’s uh performance where uh, umm she uh hijacked a Martin Luther uh, um King Day celebration? Wasn’t uh, um she er great?
Oh, uh, um and did see how uh I lent my support er um and sympathy to uh, the Muslim community instead of um, properly and adequately um, uh condemning the recent uh, um terrorist attacks in uh, er Burkina Faso that resulted in the uh um deaths uh of Canadian Citizens?
And uh, how about uh, um how I failed to uh, um properly offer my condolences uh um and the condolences of Canada uh, um to the uh, er um families of those that uh, er, er, um lost their lives in this uh, brutal attack?
This idiot is such an embarrassment!
When did Cullen jump ship to the Cons. Last I checked he was NDP and that’s why you have no credibly P Val
I agree with two things.
1. Hart Guy’s description of Trudeau.
2. P Val has no credibility.
I agree with you on the um, uh, er, er, etc speech impairment! He needs to take some speaking lessons because it is so very annoying. I stopped watching Rosemary Barton on the CBC because she is the champion of this most annoying habit! Some time ago everybody had this up-talk habit which made every sentence appear to be a question! This has faded away to a degree, but now the um, uh, er habit has taken over from kindergarten toddlers to adults. Can’t really call it dithering, it is way worse!
This is not a gaffe. It is a gaffe on Cullen’s part, the one I think is still an NDPer. I really thought that Cullen is smarter than to then go on to explain that he is all for us processing some of the resources to a more advanced stage of secondary processing, the same as we do when we create paper products from wood fibre.
It is too bad that Clark is being so ambiguous with her statement.
We have to provide selective incentives to entrepreneurs who wish to add a level of secondary processing of our natural resources before we keep on shipping out unprocessed feedstock to other countries.
That is what was done when we set up Aluminum smelting in Kitimat in the late forties, early fifties. That is what we do when we send out dimensioned lumber, kraft paper, fine paper, etc. We need to do the same with pulp.
Some of the infrastructure money needs to go to building those facilities which will make it easier for entrepreneurs to once more set up such facilities in Canada as we used to, on occasion, do.
For those who speak in the language of JOBS creation, I do not see how they cannot think along those lines.
As Trudeau said, “I want you to know Canadians for our resourcefulness.”
So where is it? Are we all not as smart as he thinks we are? Too much politicking and not enough of getting together and tackling how to do business in today’s world when everyone is looking for JOBS on their own turf. We are losing that battle.
lol..oops my bad.. but I am dead on with the cons .. Cullen is still just making noise…
as for credibility… I have as much, or as little as every other poster here :)
What we are seeing here is the worst of one sided twitter, news reports, comments on blogs, and so forth.
There are too few of the general population and even the focused, blinded interest groups as we can see from the reporter’s report that the comment sent a ripple of disbelief through last (this) week’s Natural Resource Forum in Prince George.
As is my nature when I do not believe what I perceive as highly questionable, I try to find the source. In this case, that is easy, since the Davos speeches are easily accessible for each one of us to explore and pick apart.
In this case, we have once again an example of a single sentence taken out of context. The context, in this case, is the whole speech.
About 12 minutes into the video Trudeau says these words in French when he revisits the notion of the relationship between the words “resources” and “resourcefulness” he makes the following statement:
——————————————————
“Our natural resources are substantial and they will always be so, and they will always be a basis of the Canadian economy. Prosperity is not just a matter of what lies under our feet but also what lies between our ears.”
——————————————————
Several on this 250NEWS comment section use the word “sheeple”. It is what humans are. No matter which politician, which special interest group, which religion, which ethnic group, which scientific, economic and all the other theorists and which country, we tend to follow what we know and objectivity goes out the door for 95% of the people at least 95% of the time and for many virtually 100% of the time.
Gus, this board became bearable when you disappeared. Please go away again.
gopg2015:-“We have to provide selective incentives to entrepreneurs who wish to add a level of secondary processing of our natural resources before we keep on shipping out unprocessed feedstock to other countries.”
————————————————————————
This harkens back to the days of another Clark as Premier, and his much touted “Jobs and Timber Accord”. How did that pan out, or did you have some other kind of “selective incentives” in mind? Like perhaps what we’ve done for companies like Bombardier? Companies that require “selective incentives” to start up and keep going are what WAC Bennett used to call “hot house industries”. They can only survive in an artificial environment. Take that away and they quickly wither and die. Poor substitute for recognising what’s really needed FIRST is ACTUAL Consumer Demand for whatever we hope to sell.
Great description of Trudeau, Hart Guy. Listening to him talk the other night, I was beginning to wonder if he was already on some of that stuff he wants to make legal?
Yes socredible, how dare Trudeau make a cancer killing drug legal.. Should be more like the ex pm and spend millions on false advertising about the stuff…guess that ps what happens when big pharmaceutical and oil companies own you..
All the pot-heads have cancer, PVal? That’s the first time I’ve heard that one. Personally, I couldn’t care less if people smoke that stuff or not. Except when they come into a workplace, still under the influence, and cause an accident to themselves or someone else. And if it’s my workplace, as an employer, I’m penalised for their stupidity. Or when they get stoned and get behind the wheel of a car, and innocent people are hurt or die as a result. Someone who might be family, or close friends. Then I DO care, PVal. We’ve got the abuse of enough vices to contend with already, in my opinion. I don’t see any point in adding to them.
Posted on Friday, January 22, 2016 @ 7:51 PM by dow7501 with a score of 0
Gus, this board became bearable when you disappeared. Please go away again.
——–
LOL! I’m surprised he was able to stay away as long as he did.
Socredible wrote: “what’s really needed FIRST is ACTUAL Consumer Demand for whatever we hope to sell.”
And how does one get to know what is ACTUAL consumer demand other than by making or creating an object or service and seeing if it can be sold. After that, to see how many or how much can be sold to see if the demand is popular enough to sustain a business for a reasonable length of time. Once that has shown to be a success, it is too late. If every new business was to be created in that fashion, we would never have new products and new services.
It is the entrepreneurial spirit in some humans that they will win at all odds that causes businesses to be created on a “dream” and a “gamble”. It is those who finance those businesses which succeed who “win”. An excellent example of that is the restaurant business. The “failures” of restaurants is probably one of the highest in the small business world. There is an almost continuous demand. People have been eating in places other than in their home for centuries. Success, however, is fleeting. But if one does not try, there is 100% certainty of not succeeding.
It is those who create the environment for that entrepreneurial spirit to flourish who are the special leaders of the country, the province, the city that are so rare to emerge every now and then. You know, like the WAC Bennetts of this world. I am sure you like that reference socredible, the man who “nationalized” BC Ferries, BC Hydro, BC Rail. The successes in creating physical infrastructure is well known to us today. Wacky understood the concept of creating the environment for prosperity.
Keep up the good work Trudeau. Anything that annoys Hart Guy, Palopu, Socredible and others of their ilk is a job well done.
P Val how drunk or stoned were you when you posted about Cullen being a con? NDP. I am sure he is laughing at that gem. get facts straight and maybe people would take your word for a little more than a belly laugh at your expense.
gopg2015 wrote:-“It is those who create the environment for that entrepreneurial spirit to flourish who are the special leaders of the country, the province, the city that are so rare to emerge every now and then. You know, like the WAC Bennetts of this world. ”
=======================================================================
“Creating the environment for that entrepreneurial spirit to flourish”, as WAC Bennett did so very well, is an enormously different from providing “special incentives to selective industries”. That latter is something WAC’s son, Premier Bill Bennett tried to do. Ignoring his father’s very sage advice about creating “hot house industries”. Incidentally, gopg2015, WAC Bennett DIDN’T “nationalise” BC Rail. And the other two entities, BC Hydro and BC Ferries were only created as government enterprises when the private enterprises providing electricity and ferry services wouldn’t or couldn’t continue providing them under reasonable terms and conditions to the BC public.
One more thing, gopg, when Canfor or another large Canadian company buys a US sawmill it doesn’t bring all the money from Canada down to the US at a now unfavourable exchange rate, it BORROWS the money. In the US, from a US bank (or banks). Same as most takeovers by foreigners of Canadian businesses. OUR banks finance them.
gopg2015:-“And how does one get to know what is ACTUAL consumer demand other than by making or creating an object or service and seeing if it can be sold. After that, to see how many or how much can be sold to see if the demand is popular enough to sustain a business for a reasonable length of time. Once that has shown to be a success, it is too late. If every new business was to be created in that fashion, we would never have new products and new services.”
———————————————————————-
You seem to be contradicting yourself above, gopg. Yes, that is how ACTUAL consumer demand is established. There is no ‘value -added’, to use that often mis-quoted term in its broadest sense, unless the enterprise’s product can ” fully return its costs in price, plus a profit.” IF it can do that, without government subsidies in the nature of what often become ongoing “special incentives to selective industries”, it will be produced. Just try to stop someone from stepping up to the plate to produce it. Governments, both advertently and inadvertently, often do just that. But such products are still produced, because there’s a demand for them. A very great difference than having a government encouraging someone to make something because it provides ’employment’.
send Trudeau to Hollywood and get him out of Ottawa before he sinks us all. Clearly Harper was right. Trudeau is not ready.
Worst part mtnloverextreme is I was sober as a judge. lol just made a mistake is all. As for people taking my word more seriously.. not a worry.. not to many on here I can take seriously and don’t care if they take me seriously or not… just here like everyone else, just here to state my opinion and have a laugh. as for Cullen laughing at my post.. I am sure he had to pull out his wallet to check what party he belongs to ;) and if he is trolling this post he needs to post on occasion to explain himself better.
If you are defending your post P Val maybe think before you speak. I do not find you reliable ether.
Not defending, admitting my error is all.. As for reliable.. I don’t find you very reliable either. Like that matters on here..lol
Ooooooooo the third party critic criticisises . So the righties get all emotional . I would never council suicide as some here do ( because it’s illegal ) but if you bust a vessel the comment section would be vastly improved . On the other hand it would be great to read the constant whine of ideology gone wrong for the next four years and then watch you lose again in two thousand twenty .
This is for you Dow . From the criminal code of canada .
Suicide
Marginal note:Counselling or aiding suicide
241 Every one who
(a) counsels a person to commit suicide, or
(b) aids or abets a person to commit suicide,
whether suicide ensues or not, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years
Comments for this article are closed.