ColbyCosh.com

I in all honesty want Obama to personally endorse protectionism, have economist after economist calculate the damage done, and then I can demand that every Canadian lining up for pogey personally apologize to George W. Bush before accepting the cheque.

Protectionism works about as well as deficit spending. But the left loves it... so it must be on the Conservatives short list of things to do this month.

A cogent, thoughtful article. At least, until I noticed you had a beard. How can we trust a man who doesn't even shave?!?

(am I doing it right?)

Mr. Cosh needs to watch Lou Dobbs nightly if he thinks there are no defenders of American protectionism.....

Colby, I have no difficulty agreeing with you based on hard facts and economic theory, and I feel that one of the tragedies of our time is that third world countries are, because of subsidies and trade barriers in the developed world, in many cases prevented from exporting the one thing they can produce - agricultural goods. However, there are also emotionally potent arguments in favour of protectionism when it comes to protecting a way of life, whether it be Quebec culture, the wines of Champagne, or the cheeses of Parma. Further, there are significant (but difficult to quantify) economic benefits that flow from cultural protectionism. Who would go to Tuscany or Provence if they were just huge corporate farms or modern suburbs? And this is not to mention the types of quality control problems that have recently arisen in respect of Chinese food and industrial products. What say you?

Colby, I have no difficulty agreeing with you based on hard facts and economic theory, and I feel that one of the tragedies of our time is that third world countries are, because of subsidies and trade barriers in the developed world, in many cases prevented from exporting the one thing they can produce - agricultural goods. However, there are also emotionally potent arguments in favour of protectionism when it comes to protecting a way of life, whether it be Quebec culture, the wines of Champagne, or the cheeses of Parma. Further, there are significant (but difficult to quantify) economic benefits that flow from cultural protectionism. Who would go to Tuscany or Provence if they were just huge corporate farms or modern suburbs? And this is not to mention the types of quality control problems that have recently arisen in respect of Chinese food and industrial products. What say you?

Has protectionism really done much for French wine (which has been getting its ass beaten in the marketplace for decades by Chile, California, and Australia) or Italian cheese (you might want to google "tainted buffalo mozzarella" and get back to me)? I believe that when it comes to culturally distinct products like these, the European instrument of the "appellation controlée" is most suitable, and I have no real problem with it as a sort of trademark-on-steroids.

As for Quebec's cheese, before we decide how it can be saved through subsidy in situ, shouldn't we consider taking steps to, I don't know, allow the fucking stuff to be sold outside Quebec?

Sorry, I didn't see that you were talking more broadly about Quebec "culture" there. Their cheese business is a good example, though; Ontarian "protectionism", in the form of rules against that scary raw milk that Northern Europeans were insane enough to drink for so long that it's literally expressed in our genome, is unnecessarily keeping some of the planet's most gifted cheesemakers poor 'n' pastoral.

Yeah, I agree on the raw milk/cheese thing. On the bigger issue, I know that trade barriers and tariffs generally make everyone poorer and less efficient, but is there not a point at which a society should intervene to protect a way of life from the sometimes brutal effects of competition? And as I said, there are often potential long term benefits, both economic and social, to preserving things like the Cinque Terre, farming communities in the Swiss Alps, and certain wine-making regions of France, for example. (I'm not so sure about the CBC.) And let's face it, some things simply WILL be protected. But, then, who decides who and what is worth protecting? It's tough, and once you start where do you stop?

The point is that it's always easier to "protect" some existing industry without any accounting of the potential costs. Look at the subsidies being handed out to magazines and community newspapers by the ministry of heritage. This is nothing less than a raising of the barriers to entry in that business: it's a huge competitive advantage for culturally "privileged" media that already have existing subscriber bases. Meanwhile, since metropolitan and national daily newspapers don't get this subsidy, a guy like me literally gets taxed to support competitors of the National Post. And others competitors for subscriber revenue, advertising dollars, and attention are in the same boat. Protection of the "culture" in this case, and in most others, is just another term for cultural stagnation. Is it worth it just to keep Canadian Living and the Town and Country Examiner afloat for another few years?

Why, I'd say it was entirely worth it, if it's actually me that publishes Canadian Living and the Town and Country Examiner. Was it not Mayakovsky who said, "Self-interest is deplorable, unless it's Mayakovsky's"?

Odd that wine regions are mentioned. The Okanagan has become a wine producing region of some note for the simple reason that the government stopped subsidizing apple production.

I live in a town that has a particular character, old stone buildings. It wasn't some central planning that created it. It was simply on one of the rare routes through the mountains, close proximity to a number of mines, hence became full of stone banks and wooden whore houses.

Evil commerce. Must be regulated.

Derek

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