free trade in Canada
free trade in CanadaThe main goal of free trade is to make trade between nations easier and less costly. The way it achieves this goal is by removing barriers such as tariffs, eliminating regulations and dismissing certain standards, which allows the market to balance itself through the pressures of market demands. The free trade system has existed now for just over two-hundred years, beginning just after the industrial revolution. It has been successful in promoting independent action, advancing technology and thus in turn creating wealth. While free trade economics is a major contributor to economic growth, economic growth is also a major contributor to the destruction of our planet. “Due to over consumption and the throw away model of most developed nations, free trade does not allow for very much sustainable development.”(Chomsky,N:www.oneworld.org)
Many critics of free market capitalism feel that the root of our problem is too many environmental resources are considered common goods or common to all. Common resources are available free of charge to anyone who wishes to use them. The text defines common resources as “Goods that are rival, but not excludable.”( Chomsky,N) Because common goods are rival, one person’s use of the resource takes away from other people’s enjoyment of it. For example back in 1998 when the Ontario Provincial Government granted a permit to remove freshwater supplies in bulk amounts from Lake Ontario. The water was to be removed in bulk amounts and exported to the United States by a private enterprise based out of Salt Ste. Marie. If it wasn’t for a mass public outcry and disapproval, this permit to export Canadian fresh water would have opened the flood gates for serious environmental disaster. The free market’s principle for supply and demand is inapplicable when dealing with common goods because there is no price attached to them. Therefore overuse and depletion is a common theme when so many of our...
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