Реферат: Mel Hurtig Essay Research Paper Mel Hurtig2Mel

Mel Hurtig Essay, Research Paper

Mel Hurtig

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Mel Hurtig was a Canadian nationalist with very strong pro-Canada feelings. He felt that our government was selling us out. That our government was simply trying to

turn us into the fifty first state of the United states. In his book At Twighlight in the Country, he shares many of these views. He fought very valiantly against the free trade agreement, speaking out against it whenever possible. Urging government leaders to reconsider what we were giving the United States and what little we would be receiving in return. He also continually spoke out about how our culture continued to disappear and become more like that of the United States. How soon our culture could be undistinguished from our southern neighbors. He completely believed that we simply sold out our country and the politicians should be ashamed.

One of Mel Hurtig’s mentors was George Grant. Foresaw the selling out of Canada and spoke about in his book Lament for a Nation which was published in 1965. He said as Mel quotes him in his own book:

Canada has ceased to be a nation, but its formal political existence will not end quickly. Our social and economic blending into the American empire will continue apace, but political union will probably be delayed. (p. 434)

Grant foresaw what Mel would begin to see and greatly foreshadowed exactly what would happen in Canada. Grant felt that the wealthy, the ruling classes, Liberal party and the elite of Montreal and Toronto, were responsible for selling out of Canada. Mel shared these views and especially later in life the views of the liberal party which he had previously been

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a part of. Later these views carried on to the Mulroney led conservatives who in Mel’s mind finished the selling off of Canada for good. Mulroney had said that he was not even interested in free trade when he was first elected but quickly changed his mind thanks to his good friend American president Ronald Reagon.

Hurtig was furious over the free trade agreement. He could not see any advantage of this agreement. Plus as he pointed out much of the Canadian public opposed such a deal with the Americans. Free trade was never a discussion during elections so the people of Canada never had the chance to decide on the outcome. In a press release Mel pleaded with Canadians to demand a federal election by saying:

If necessary, the liberals and NDP members of the House of Commons must disrupt the business of the house and force an election, as Conservative leader Robert Borden did before defeating Wilfred Laurier in the reciprocity election of 1911. Brian Mulroney has no mandate from the people of Canada to take this unprecedented step. When he campaigned for the leadership role of the Conservative Party he spoke out strongly against free trade. He was not elected to sell out our country … few Canadians understand what the government is doing. This is no free trade agreement this is a giant step towards union with the US… It’s a “leap of faith” into oblivion for Canada. (p. 296)

As Mel himself states many times in this book, Canada’s relationship with the United States is too close and it was only made closer through the signing of this agreement.

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Another of Mel’s friends was Walter Gordon. Walter was a friend of Lester Pearson and when he became Prime Minister, Walter became minister of finance. He believed that the problem with foreign ownership could be solved with a simple measure, a thirty percent takeover tax. He was however forced to remove it from the budget because of the huge uproar it caused from big businesses. Many of which were owned by Americans or had American interests.

Mel believed this was a good idea because he could see that foreign ownership was a big problem. Foreign owned firms has most of Canadians wealth but created a large number less of new jobs for Canadians as opposed to Canadian firms. No wonder there is such a large number of unemployed in Canada when the biggest corporations are producing the fewest jobs. While the majority of funds donated to a political party come from these companies it’s no wonder that changes are not made. If changes were made then these companies would pull their contributions and the parties would not have any funds.

It’s hard to understand how the government can be so naive, especially when most economists and reporters could see what was happening. In the Ottawa Citizen, an editorial called “Mortgaging Our Future”, states:

The truthfulness of the American ambassador to Canada, which Mel Hurtig of the Committee for an Independent Canada says is open to question, is not as important as the federal government’s response to the continuing problem of foreign investment.

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The Trudeau government has not come to realize what a threat the continued influx of such capital is to the country. In fact, the government is a willing participant in the process of mortgaging Canada’s future. It has been a fundamental tenant of liberal policy since the days of C.D. Howe that Canada’s road to prosperity lay in opening the country to unlimited foreign investment. Canadians sold to willing buyers. It’s not the Americans who are to blame, but the Liberal governments and Canadian businessmen.

The decision of United states’ multinational corporations could now bankrupt Canada. A renewal of economic difficulties in the US could force plant closings here. Canadian markets could dry up. The house of cards could crash.

It makes you wonder how with George Grant’s predictions in the 1960’s and this prediction in the 1970’s, how Canada could agree to the free trade agreement with the United States and then the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Today our culture is almost identical to that of or southern neighbors. We watch their television, listen to their music and buy virtually all the same brand names and products. America has not declared war on us and yet they are slowly taking over us through their vast amount of influence. By simply threatening us with removing some industry or some benefit our government will do whatever the US wants us to. It’s not that Canada is becoming the fifty first state, Canada is becoming slave labor under the hand of an evil tyrant the United States of America.

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Mel Hurtig’s first experience with politics came while he was beginning to open his bookstore. Many people in Alberta were unable to buy books except in department stores. Mel found this to be quite a difficult experience so he decided to open his own bookstore. In the beginning he was amazed that very few publishers actually published books by or about Canadians. He was also disturbed that unlike the United States, books by authors from different cultures were not produced here in Canada. These books were simply shipped here.

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