Canada PoliticsNew Canadian passport covers won’t be made in Canada
I think most people understand the economic concept of 'comparative advantage.'
Simply put, it means that countries should produce the goods they're most efficient at producing and import the goods in which they're not.
But when it comes to things like passports — or other symbols of 'Canadiana' — economic concepts should be thrown out the window.
CTV News is reporting that Canadian Bank Note, an Ottawa-based company that has been given the federal contract to produce Canadian passport covers, is outsourcing the job to a company in the Netherlands.
For the last three decades the contract belonged to a Cornwall, Ontario company called Columbia Finishing Mills. Officials from the company told CTV News that they would now have to lay off up to 25 per cent of their staff.
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"We were told from the beginning when tender came out that Canadian content had no bearing," sales manager Dan Ploure said.
"I was very, very shocked about that."
Rick Shaver, president of the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, has come to the defence of Columbia Finishing with an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and MP Guy Lauzon.
Here's a snippet of the letter published in Cornwall's Standard Freeholder newspaper:
"The Canadian passport is a document respected around the world and is carried with pride by millions of Canadians. While many of these passport holders will likely be unaware of the government's intention, the Chamber believes they would be deeply troubled to learn that the document's cover has been 'sold-out' to a foreign country where it will now be manufactured. Your government claims there will be savings but, in the broader scheme of things, the Chamber wonders how much these savings will be — and at what cost to Canadians.
Your government continues to stress that the Canadian economy remains in a fragile state and that Canadians must all work together to ensure economic growth. You will recall that in January of this year, Finance Minister Flaherty took part in a pre-budget discussion, an event focused on how best to ensure Canada's economy continues to produce jobs and growth in a difficult global economy. Your intention to outsource the passport covers appears to contradict the intent of those discussions."
In an email to CTV on Thursday morning, Rick Roth, press secretary for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said the government had nothing to do with the decision to outsource the work and that Canadian Bank Note was chosen because "it was the only company capable of printing the documents in Canada."
But shouldn't 'made in Canada' have been a stipulation in the contract?
And this isn't the first time that Canadian symbols have been made abroad.
In 2009, the NDP called-out the ministry of Canadian Heritage for purchasing $200,000 worth of Canadian flag pins imported from China.
Also in 2009, the Canadian Press reported that the Province of Ontario stopped ordering Ontario flags from a Toronto company and, instead, outsourced them to China. Thankfully, after the public outcry, the contract eventually went back to the Toronto company.
More recently, it was learned that the lapel pins commissioned by the Harper government and distributed during the diamond jubilee celebrations were also made in China.
Certainly, you would have to assume that it is cheaper to produce passports and the flags in a foreign country.
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But should it just be about dollars and cents?
These are symbols of Canada; things that should be nearest and dearest to our collective hearts.
Let's show some unadulterated un-Canadian patriotism here and insist that our national symbols be made in Canada by Canadians.
