MAPLE LEAF RAG:

Conference Board says 'gentle decline' could be halted by freer trade, higher productivity (Bill Curry, October 11, 2002, National Post)

The gap between what Canadians and Americans earn will double by the end of the decade unless divisive trade issues between the two countries are resolved, the Conference Board of Canada said yesterday. [...]

The board, an Ottawa-based economic think-tank, argues the decline in incomes will mean fewer tax dollars for governments to spend on hospitals, schools and the environment and will lower Canadians' quality of life compared to that of Americans.

"Canada's capacity to fund first-class health, education and social services through to 2010 depends on its ability to boost income per capita," the board said in its 145-page report.

Anne Golden, the board's president, said the slide will continue unless Canadians act soon to improve their productivity and incomes. "Our position in the world is at risk of deteriorating."

"Canada in 2010 is a comfortable place to live, but in gentle decline," Ms. Golden said.

That "but" should really be an "and, therefore". As Alexis de Tocqueville said almost 170 years ago: "Any measure that establishes legal charity on a permanent basis and gives it administrative form thereby creates an idle and lazy class, living at the expense of the industrial and working class." Put an entire country on legal charity and you inevitably put them on the path of decline. That they're worried about the decline only because it will impact their ability to fund the charity makes you doubt they can take the steps necessary to reverse the slide. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 13, 2002 3:48 PM