McGuinty's protectionism

I cannot understand Dalton McGuinty's politics. Honestly. His proposal to slap an additional duty on Korean cars makes as much sense as eating cabbage for breakfast. Unless you're nuts that is!

If Ontario were a nation of its own a higher duty might make some sense in the short term, although helping domestic industries with subsidies and barriers just serves to prolong their inevitable agony. As the G&M says, though, one would be able to buy a car in Quebec and Manitoba as easily. Unless my understanding of Canadian regulations is at absolute zero, there's no barrier to consumers doing this.

McGuinty would force consumers to go buy cars in other provinces, damage car dealers, and generally bring the manufacturing inductry elsewhere (what's the use manufacturing in a province where less people shop for cars anyway?). OK, there's other makes one can buy, but the point is that more business will move to the neighboring provinces, carmakers in Ontario won't have a victory to celebrate, relations with South Korea would be damaged and McGuinty will look like a fool. Protectionism is never the answer!

Ontario doesn't need to frighten business away from its borders, this is the time to encourage it, encourage failing manufacturers to sell their plants to more successful ones or to foreigners. Offset the wage difference with tax credits. And instead of spending money subsidizing provincial manufacturers invest in out-of-province buyers of Ontario cars by offering rebates on federal taxes if this is permitted. I'd never expect a Liberal to restrain spending, so I'd rather advocate spending it on someone more useful, i.e. the consumer.

If a sector is struggling people are not liking the produce or someone can do it better and cheaper. Wisdom has it that if you are riding a dead horse, you should dismount. Rather than waiting for the carmaking sector to collapse completely McGuinty should draw up a plan for incentivating job changes, re-training and re-adsorbing the workforce that will be displaced from closing plants and sales to other makers. After all, Korean cars rock!