The Liberal Prime Minister, Paul (“we lead the world”) Martin gets his company’s fleet of ships built in China, so why not his Canada‘s things too?
I guess the thing is that see, getting lapel pins made (for the liberals to hand out as shiny objects of affection to possible voters) is a very, very complicated manufacturing process. We lack the “shiny trinket” technology in this country. Well I mean we made them here in Canada for 35 years, but the lapel pin-making technology has gotten away from us.
Apparently we (also) don’t lead the world in the trinket market.
Conservatives cry scandal after finding Canadian flag pins made in China
OTTAWA (CP) – The next time you feel patriotic by wearing a Canadian flag lapel pin, you may want to check the back to see if it’s stamped Made In China.
The federal Opposition is complaining that the Paul Martin government has outsourced production of the pins to China. “I think it’s a scandal,” Conservative critic Charlie Angus said Wednesday after recently discovering the China stamp on the back of a pin.
“We see our prime minister standing up and he’s talking about Canadian values and he’s talking about standing up to China on human rights,” Angus noted.
“And (yet) we’re outsourcing the fundamental symbol of what Canada is to a foreign country.”
Contracts for the pins, and other products, are awarded to companies providing the best quality materials at the best value, Public Works Minister Scott Brison argued in the Commons.
“We do so within the confines of our trading agreements,” said Brison, whose department purchased the pins.
Tell that to laid-off workers in Rexdale, Ont., who used to make the pins, said Angus, who pointed out that parliamentary purchases are exempt from international trade agreements.
“The lapel pin was a Canadian invention. It was made for 35 years by Canadian workers before this government came along,” Angus told the Commons.
“Disney’s got the Mounties, they gave the Remembrance Day coin to Tim Hortons and now they’re giving the flag to China,” he said.
“They’re selling off our cultural heritage like a bunch of roadside hucksters selling hub caps and velvet Elvis paintings.”
The lapel pins are often handed out by MPs to school children and others in their ridings.
I was actually watching the parliamentary proceedings today when Charlie Angus stood up and brought this to the attention of the lawmakers. It was hilarious—he had his tongue firmly in cheek—but when the Liberal Scott Brison tried to defend himself and his ridiculous Liberal government, Charlie Angus got up again and made a killer rebuttal that got a full-blown standing ovation accompanied by a laugh riot.
EDIT Feb 4 2005: An alert reader noticed that the Canadian Press dubbed Charlie Angus a Conservative when in fact he’s an NDPer. I never noticed that myself, not knowing who in tarnation Charlie Angus was. But the Conservatives were on-side in Angus’ grilling of the Liberals.
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