I agree, being from BC we export raw logs so they can be milled overseas. problem with oil is just try and get approval to build a new refinery here. the competition won't stand for it. they say we have enough refinery capacity. Plus, won't be long before they want to move a mountain so they can have our mines.
The problem there is our Gov't (previous and current) have sold the rights to foreign interests rather than biting the bullet, moneying up and developing our resources ourselves. We don't even control our own resources any more by way of contractual obligations.
BC is a prime example of this. Mill in Comox is looong gone, The mill in Campbell River closed a year or so ago. Resource based economies are very vulnerable to soooo many factors.
The biggest problem with a resource based economy is that they will eventually run out. Then you have nothing.
Fly around BC and you find huge tracts of land stripped bare from logging and minute trees repopulating the areas. Replanting is a great plan, but it can't keep up withthe hunger of current demands for softwood. Trees only grow so fast.
Several mines in NS bear this fact out also. Boom town will the gold/minerals are there, crumbling to dust now that it's gone. And that's not going to grow back. Once it's gone, it's gone and so is the money/jobs.
Take a look at the Newfoundland ground fisheries for further proof of resource based problems.
For the most part, Canada is being saved from this right now in our other resourced based industries because of the sheer size of our land mass. But that will eventually not be enough.
Just damn short sightedness and there's no sense even voting another party in because they're all the same bunch right down at the base of it all............short sighted.
We need to manufacture goods, not just export raw materials....
While I'm on a bit of a rant, I might as well get it all out. We also need to stop immigrating more taxi drivers. The country has got enough now thank-you-very-much. One trip to any of our major cities is enough proof of that. We need skilled workers....
