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Canada, 10 Fiefdoms with Inter-Provincial Tariffs
President Trump might want to engage in tariff agreements with the ten provincial governors in Canada, rather than the one prime minister in Ottawa.
Separate US agreements with Alberta might tamp down the “We want to join the United States” movement and save Ottawa some embarrassment.
The US could ignore Quebec. We produce much better wine in California, Oregon, and Washington than Quebec does.
Ever notice that chicken sold in B.C. is more expensive than it is in other provinces? That’s because the price is set by a provincial chicken board (yes, you read that right). Or that fruits and veggies are packaged and labelled differently in Quebec compared to Manitoba? Those are just a few ways that food is subject to internal trade barriers.
Another example: in the early 2000s, when B.C. was hit by a drought, Alberta farmers stepped in to share their healthy harvest. The trucks transporting hay between the two provinces hit a snag, having to follow B.C.’s load safety regulations.
We can agree on trade and let the Canadians deal with their own self-imposed idiotic regulations. To be fair, we have enough of our own idiotic self-imposed regulations to sort out.
Other notable trade barriers in Canada:
Toilet seats: Ontario says toilets at construction sites need to have “open-front” seats; Alberta is “toilet-seat neutral.”
Maple syrup: Not every province thinks their neighbour’s sap is up to snuff; maple syrup grading differs across the country.
Truck driving: Certain trucks can only be driven at night in B.C., but in Alberta, the same trucks are only driven by day.
Quotes from CBC.
Published in Humor
Load safety? For hay? I’ve seen hay loads spilled before. I’ve been on top of two or three when they spilled. I want to see these super safe load requirements.
… Were those two facts related?
Kinda.
So off the top, Canada needs to ban you from entering the country. Likely, that is already the case.
Since he was born a US citizen, we could not ban him. Everywhere else did.
Making hay transport safe for all other mankind.
You’re making me like Canada a little more. A crazy patchwork of provincial and local regulation may save Canada yet. I wish there was a political party in the US that favored such federalism. Donald Trump seemed on the right track when he favored state regulation of abortion, but he ran into flak from his own base. And now on every other issue he is trying to force states into obedience to his will.
So, your answer to Trump’s unconstitutional-to-you random tariffs etc, would be multiple governor’s/legislatures’ unconstitutional (because last I checked, the Constitution doesn’t allow such things between states) being better?
Amazing.
It’s good to be amazed by life. And you get points for making a comparison. Often when I make comparisons around here, my mental state gets questioned. I’m glad you see the connection between the issues, even if what I wrote is not in answer to Trump’s tariffs. I hope nobody questions your mental state for it. There is a lot here that is worth discussing further, now that you mention it.
Maybe I’ll write more later today. I’m in Ukraine now, trying to adjust after an overnight bus trip across the border, following an overnight flight, and having some minor adventures in between times. Yesterday, while killing time before I could check into my hotel and trying unsuccessfully to stay warm after an arrival in dawn’s early light, a young man stopped to talk to me even though he knew no English and I can speak very little Ukrainian. He had been in the war, but now likes to ride his bicycle and camp in the woods. He was very interested in what I was doing with my bicycle. With the help of a little German for discussing times, he took me to lunch where there was wifi good enough for us to use Google Translate to communicate a little better. But after two near-sleepless nights out of three, and the one in between having not enough time to rest well enough, I’m now just loafing in my hotel room after a night when I finally did get plenty of rest. I may or may not go out for a ride this afternoon.
I wonder if their goal with these regulations is to improve trucking efficiency, or if it is to save lives by enhancing road safety?
I wonder if they’ve evaluated how successful they’ve been at reaching whatever their goals are? Is trucking more efficient? How many lives have they saved?
I wonder if, if they were to determine that these regulations had not, in fact, improved their perceived problem, I wonder if they will drop these regulations?
I wonder…
…
I really, REALLY don’t understand leftists.
There are some interesting ways to protect your wallet in the US when it comes to crossing state lines to purchase certain items.
For example, the most profitable liquor store in Oregon is located in Portland just across the Columbia River border with Washington. When Washington voters voted to privatize liquor stores in Washington to lower the cost of liquor the state raised the excise tax on liquor. Even though Oregon has state liquor stores the cost of a bottle of your favorite libation is cheaper in Oregon than it is in Washington.
Washington residents also shop at Home Depot and Costco in Oregon because there is no state sales tax in Oregon. If you can get purchases across the Columbia River in your own vehicle you can save hundreds of dollars.
The Washington state sales tax rate is 6.5%, and the average WA sales tax after local surtaxes is 8.89%.
It the people of Washington could be satisfied with 3 dolls and 5 pencils for their kids, they could do their shopping at home and make Washington State Great Again.
Cook County had the genius idea of tagging on a 1¢ per oz. tax on “sweetened beverages.” Artificial sweeteners (diet versions) provided no relief. A two liter bottle of Coke shot up from $2.49 to $3.49. Folks in the Chicago city limits were screwed, but residents further out had options. People started hitting the stores just over the county line. Not only that, but since they were already out of the car, they might as well pick up the milk, bread, and eggs too. Sales in the county dropped. Tax revenues dropped with them. It took the county commissioners less than 90 days to repeal the mess. (Amazing how fast they can move when it’s their money disappearing.)
I bet you also wouldn’t mind if each state you want to drive through has different rules for how your vehicle must be. And maybe pay a fee, etc. There’s already enough trouble with dumb cops who don’t understand that their state requiring front AND rear license plates, for example, doesn’t require YOU as a resident of a different state, to follow it.
I’ve also seen examples of California cops, especially, seeming to think that only a California license is valid for driving in California. So, would you like to also have to take a test and get a license, in each state you plan to drive in or through?
I’ll bet you’ve lost a lot of money at Vegas if you’ve ever gone there. Your betting ability is not so good.
It sounds, though, like you’re one of those people who thinks the laws should be the same everywhere and there should be no borders. Fortunately, Trump is getting better control of our national border and is sticking it to people like you. It’s about time.
Unfortunately, Trump is not doing so good at honoring the borders between our states and in honoring the rights of the various states to regulate their own affairs and to manage a crazy patchwork of state and local regulation. Aside from abortion, he is not so good at honoring the boundaries between national and state governments. He is not even very good at honoring the boundaries within the national government.
If you say, “But, but, but, that’s different!” I saw something relevant to that difference that Vlad Vexler posted a couple days ago. It’s a thought I already had, but hadn’t known how to state so succinctly:
Those of us who call ourselves populist anti-globalists have problems with an EU that has bureaucrats in Brussels making regulations for the entire EU on things like immigration, farming, and fishing. Such centralization does away with national sovereignty. I can support Brexitish people and right-wing groups who oppose that and who support national sovereignty.
But then those same right-wing Brexitish people do a 180 turnaround and support Putin, who wants to do away with national sovereignty of his neighbors and who has globalizing ambitions that go well beyond that. Seems like many of those right-wing groups are fake supporters of national sovereignty.
That schizophrenia is not limited to Europe. Much of MAGA is like that, too. Now that Trump is in office again they are turning against their former selves and are showing their true colors. It’s not a pretty sight.
Nope, missed again.
Heh.
You’ve maybe seen rustic little square hay bales… This is what modern industrial farms produce for hay:
As you can see those bales are quite large, and can weigh in at 2000 lbs… So yes load safety matters.
Indirectly promoting Sodastream. Way better than the over the counter stuff since you know where the water came from, you can measure out the syrup level to suit your taste, and you can determine the fizziness of the result. And no one has to transport the 99% water product about burning precious energy and there are only plastic syrup containers to be recycled. A thirty to one reduction in waste, give or take. And they use actual sugar in the syrup, way better than the high fructose slop.
What about the gas cylinders? I hadn’t heard about them getting recycled/refilled.
I get mine refilled at a local drug store. The Sodastream shop has a map of supporting businesses and also accepts direct swaps by mail. I have also learned that one can simply buy a CO2 tank and rig your own fizzer for a savings. The caution is that the CO2 tank should be stored outside against the risk of a leak.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most people just throw them out and buy a new one. The whole Sodastream “model” to me seems like a higher-income thing in general. Even if it’s technically cheaper somehow versus buying 12-packs of cans etc at regular price (which I never do, I buy on sale, and usually get enough to last until the next sale) the initial costs could be somewhat daunting and then looking at the even possibly low-level “hassle” of having to refill cartridges etc, and what if you run out partway through etc…. Also, it’s easy to just toss a 12-pack in the fridge, plus just grabbing a cold can versus having to make a cold glass… and what about grabbing some “cold ones” to bring in the car, etc.
This one is easy. You can either stick with the 1 liter bottles used to make soda. I use three at a time and keep some spares. They go just fine in a cooler with some freeze packs. I have had one fail, a bottle turned up leaking after using the dishwasher on it despite the dishwasher safe claims. I clean them by hand with a bottle brush. It takes very little time and energy. As the CO2 cartridges lose pressure gradually and can be corrected for a time by longer infusions, there are no surprise outages. I keep six of their CO2 tanks and swap three to four times a year. Having a palatable soda with a third or less calories and actual sugar goodness and my fizz preference is a huge plus for day to day consumption. If I’m on the road and out of home brew, I’ll do bottled water or unsweetened tea. The corn syrup thing was never my preference. The money savings is real but not huge.
Have you looked into BPA and variants, and micro-plastics, etc?
Also, what do you figure your cost-per-liter is? Especially if you don’t just use tap water. (I don’t think I want my flavored drinks, fizzy or not, to be chlorinated/fluoridated/etc.) I recently got 3 6-packs of half-liter Lipton “brisk” tea, for $12. And that was just a Family Dollar sale. That would be 9 liters total, or $1.33 per liter.
No, but thank you. Now I have a new research project to feed my paranoia after radically adjusting my diet for medical reasons. 😁
My understanding is that repeated use, even/especially with washing – hand or automatic – increases both BPA (or similar) release as well as microplastics.
The Lipton half-liter bottles are not “brewed” tea, but larger sizes often are. And Sodastream could never actually “brew” tea.