Draconian security measures could prevent visitors to the 2010 Olympics from crossing the international border.
Streamlining security is already a priority for Washington. Meanwhile Idaho figures it can get a boost by attracting Americans who don’t want to deal with the hassles.
British Columbia this week unveiled a new push to build ties with Asia and remove barriers to doing business elsewhere in Canada. Both could help it reach the goal of being Cascadia’s top gateway.
The Asia Pacific Initiative outlines a series of steps to boost B.C.’s profile in Asia. That’s on top of federal dollars to boost trade infrastructure.
Meanwhile an agreement allowing businesses to operate freely between B.C. and Alberta for the first time went into affect this week and could help bolster Vancouver’s position for trade. B.C. is already shopping the agreement to other provinces, though there are predictable worries that locking in trade undermines local democracy in the region.
In recent days the Bush administration slapped tariffs on paper imported from China and annouced a free-trade pact with South Korea. The moves could harm the long-term goal of more trade that’s critical for Cascadia’s economy.
The tariffs on Chinese products are an attempt to placate critics in Congress rather than address the economic trends that make U.S. products less competitive. In fact the U.S. has increasingly little leverage on China because that country is financing our runaway spending.
Today’s announcement of a free-trade deal with South Korea also is less favorable than it seems. It appears to be another bilateral deal that ultimately protects some parts of U.S. industry at the expense of a backlash both overseas and among displaced U.S. workers. Cascadia’s long-term interests would be better served by pushing for comprehensive trade agreements that level the playing field between multiple countries.
There’s no question that trade can be improved by increments. Unfortunately these developments — on top of earlier tariffs on Canadian lumber and foreign steel, and a series of unfair bilateral trade deals — round out a dubious record on promoting trade.
One surprising advocate of incentives to encourage cleaner industry is California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. I finally got around to reading this succinct interview in the latest Fortune magazine.
The intro makes the case that Schwarzenegger is one of several Republicans who are working on programs to develop environmentally sound business. It puts it charitably: “The Republican party has not recently been associated with asertive environmental policy.”
A few choice passages from the interview:
I know the American mentality when it comes to finances is to look at the quarterly returns. But there are decisions you will make today, right now, that will take you in a different direction if you think ahead. I have to think, How is California, with its population growth, going to get its energy supply in 50 years?
Does the GOP get this?
No. There are people in both parties who don’t get it, but I would say I have a tougher time selling those things to the Republicans.
There’s a billboard in Michigan accusing me of costing the car industry $85 billion. [Sponsored by Republican Congressman Joe Knollenberg, the sign says, ARNOLD TO MICHIGAN: DROP DEAD! The message refers to the damage that detractors say the new emissions standards will cause the U.S. auto industry.]
Those people look at this in a narrow way rather than really studying the subject and recognizing that this actually gives us an opportunity to create a whole new industry of clean cars and clean engines and components to build those engines. In California, what we call clean-tech industries are exploding left and right.
Won’t there be losers with stricter pollution standards?
Only as much as the auto industry or any industry has to make changes to adapt to the behavior of customers. You have to react quickly. Even if we don’t do anything about it, the Japanese will, the Chinese will, the Germans will. Detroit is struggling with it, yes, because they are behind.
The U.S. government is about to bail out the finances of dozens of counties in Cascadia that depend on the depressed timber industry. It needs to look for a longer term fix instead.
The latest proposal would spend billions of dollars over the next five years to compensate rural areas nationwide hurt by cutbacks in logging. The funds would forestall cutbacks in schools, roads and other public services that could paralyze much of the West.
So far, so good. At a time when the U.S. apparently has money to fund war in Iraq, cut taxes and subsidize corporations, why not bail out areas that have depended on timber for generations?
The problem is that there’s little sign those areas will be weaned from the subsidy when the next five years of funding ends. Instead we should be working toward a system where costs are carried more by those who benefit (for example, commuters pay congestion pricing, companies pay their way and rural areas become more self-sustaining).
The worst outcome would be to spread taxpayer largesse beyond the current list of recipients, sustaining areas where economic growth can’t. The Albany, Ore. newspaper editorialized for a change in the subsidy system, but its solution is more logging in federal lands. Never mind that the land actually belongs to everyone, not just residents of counties closest to them
Getting to Europe from Cascadia may become cheaper and easier, thanks to an agreement between the U.S. and the European Union approved today.
The deal essentially lets airlines fly between any two points across the Atlantic, and opens London’s Heathrow Airport to more carriers (currently it’s limited to United, American, British and Virgin Atlantic).
That means more competition at Heathrow and connections between more cities across the ocean. For example, KLM is likely to replace flight slots at Heathrow currently filled with small turboprop planes flying to Europe with lucrative flights to the U.S.
The agreement should be seen as just a start. The U.S., which wants to protect its strapped carriers, successfully blocked plans to allow foreign airlines to take passengers between points inside the U.S. Imagine how service might change if Americans were allowed to fly British, Air France or Lufthansa from New York to Seattle instead of Delta. Hopefully increased competition across the Atlantic will encourage consumers to support allowing more of it close to home. The next step could be allowing service and price — not regulations — to dictate choices.
Washington is close to approving a test project that would provide security along the international border without stifling trade and tourism. It’s a big step toward capitalizing on Cascadia’s growth before and after the 2010 Olympics.
Both houses of the legislature have approved legislation that would authorize an enhanced driver’s license to serve as proof of citizenship. The state and British Columbia would test screening driver’s licenses at the border with scanning technology that is supposedly cheaper and easier than a passport requirement proposed by the U.S. federal government. Here’s the House version.
Assuming the legislation passes, Washington and B.C. will simply have to convince the federal governments to lay off with draconian border-tightening measures.
The first-ever shooting in Whistler late Friday night is a side effect of the resort’s growing reputation for a party. The question is whether it will have any lasting impact on business there.
Shops in the Village reportedly were still closed on Saturday afternoon, 18 hours after the deadly shooting that followed a dispute outside a night club. The incident had Whistler officials doing PR about how safe the town really is.
Bill Gates told the U.S. Senate Wednesday that restrictions on the number of skilled foreign workers allowed into the country on H1-B visas are hindering innovation. The cap should be raised from 65,000 a year to maybe 300,000, he argued.
Such a move would keep wages down and some skilled workers here unemployed, the largest union representing tech workers responded. WashTech makes the same case every time someone proposes steps to expand the skilled workforce, either through better education or immigration reforms. Brier Dudley links to the union and has more on the issue on his blog.
Plans for expanded train service between Seattle and Vancouver might be the first step toward extending the corridor north.
Relocating the current terminus from downtown Vancouver a few miles southeast to Surrey would be a start. The change would eliminate the need to rebuild a bridge, cut the total travel time to Seattle and save more people in the metropolitan area a trip downtown to board, according to a local newspaper report Tuesday. SkyTrain would still provide a link to downtown.
Most importantly, serving more people in the area would build public support for trains. That’s critical since funding for improvements would come from Canada. The new station could spur transit-oriented development in the area and eventually boost ridership from the Vancouver-area by 7 percent, assuming five trains a day to Seattle, according to a report by the Washington transportation department (it’s in Appendix E).
British Columbia has studied options to implement train service to Whistler that’s competitive with driving. Though the cost would be high, it could become realistic as the financial and time cost of driving rises. The Washington study bases projections for future ridership between Seattle and Vancouver on a series of projected fares and similar calculations of return on investment could be made further north.
