Apology in advance!
 

This just came across my desk, I would like to share it, but do not wish to offend.

Dear Mr. Harper,

Please find below my suggestion for fixing Canada's economy.
Instead of giving billions of dollars to banks and car companies, that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan:

There are about 20 million people over 50 in the work force.
Pay them $1 million a piece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Twenty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new Canadian CAR. Twenty million cars ordered -
Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage -
Housing Crisis fixed.

4) They must send their kids to school / college /university -
Crime rate fixed

5) Buy $50 of alcohol / tobacco / petrol a week... there's your money
back in duty / tax etc

It can't get any easier than that!

Brilliant, except that the banks in Canada received NO money.
The auto makers that did, received very little, and are paying it back.
Add to that, the fact that there is NO housing crisis, and crime rates all across the country are the lowest they've ever been, and dropping.
Brilliant :roll:

I like the million dollars part; I'll be eligible in eight years! :D

What's a Canadian car? :lol:

I drive a Canadian truck. Peterbilt (in Quebec).

Weldangrind,

I did not know you were one of us old timers!

I'm not growing up, just older.

Oh, a "Japanese Peterbilt", built in the Kenworth plant (actually the old Sicard plant), not largely different than their American counterpart, but there are some subtle differences, enough to make a parts person tear his/her hair out.

Sicard pics:
http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/sicard.htm

Sicard today:
http://www.sicard-snowblast.com/about_sicard.html

Thanks for the links... Hanks has a lot of pictures, mines on there somewhere but theres way too many for me to track it down.

I think half of the "American" cars are built in Canada. Or at least they used to be. The other half in Mexico. :lol:

Here, in Canada, we have a long tradition of "butchering" vehicles. I *guess* this is mainly because any vehicle plants here are "foreign branch plants", rather than the "real" thing, because there are few (or no) Canadian "makes". It would surprise you the oddities we see here. Trucks built here are referred to as "Japanese", this would include Mack, Freightliner, Kenworth and Peterbilt. We have "Newfoundland" (or Newfie) Toyota, and Volvo cars (assembled with whatever "they" could find in Nova Scotia), a full range of GM cars with Chevy running gear, and some fairly strange buses, assembled out of whatever was in the parts bin, at the time of assembly. Our military vehicles (assembled in Canada) are a strange mixture of foreign, and N. American stuff, lacking any standardization, or interchangeability, built in hastily set up temporary factories, staffed with temporary workers, in areas of low employment. I will not discuss helicopters.

Sounds like a china bike.