What the hell is wrong with Hamilton??
That question is meant in both senses. Meaning that the question is asked OF Hamilton Leaders AND from the people who refuse to let anything seriously good come here.
There has been ths long cry for jobs in this city. Everyone whines about Stelco and Dofasco shutting down and the massive amount of jobs that have been lost. And yes, people are whining. I, for one, love the fact that I can _almost_ see Buffalo through the light purple haze that hovers over our city. The air doesn’t smell as bad (they still really need to work on CVOP in Burlington St…) and the value of land is going up!
For those that are missing the bot, the services industry has ALWAYS been where the money is at. Don’t believe me? I would like to point out that cost of a car part versus the cost of actually putting it on. A friend of mine had complete brake work done on his 2000 Mustang GT and it cost him $2800 at a Ford dealership. I can pretty much gaurantee you that the parts were less than $1000. Labour has always been more than the parts and that is where the money is. And this trend is ont he rise with the Health Sector getting more and more employee
So, here’s the problem. Toyota wanted to setup shop in Flamborough. Toyota pays well and looks at things in an extremely long term view. They aren’t the ‘oops, economy is bad so we’ll just shut down the new plant we spent millions opening up’ type of guys. Yet Hamilton said no. So they went to Brantford who is now reaping the benefits of a major manufacturer with land values and JOBs increasing. What a waste.
Now we have a MAJOR Canadian businesman who has MONEY to put a NHL team in HAMILTON and guess what….because of some petty little commisioner, it’s being screwed. It’s like noone wants Hamilton to get any where. This buracratic red tape bullshit has got to go. Petty people who simply get in the way of progress should get a pair of cement shoes and dropped into the Bay.
The sad thing is that this is a common problem with Canadians. There is no pressure to do any better. They are simply satisifed with the status quo unless they get something from it. It’s the passive WIIFM (what’s in it for me) mentality that is killing our economy and our creativity. It’s also the ‘<shrug> we’ll get around to it’ or the “yeah, you got a good idea there……….” and then nothing else. While it may be a funny joke that Canadian over who’s teh more polite (You go throught he door….no you go first…..no I instist that you go first….. no dammit I said YOU go first…..) it is the same in business. Noone feels any pressure to do anything worthwhile.
It’s no wonder that I don’t so well here in business…..if you ain’t part of the ‘good ol boys club’ then you simply don’t get anywhere significant. This world will be overrun why the Chinese because they have it worse than us. Here the Gov’t will take care of you…..there the Gov’t will just take you. Pretty good motivation to do something and make something of yourself. Canada just sleeps.
Tags: Hamilton, jim balsillee, jobs, nhl, RIM, stelco, toyota
September 11th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Just wanted to say HI. I found your blog a few days ago on Technorati and have been reading it over the past few days.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
That’s some pretty scathing criticism, Don. You sound like some of the politically conservative Americans I know, balking what they like to call “big government.” Although there may be slightly (or perhaps the right word is “arguably”?) less government interference down here, I still think there’s a problem with the inertia you describe. Not entirely convinced it is due to bureaucracy, maybe. Enjoyed your blog though…kinda glad the U.S. isn’t the only country with problems. :)
September 16th, 2009 at 7:13 am
I don’t believe that I implied that the problem is “is due to bureaucracy”. The problem is with mindset. We have got it way too easy up here and regardless of that truth being real or perceived, there is a great lack of motivation from the majority of Canadians and no where is that more prevalent than in the Gov’t section. Despite that, the same attitudes are reflected in general Canadian society. People are simply not motivated enough to really do something and when the opportunity arrives, it’s not packaged like they thought and they say “That’s not what I wanted!” and the opportunity wanders off and they are left bitter and sullen and refuse to move on. Seen it time and time again. Pretty sad when most people simply are not willing to leave their ‘comfort zone’ to progress.