Kathleen salutes our Beijing Olympians and their 18 medals in her official Canadian Olympic Team t-shirt. She also looks forward to great results from our winter Olympians with her official Vancouver 2010 sun visa.
Canadian gear! Canadian pride! Made in China?
We know that others have been objecting publicly about Canadian Olympic apparel being produced abroad, but we want to take up the cause on behalf of our industry specifically.
Canadian pride is important, but so are Canadian jobs, in this case, screen printing jobs. Why can’t we tie the two together? Why can’t the Canadian Olympic Committees show some of the patriotism that they expect the rest of us to show? Why don’t they insist that all Canadian Olympic licensed gear has to be produced in Canada? We have textile manufacturing and textile screen printing industries decimated by an exodus of work to low-wage destinations abroad. It takes a special kind of gall to ask an unemployed Canadian textile worker or a failed screen shop owner to proudly wear a Maple Leaf sewn and printed in China!
Canadians don’t seem to realize that Canadian jobs and Canadian businesses are being destroyed by their greedy clamour for cheap products made by foreign workers in foreign countries. When that greed overshadows even national pride, it has gone too far.
How about this for a suggestion to deal with out misplaced priorities problem? Before our athletes get a boost from any of the additional tax payers’ money that they want in order to produce more medals and boost national pride, let’s give the tax payers a boost by stopping the flow of Olympic textile and screen printing jobs to offshore locations. Let’s rethink Canadian national pride a bit and let’s keep more of its economic benefits inside Canada.
And don’t bother pointing out that Kathleen is wearing Canadian pride made in China. She’s a dummy. What’s your excuse?