Hallelujah-the six month delay on the MAI ratification! I am cynically skeptical that the Canadian delegation at the MAI talks can negotiate a fair deal in face of powerful multinationals and nations with more economic power like the United States. Instead, I see the delegation's purpose is to wave white flags and meekly agree to allow foreigners to rapidly deplete Canadian natural resources into oblivion. If most Canadians want more international trade, why does our government not rely on GATT meetings like it use to? GATT has been around since the Great Depression and I have never come across any objections to them, at least not to the extent of the FTA, NAFTA and MAI. Even without MAI, I think Canada is already getting cross-checked into the boards, teeth first, with no penalty call in the international business arena. During the 1993 federal election campaign, I caught a portion of Mel Hurtig's speech for the now defunct National party. He said that we have too much foreign ownership in the Canadian economy and if Canada had the same rate of foreign ownership as the United States and some European nations, de-industrialization would have been restricted enough to save 600,000 jobs in Canada. My second reason for being cynical about MAI being beneficial to Canada comes from a letter I read in The Globe and Mail. A water district trustee in the Kootenay area wrote to say that mudslides from clear cutting have covered highways, railways and contaminated the water. The logging company responsible for this mess is based in Osaka, Japan. I resent having a foreign company pillaging Canadian resources, as would any sensible Canadian. In B.C. alone, there is already enough technology, labour and greed to pillage natural resources without foreign aid, thank you very much. Vincent Lizee

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