Much discussion in the past few days and weeks about the wisdom of throwing public money at the Detroit Three (when did they stop being the Big Three?). I'm in the camp of those who don't like the idea, but I'm not going to be a zealot about it just now. Given where we are right now, we don't have much choice but to try to help GM, Ford and Chrysler get through the next few months. But why are we in this situation in the first place?
I blame Robert Borden and the 1911 Conservatives. For most of its history, the Liberal Party of Canada has been the voice of free trade, and it made reciprocity the main issue of the 1911 federal election campaign. The Conservatives won by playing the ancient trick of equating autarky with patriotism: "No truck nor trade with the Yankees!". This set the stage for a century in which the interests of the producers of manufactured goods took precedence over those of consumers.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Let them fail.
Before lending money to these firms to keep them afloat, perhaps we should look at what regulations exist to raise their costs. I’m thinking of the CAFE standards, excessive unionization, Sarbanes-Oxley. They don’t need to fail – the government can improve their viability without throwing money at them!
This has nothing to do with bailing out the companies. It has all to do with bailing out the CAW.
Perhaps the CAW members who dumped a truck load of boots on Jim Flaherty’s door, should ask for them back to maybe use them on their leadership.
If we bail out the auto companies, which by the way are American headquartered companies, shouldn’t we bail out Nortel which is a Canadian headquartered company?
I suppose the Nortel employees union isn’t as politically important as the CAW.