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Open Letter to the Canadian Minister of Industry Tony Clement on the RIM/Nortel Non-Deal

2009-07-30 00:00:00

Dear Mr. Clement,

    I am trying to figure out why you are not getting behind RIM in the Nortel deal. First, there is the issue of jobs. I am a senior business systems analyst specializing in enterprise scale billing systems for the telecommunications industry. I've worked on projects for AT&T, Sprint US, T-Mobile, TELUS, and Bell Canada. These are very, very big companies the largest of which has hundreds of millions of accounts. I was involved in very key areas doing analysis, design, and previously, the coding. What I am getting at is that I am a pretty smart guy. And I still can't figure out why you aren't getting behind a Canadian company that will keep key Canadian technology in Canada, and keep the majority of the jobs associated with that technology in Canada.

 

There are other reasons including the national security argument for keeping the Nortel technology in Canada. However none are as important as the fact that we can pretty much guarantee that the jobs and technology will remain in Canada should RIM be allowed to purchase the Nortel assets. Promoting high tech industry so that we have at least a couple of horses to ride is imperative to prevent the economic circus we just went through. So here we have a large company in Ontario that is home grown and instead of wantonly shipping Canadian jobs to other countries is currently hiring several thousand more people to be employed in Ontario, and do you support that company? No. I am not a RIM employee, but I believe to the core that we should support RIM more than a car company that has a debt bigger than most countries and has shown a losing track record due to poor judgement for years, no, for decades. Especially as I mention, if it gets us out of the 'one horse town' syndrome you and your predecessors seem to want to subject us to. It seems funny that you are OK with giving away some of the most advanced technology Canada has ever developed, surpassing I would estimate, what we lost with the Avro Arrow. I would rather a company that invests so much in Canada, having the bulk of its operations in Canada, I would insist we help them keep Canadian technology in Canada. If we had more diversification we would not have had to squander a hard won surplus to end up with stupefying deficits. We could have let GM and Chrysler disappear along with their sycophant unions which are skewing our value systems to the worst. I would hate to think you are so narrow minded and short sighted not to see this. I would hate to think there are worse reasons for you to be acting the way you are.

 

While the automotive horse in this one horse town that is Ontario became lame (and still deserves to be shot... metaphorically... I hate to say it, but I feel I need to explain my euphemisms to you in case you miss them), resulting in billions of Canadian tax dollars being wasted on the 'big two', RIM was, and is in the process of hiring several thousand new employees into its Waterloo offices and facilities. Interesting that you will back a bunch of losers but won't back a winner. Imagine, a high tech company hiring Canadians while you turn a blind eye to those that are busy shipping our jobs overseas. (Incidentally, how the hell do you expect the recession to end and people to resume spending when many of their jobs have been shipped overseas? McDonalds employees can't spend like skilled high tech employee can.) Now here you are supporting Ericsson and foreign ownership of Canadian technology by not supporting RIM. Say what you will about RIM, but from what I can see is that they seem to support the notion of keeping Canadians employed more than you. To be fair, I do know they just opened up a facility in India, however I do believe them that it was because India has a policy of not allowing a company to sell much to its citizens unless they employ a good number of Indians. How about that? Even Indian politicians are smart enough to fight to keep jobs in their country!  Regardless, I believe this is true because I work just down the road from RIM, and I see them hiring so many people in Waterloo. In Canada. Canadians.

 

If you can't agree with me that Ericsson will only keep a pittance of Canadian employees on hand until the furor dies down, and then move those jobs overseas too, then I believe you shouldn't be industry minister. In fact I would not even give you a bathroom attendant's job.  I could think of a number of unflattering conditions you could be suffering from if you continue on your present course: being a drunk, mentally challenged, brain damaged, etc. I really don't think you are any of these, as much as I wish I could ascribe your actions to them. At least then your actions would not be your own fault. If they are your own fault, then it points to either being short sighted, narrow minded, and of low intellect thinking, or worse. You could have an undisclosed interest in Ericsson, friends in that company, you owe them for contributions, or any number of seedy answers. It certainly doesn't point to putting Canada above all like you should be doing.

 

Whatever the case, if this technology leaves Canada, I will end a very, very long standing tradition I have had in voting first with the Reform Party of Canada, and its successor, the Conservative Party of Canada. Ages ago I used to vote liberal, until I ran into Preston Manning in Kamloops, B.C. one day (while he was still the Reform Party leader). He was gracious enough to talk with a regular person like myself who ran into him in a hotel and wanted to talk technology and how it helps Canada stay in the 'first world'. I talked to him about our need to increase funding for research and development, including pure fundamental research that while not generating immediate marketable results, develops the thoughts and ideas that lead to the products of the future. Marie Curie was not doing research and development into medical imaging devices when she discovered x-rays. Einstein was not trying to perfect a design on a nuclear reactor when he was working on his paper on relativity, nor was he trying to figure out how to create vacuum tubes (the predecessor to the transistor) or solar cells with his Nobel Prize winning work on the photoelectric effect. We agreed on much, and when the first Reform Party White Paper on Technology came out, much of what we discussed was in place in that document. It seems to me that we have drifted too far down the path of Bay/Wall Street Conservative who have less allegiance to Canada, and too much to the almighty buck. I am Conservative by nature, but I am a patriot above that. If you aren't with me, you are against me, and Canada. If you allow key technology and jobs to leave, whatever you are, you aren't with me. Either I will have to vote Liberal again, but possibly not vote at all for a first time which is a distinct possibility. You have contributed mightily to my disillusionment.  Congratulation.

 

I would think anyone who is a real Canadian patriot would want what I want here. So this leads me to question why you wouldn't want this  Hold it. Is it possible that you are a drunk? I would rather you suffer from a drinking problem than whatever else it could be. Else there is no hope for Canada. You see, someone with a drinking problem can recover. I'm not so optimistic about other possible conditions. In any case make no mistake, I'm not saying you are a drunk, just hoping.

 

Regards,

 

William Rosmus