Colombian Update July 23rd : Canada An Example To Follow.

BACK IN THE SHIRE

Very few offerings from myself during my sojourn to Canada, my apologies for that but 3600km of driving accounts for much of the reason, I have of course kept an eye on the adopted homeland and will address a couple of matters later this week.As predicted Consumer Confidence continues to rise post election as the economy turns, there is a kerfuffle over the expansion of the tax base which I fully support and of course we have the usual cabinet appointments which have seen plenty of square pegs in round holes and have one yearning for the UK system where 90% of those controlling cabinet portfolios are usually elected officials with at least some experience in their field – but as I say all these things in good time. What I will not be dwelling on is the member of the Senate who decided to drop his trousers at the inauguration of the new house, I am a huge admirer of Dr Mockus and his reasons were perhaps understandable but there is a time and a place. THE HUMBLE CONE On the other hand Canada has inspired me, I have been before but never for such a period of time to such a variety of locations, from the metropolises of Toronto and Montreal to the historic beauties that are Quebec and Ottawa to backwaters such as Coe Hill where just 188 souls reside and where ghosts are the main talking point. Whether it be 188 people or the millions bustling around Toronto there is one core characteristic – politeness and discipline, a desire to do the right thing and act in a respectful way towards your fellow human being. By coincidence I also found myself delving into the dark satirical world of Jim Jefferies the lewd Australian comic (if you haven’t found him please don’t as I don’t wish to be responsible) and even he during social comments on euthanasia and other topics allures to the simple politeness of the Canadian people – it is simply infectious, I think I sounded my horn once in three weeks, in Medellin it is about every three minutes. Colombia could learn so much – I have commented many times on the biggest failing of this country being the lack of core discipline, a belief that something is only a felony of it is found out and we are not talking solely about serious crime, running a red light, not wearing a crash helmet, paying a little less tax, buying contraband goods – they all count in the deterioration of a society. THE SIMPLE CONE SAYS SO MUCH The two countries are diagrammatically opposite in this regard and here is an example that sums it all up. Colombia in terms of road markings has the usual double line when it is too dangerous to overtake but such is the accident rate as people simply ignore those signs that the authorities are forced to place permanent cones down the middle of the road – the equivalent of putting reins on a toddler who refuses to not walk off at the shopping mall. Now compare that to a four way stop at Canada – no lights just a simple gentlemen’s agreement that the first to arrive from whichever direction has priority, then the second and so forth, it is such a system of decorum that it is actually hard to believe it occurs when you first sit there at the junction wondering what happens next. There is a level of tolerance and multi culturism which shocked me, the fact that successive Governments have proactively sought talented immigrants is no secret (Quebec is currently seeking 500 professional Colombians if anyone is interested) but the sheer ethnic diversity of those who have arrived from all over the world to share in this bubble of politeness takes one aback. Mosques sit alongside christian centres and the water park happily sees Muslim women in full length burqas throwing themselves down the slides with a freedom rarely afforded to them around the world. All this is painted onto a background which already features two national languages born out of the British-French wars centuries ago – there are in short plenty of reasons for this to be a decisive society but it isn’t and here is another lesson. Colombia has basically one religion, one language but which has succeeded ever since the Conservative hegemony of the late 1800s to split itself into two, be it city versus countryside, rich versus poor, left versus right or guerrilla versus paramilitary – the lessons have not been learnt and unless Ivan Duque as President is capable of performing some remarkable changes one fears further decisiveness is yet to come.

ORANGES & APPLES ? Is it unfair to compare the two countries Canada after is a behemoth of a country physically - Colombia would fit 1.46x into Quebec and 8.7x into the country as a whole ? Perhaps there is an argument however despite the size difference there are some interesting aspects.

• Canada has a population of 35 millions which in 2017 managed to produce a GDP of USD1.6 trillion which represents 2.67% of the global economy which dwarfs the USD309bn of Colombia with its 50 million souls and which contributed 0.5% to the global production.

• It had a GDP per capita of USD51,000 versus the USD7600 of Colombia.

• When you think of Canada you think natural resources, oil, gas etc however they produce 8% of the country's GDP versus the 5.5% in Colombia - as I drove the highways you get the impression that there is a massive agriculture sector - it may indeed have a huge grain business but the winter severely limits the possibilities and it is only in fact 6.4% of GDP. That said in Colombia which enjoys a 365 day growing climate they contribution is only approx 2% - the reason for this is mechanization and efficiency of land use.

• That same modest population has managed to build a total of over 1,000,000 km of highways of which half are paved - Colombia has slightly over 200km and as we all know many if not most at in a shocking condition, the 4G build out will clearly help and is a major step in the right direction but the initial aim is for 8000 km of roads of which some are simple renovations.

• In other aspects of GDP the countries are similar with manufacturing being around 10%, construction in both countries is also at 7% - on top of that the finance sector is a key players in both societies.

CONCLUSION So am I here to simply take a stick to Colombia because I have been in Canada for three weeks - not at all as it can never be apples and apples between any two countries but Colombia could learn so much about tolerance and discipline that could help move them into a position to further exploit its own natural resources and countryside to the benefit of 50 million people living here. Just one example that leapt out at me on my travels - tourism. Canada has no more and arguably a lot less to show the world however whatever it has - be it Niagara, Whale Watching, Historical Sites, Nature Hikes or Boat Cruises it has them all nailed down tight whereas here in Colombia despite booming numbers it is frankly a disorganized mess versus most countries. It is all a challenge of course but so is anything worth doing and when you really, really think about it there are no real excuses for Colombia not to improve itself if the society as a whole wants it.