Magic Statistics

A poll conducted last week indicates that three of every four Canadians have an unfavourable opinion of Chinese-made goods.  35% have a "somewhat unfavourable" view, while 40% hold a "very unfavourable" view.

From Aug. 23-27, the Innovative Research Group polled 1,704 Canadians across the country for Embassy, with 75 per cent saying they had an unfavourable impression of Chinese-made products. Only six per cent said they had a favourable view, while 17 per cent were neutral. The results are accurate to within 2.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Over the past few months, Canadian consumers have seen a variety of Chinese-made products, including toothpaste, pet food and tires, recalled over safety concerns. The most recent recall involved 18.2 million Mattel toys—including more than 900,000 in Canada—that had magnets that could fall off and become ingested by children, or contained paint with unacceptable levels of lead.

A “counsellor” at the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, Sun Lushan, answered questions about the implications of the survey.

The counsellor said his government has instigated a number of measures to ensure safety problems are eliminated.
. . .
"The Chinese government has attached great importance to product safety and food safety," Mr. Sun said.

Right!  That’s why China exported poisoned pet food and contaminated toothpaste.

It gets worse: He comes out with the “it’s-your-own-fault” defence that China pitched earlier.

However, the diplomat said the countries importing the products, and especially the companies that design and sell the goods, bear responsibility for ensuring product safety and that standards are being met. He said Chinese manufacturers are simply following orders from the large companies like Mattel.

Is he really claiming Mattel ordered Chinese companies to manufacture toys with small parts that could break off and choke children?

Mr Sun also said that he doesn’t think the image of China’s products will be damaged by recent scandals.  According to this new poll, it already has—big-time.

This seems like an appropriate spot to re-run Steve Janke’s no-China graphic.

Previous related posts:

• Mao’s revolution reduced to a marketing exercise
• Please don’t contaminate that food you’re selling me

Remember that polar bear that was spotted last month in Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, some 300 kilometres south of its home on the Arctic shore?  The one that wildlife officers transported back to the Arctic coast?

She’s hit the road south again.

There's one polar bear that just can't seem to get enough of the summer heat. For the second time in a month, the large female bear has frustrated wildlife officials by wandering south of her usual habitat on the Arctic Ocean.

People living along the Mackenzie River thought they had seen the last of the lost polar bear that had wandered near their communities early last month.

But after being trapped and flown more than 300 kilometres from Fort McPherson to the coast, it seems the bear simply turned around and started walking south again.

So far, it’s only made it to Aklavik, NWT, 100 km from the coast. Officials from the federal Department of Environment and Natural Resources say they have no plans to trap and remove the bear again, although they are tracking her with a satellite collar.

Someone should start an office pool and collect wagers on how far south she'll walk.

Previous related posts:

• Polar bear heads for the tropics
• “Psycho” bear killed in traffic
• Ask a polar bear
• Discovered: Cause of melting Arctic ice

The Venezuelan government of El Presidente Hugo Chavez has taken over the Hilton Hotel in Caracas after the hotel’s operating licence expired last week.  The state has proclaimed the re-named Hotel Alba Caracas a "socialist tourism business" and hopes to make it a showpiece of Chavez’s “Socialism of the 21st Century”.

"We want to put this hotel at the service of the people," said Eustacio Aguilera, the president of the Simon Bolivar Centre, the government cultural institution that owns the hotel. "Now everyone will have access to a great hotel and be able to enjoy it.”

The socialism of the 19th and 20th centuries promised to make luxury goods available to all, but that feature seems to have been shelved in the new century’s version.

[R]oom prices will remain unchanged at £70 for the most simple rooms in a country where the average person lives on about £100 a month.

So much for giving everyone access to the once-great hotel.

Here’s a feature common to all varieties of state socialism: The hotel’s quality and reputation will suffer immediate and precipitous declines under government stewardship.

Previous related posts:

• Venezuelans engaged in cold civil war
• Bolivia’s oil and gas industry headed for the toilet

The collect for today, the 13th Sunday after Trinity, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service; Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Galatians 3:16-22
The Gospel: St Luke 10:23-37

Artwork: Vincent van Gogh, The Good Samaritan, 1890, Oil on canvas, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands.