Heat.

All the mammals of the house are within arms reach. Probably due to the heater being besides me. Includes the North American heat seeking cat variety.

Finished: Bad Samaritans: The Myth Of Free Trade And The Secret History Of Capitalism

Again spoiler free — the book has interesting prescriptions that would also work at a small political unit level, like a province.

“A 1950s internal report from USAID – the main US government aid agency then, as now – called Korea a ‘bottomless pit’. At the time, the country’s main exports were tungsten, fish and other primary commodities.”

“It would still be exporting raw materials (e.g., tungsten ore, fish, seaweed) or low-technology, low-price products (e.g., textiles, garments, wigs made with human hair) that used to be its main export items in the 1960s.”

I can point to a few places within a few hundred kilometres that could fit the description above; while the quote describes Korea prior to its resurgence in the 1970s and beyond. The book could extend easily to Canada — with the decimated Canada's telecom sector, over reliance on shipping raw products, including fish and seaweed; and the impact of FreeTrade from 1988 onwards impacted manufacturing.

The author suggests that certain ideological exports became faddish in the 1970s, like free trade and inflation targeting (thank you New Zealand…) that hinder the global south from progressing. I'd suggest that it impacts Canada also…

The unfortunate thing is that even with near shoring, I don't see that there is political will to execute on the prescriptions that the author suggests to again explore using manufacturing as a driver of growth. With the heterogeneous economies of Canada, it is simply easier for the population centres to continue pushing a service economy, to the detriment of rural areas, that simply no longer have the political push to get change accomplished. Even if a province would pursue this, say ᴘᴇɪ, the federal government decides most of the relevant policies.