Prime Minister Harper claims Chavez's death brings hope for Venezuela

Big Steve didn’t wait long before gloating over the death of Hugo Chavez.

Maybe now the Venezuelan people can build a “better, brighter, future.”

Well maybe, but lets have a look at how Venezuela under Chavez compares to three of the countries in the neighborhood that Harper has been busy cozying up to and signing free trade agreements with.

Canada struck a free trade agreement with Honduras in 2011, two years after a coup deposed the democratically elected but vaguely leftist President Zelaya. Venezuelans enjoy a substantially higher literacy rate, a substantially higher life expectancy, and a per capita income almost triple that of Honduras.

Harper’s government signed off on a free trade deal with Colombia last year. Chavez bad. Uribe and Santos good. Venezuelans enjoy higher literacy rates and a higher GDP per capita than Colombians.

Harper’s government signed a free trade deal with Peru in 2009. Venezuelans enjoy longer lives, higher incomes, and fewer infant deaths than Peruvians. But Peru is a popular destination for Canadian mining conglomerates, so the Harper gang avert their eyes and hold their noses and go with the flow.

The profit flow!

That Chavez chap was a bit of a radical though. Didn’t believe in selling his country to foreign multi-nationals. Obviously not the kind of guy we can do business with.

So thank God he’s dead, and maybe now the Canadian mining co… oops, I mean the Venezuelan people, have a chance at a better, brighter, future.