It was announced yesterday that Canada's oldest corporation, the Hudsons Bay Company, is up for sale by the American company, Target. HBC has been in Canada for 334 years, and they're likely to bow down to the American corporations just like all the others in the past; Shoppers Drug Mart, Tim Hortons, Gulf Canada Resources, Club Monaco, Canstar, Aikenhead Hardware(now the Home Depot)... All formerly Canadian companies that were bought out by American corporations. And that is only a small part of the list.

HBC is a part of our history; it was established in 1670 and they owned all the land in the Hudsons Bay watershed, which is about one-third the size of Canada today. How can they just sell that to the Americans? Target wants to convert around half of the more than 300 Zellers stores into Target locations, and turn some Bay stores into Target outlets. What are they going to do with Fields? We thought that we were up for sale by Giant Tiger, but apparently they're owned by HBC as well.

'Investment bankers and individuals close to HBC and Target say the toughest part of any deal will be determining the fate of the Bay and Zellers locations on a store-by-store basis, because there will be costs associated with closing them and breaking leases, but potential gains from selling some locations to other retailers.'

(The Globe and Mail online)

How many Canadians will lose their jobs over this possible sale? Of course, I use the word 'possible' very loosely. An associate at work knows people who live in the states. They say that the Target stores across the country are flaunting their bid to purchase HBC by displaying signs proclaiming, "We are moving across the border!".

As my manager said, how much longer until the Americans buy us all out?