Many U.S. citizens have long felt the ravaging effects of globalization. Our good neighbors to the north, too, are struggling with this juggernaut in the face of plant closures and millions of industry jobs lost over the last few years. Yet Canadian manufacturers seem upbeat about production and hiring prospects.

“Since 2002, an estimated quarter million jobs were lost across Canada due to plant closures,” according to The Epoch Times. While this sounds paltry by United States standards, bear in mind that the estimated population as of 2006 was approximately 33 million.

“Manufacturing accounts for 17 percent of the Canadian economy and 15 percent of the workforce with 95 percent working full-time and wages 22 percent higher than the national average.”

The Epoch Times cites an example of a garment manufacturing company, noting that 540 workers will soon be laid off when Gildan shuts down its two Montreal plants. “The relocation of production capacity is required in order to remain cost-competitive against imports and other global producers in the intensely competitive North American apparel industry in which we do business,” a Gildan company spokesperson wrote in an e-mail to the newspaper. This sounds like an echo from any of a number of European-, Japanese- and U.S.-based companies.

Canadians, who have been toughened by bitter cold and snow for centuries, don’t take this lying down, as the newspaper goes on to say:

A recent Canadian Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report says the international trend is toward knowledge-based economies, and investment in science, technology and innovation have become key factors in economic growth. China, Mexico, Eastern Europe, Brazil and India are expected to absorb a growing share of the world’s manufacturing activity. Saying competitive requires become part of “open innovation systems” through global networking, plus shifting to global supply chains that produce specialized components, the OECD report postulates.

“This last February, the OECD tabled its final report on challenges facing the Canadian manufacturing industry. The report made 22 recommendations to the federal government.”

News at the Canadian Government’s Web site last year hinted at areas that could be under discussion: “The proposed solutions submitted by witnesses covered a number of areas of federal public policy, including monetary, taxation, international and inter-provincial trade, labor skills, industrial and regulatory policy, as well as Canada’s energy framework,” said James Rajotte, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Industry.

“Besides tax incentives, companies can write off their investments in machinery over a period of two years. The federal government also introduced Targeted Initiative for Older Workers (TIOW last October, for communities with ongoing high unemployment or over-reliance on a single industry,” according to The Epoch Times.

Despite a national rail spike and a fire that left central Canadian oil refiners “scrambling to fill demand for automobile fuel,” manufacturing shipments showed resilience in earlier this year.

Factory shipments edged down in February, Statistics Canada reported earlier this month, according to Canadian Transportation & Logistics, as overall, shipments fell in 14 of 21 manufacturing sectors, representing 56 percent of total output. Manufacturing shipments fell in five provinces in February, with gains and losses evenly split among the regions.

Yet when price fluctuations are taken into account, manufacturing freight volumes showed resilience despite a national rail strike and shortage of fuel.

In February, manufacturers shipped goods worth an estimated $48.5 billion, down 0.2 percent from the previous month but 0.1 percent more than in February the prior year. Taking price fluctuations into account, the volume of shipments rose 0.1 percent to $44.3 billion, the third increase in four months.

As such, Canadian manufacturing companies are more upbeat about their prospects. A survey of 3,000 manufacturers released by Statistics Canada late last week showed companies planning to raise production and increase hiring in the second quarter as new orders picked up, according to Financial Post.

BMO Capital Markets converts the survey results to an index similar to that put out by the Institute of Supply Management in the U.S. It increased to 52.2 in the second quarter from 47.7 in the first quarter, the first rise above 50 since the end of 2004 when the Canadian dollar was in the low-US80¢ range.

Marc Lévesque, chief economics strategist at TD Securities, told Financial Post that the survey highlights “the recent divergence between strong Canadian data and poor U.S. figures. While the Canadian manufacturing sector is now facing a new threat from slowing U.S. growth, the recent US5¢ run-up in the loonie to the US90¢ range is a mere flesh wound compared with the pain of the previous appreciation.