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the stimulus has benefited our us
customers, and these benefits have
trickled down to our company.”
president obama has also been good
for canada-us ties, mcintosh said. “at
a philosophical level, president bush
came across at times like he was trying
to build a ‘Fortress america,’ with high
security at the border, etc. compared
to the bush years, obama’s more open
attitude [toward the world] appears to
be making a difference at the border,
here in manitoba. i’m seeing fewer
trucks turned back, for example.”
next, we spoke with lorne Janes,
the president of paradise, nl-based
continental marble of canada ltd., a
supplier of cast marble, granite, flooring
and home furnishings. continental
marble has exported to the us for
about 25 years.
“the question of whether president
obama has been good for canadian
manufacturing/exporting is a bit selfishsounding
to me,” Janes said. “instead,
we in the canadian business community,
as we think of how president obama
can help canada, at the same time
[need to consider] how can we help him
with the us business community. we,
as canadians, need to remember that
nothing in life is one sided, that there
is always a balance sheet. we must
remember this,” Janes said.
“any strategy to restore the us
[economy] will involve canada, and
a ‘north american’ approach – we
are stronger together. i think we have
a better chance of success with
president obama, on issues like the
reduction of tariffs, refinements to trade
regulations, getting things across the
border and Buy American, than we
would with some of his white House
predecessors,” Janes said.
we also spoke with John Hayward,
president of Hayward gordon ltd.,
which engineers, designs, manufactures
and distributes equipment serving the
wastewater sector. Hayward gordon
ltd’s head office is located in Halton
Hills, on.
“During president obama’s visit
to canada, we heard a lot about
the importance of the canada-us
relationship and his desire to see the
trade relationship grow,” Hayward
said. “this is a genuine sentiment, i
think, on the us side. but there’s a
“We need to see actions on Buy American, particularly
from the president, that live up to the spirit of this
talk of the importance of mutually beneficial trade
between our two countries.”
major disconnect, in that Buy American
provisions keep cropping up in us
stimulus plans.
“i understand the us’ frustration
with trade partners who manipulate
currencies, or put up broad barriers to
us exports. canada is not, however,
one of those partners. i hope that the
us can address this inconsistency
between what is said in public about
trade with canada, and what actions
take place in congress. we need to see
actions on Buy American, particularly
from the president, that live up to the
spirit of this talk of the importance of
mutually beneficial trade between our
two countries.”
“Canadians are very
interested in what President
Obama has said so far about
trade. In his State of the
Union address, President
Obama committed to doubling
US foreign trade in five years.
However, his preoccupation
with the BP oil spill, with
health care, etc. means that
he has not expended much
energy on trade relations,
including Canada-US trade.
Also, many of President
Obama’s Congressional
allies question the value of
free trade agreements to
the US. This combination of
political distractions and tepid
support for free trade among
Democrats, means President
Obama has found little
traction on trade issues.”
Alan S. Alexandroff, co-director,
G-20 Research Group, at the
University of Toronto’s
Munk School of Global Affairs
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