This is going to seem to counter what I said earlier, but I don't know that there's much that we can do other than open the door for Canadian business by signing good trade agreements, by putting them on the same level playing field as their competitors. The issue we have is that we've been blessed and cursed by access to the fattest, richest, and easiest market on the planet. Canadian business looks around the globe and says,“Why should I go to Honduras to work twice as hard for half the money?” Can you really blame them? Every place after the U.S. is harder. It's more difficult, more distant, and there's generally less money and higher risk. As a result, we become dependent from a logical business decision on a market that is close and easy and very lucrative.
Even in cases with Mexico, we've underperformed in Mexico. Somehow, Canada is third or fourth in the softwood lumber export market to Mexico. Canadian producers continually complain that we're losing the U.S. market, but we've had access to Mexico and we haven't taken it up. Chile has taken the Mexican market from us. Brazil has taken the Mexican market. Yes, housing construction in Mexico is different; it's not that big. The U.S. Softwood Export Council has an office in Mexico because it's that important and that big a market, yet we've chosen to ignore it. Even though we've had NAFTA, even though we've had access, even though we have four class 1 rail lines that run down there, even though we have highways, the businesses in Canada have chosen not to follow up on that opportunity.
It's frustrating at our end, on the trade front, when we talk to businesses about going abroad. The only thing we can do is to provide services for business and trade commissions and other things, and to sign good agreements. Getting business to go, that's not your responsibility. It's not your fault that businesses don't take up the opportunities that are put forward. It's the fault of Canadian business for not going forward to take up those opportunities.
Australia has no choice. Australia does well, because they're so far from the U.S. and they have no choice; they have to do this. We have a choice, and our choice is the easy market in the U.S. The Australians would change places with us in a New York second. They would give up Asia to have the access that we have to the U.S. market.
Let's not be too hard on ourselves, but also let's be cognizant of how difficult the task is ahead of us.