Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We have left the full copy of our opening remarks with the clerk, but in order to reduce the time we have abbreviated our oral comments. I will start off and then I will turn to my colleagues to continue the opening statement. We're aiming to reach about nine minutes for our opening statement.
Good morning. My name is Bill Crosbie. I'm the director general of the North America bureau at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
While my colleagues Tony Burger and Paul Robertson will provide you a more in-depth picture of Canada's economic relationship with our North American partners, I've been asked to begin this presentation with a broad outline of the political facets of our relationship with the United States and Mexico.
The United States is more than just our number one trading partner; it is overwhelmingly our most important source of both investment and new technologies. It is also our most important bilateral relationship, built on a foundation of common values.
Ours is a rules- and institutions-based political partnership, solidified by more than 300 treaties and agreements which govern our relationship with the United States in all political and economic areas, such as border management and ecological cooperation. Within this framework, defence and security of North America remains the highest priority for both our countries.
Of course, the relationship with our North American partners is not without its challenges. The first is demographic in nature. The U.S. population is slowly shifting towards the south and southwest, where Canada is less “top of the mind” and less influential. At the same time, the Hispanic population, which historically has had little contact with Canada, is a growing force in U.S. politics.
Secondly, in the post-9/11 environment, “security trumps trade” is not mere rhetoric. The U.S. has enacted or adopted numerous measures with the stated intent of enhancing homeland security, such as the Bioterrorism Act and the western hemisphere travel initiative. Regardless of whether these measures achieve their security objectives, they have the potential to impede the flow of goods and legitimate travellers across the Canada-U.S. border or to make companies doing cross-border business less competitive.
Finally, our relationship with the United States is increasingly being viewed within a trilateral context by American political leaders in the Administration and Congress. In all senses—politically, economically, socially—Mexico and the U.S. Hispanic population, dominated by Mexican-Americans, have changed the way Americans view their own society. These trends have also affected how the U.S. views its relationship with its two neighbouring governments. U.S. border policy is the most notable example.
Let me be clear: the evolution of Mexico as a political, economic, and security partner for Canada and for the United States is something we welcome. It is to our great benefit that our relationship with Mexico has flourished, particularly since the signing of the NAFTA. Moreover, a vibrant and more prosperous Mexico adds to the unique strengths of the North American economy.
At the same time, we don't wish to lose what has been unique about the Canada-U.S. relationship, notably along our shared border. The U.S. is our most important ally and partner, and this will never change. The government's new framework for advancing Canada's international commercial engagement, the global commerce strategy, emphasizes the primary importance of this market to stimulating Canadian productivity, growth, and prosperity.
The strategy, which represents the international component of the government's economic plan, Advantage Canada, sets out an approach to sustain our North American advantage by reinforcing our strong network and mission presence, by increasing our emphasis on attracting investment in key knowledge-intensive sectors, and by building more robust innovation links to fuel Canadian research excellence. The global commerce strategy recognizes that our competitive position in the U.S. is not only an enormous benefit to our firms, but it also enhances our attractiveness as a location for foreign direct investment and ensures that regional and global value chains continue to run through Canada.
But we need to be more proactive in responding to political and economic trends in the U.S., in order to more fully benefit from them, maintain our traditional access, and continue to enhance our competitiveness and prosperity.
Our missions in North America will continue to act as our first line of defence in helping identify and develop strategies to prevent and/or remove impediments when they arise. In the U.S., our missions' staff play a vital role in working with provinces, other federal departments, Canadian firms and industry associations to advocate on their behalf with the relevant U.S. actors. We also welcome input from members of Parliament and invite you to visit and work with our missions in North America.
This political context helps inform us on how to best engage the United States and Mexico with respect to our economic interests.
To discuss those economic elements, I will now turn to my colleague Tony Burger.