The Monitor is a concise and insightful look at the U.S.-Canada business and economic relationship. This collection of news articles, scholarship and thoughts from leading economists, journalists, academics and members of the business community is meant to provide you with an overview of the various perspectives on the dynamic and interconnected nature of the U.S.-Canada economic relationship. Each month we focus on a core subject of importance to both economies; this month features a spotlight on Canada's gateway potential.
We welcome your feedback and hope to highlight some of your comments each month. Write to us and tell us what you think at: connect2canada@canadianembassy.org.
Regards,
The Monitor Staff
Voices "The gateway that we are envisaging today is one that doesn’t just generate cargo, or containers that we wave at as they pass through on their way to final customers. This represents tax revenues, infrastructure improvements, new sources of labour and capital, a burgeoning logistics industry that connects us with the world and creates high value-added blue and white collar jobs in the region."
-Brian Crowley, President, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
Read the entire presentation below. |
Perspectives: Canada's Gateway Potential
The Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative
Transport Canada
The Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative is a comprehensive system of transportation infrastructure, including port, road and rail connections that links emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific Region with the heartlands of America. Its mission is to establish Canada as the premier transportation network facilitating global supply chains between North America and Asia. In addition to efficiently supplying North America with goods, the gateway will also facilitate the backhauling of North American goods to the Asia-Pacific Region.
Officials on both sides of border back downriver crossing
The Detroit News
Oakland County, Michigan executive L. Brooks Patterson and Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis announced their mutual support this month for a Downriver Detroit-Windsor border crossing. "We have a lot of interlocking business with Canada," Patterson said. "Canada offers unlimited opportunities to our businesses in Oakland County."
Click here for information on the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC), part of the Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway and Trade Corridor.
Atlantica and the Future of a Shared Region
Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS)
In a speech to the Maine Citizens' Trade Committee of the State Legislature, AIMS President Brian Crowley explains what the region gains by embracing Atlantica.
In The News
Oil from tar sands to flow to U.S.
The Miami Herald
July 17, 2008
Two major energy companies will spend $7 billion to nearly double the amount of crude flowing through a pipeline from Canada's tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast, highlighting intense demand for crude that was once too expensive to pull from the ground and process. Alberta, Canada-based TransCanada and Houston-based ConocoPhillips said earlier this month that they will add 500,000 barrels of daily capacity to the Keystone Pipeline.
Air Canada, Continental join forces
Globe and Mail
July 25, 2008
Air Canada is expanding its access to overseas destinations by forming a strategic alliance with Houston-based Continental Airlines, firing a salvo against WestJet Airlines' recent pact with Southwest Airlines of Dallas. The alliance clears the way for the two airlines to work co-operatively on everything from ticketing to check-in baggage transfers.
Canadian global supremacy
Forbes
July 17, 2008
For the first six months of 2008, the Canadian stock exchange outperformed all others worldwide, as the S&P/TSX Composite Index posted a gain of 4.6% during the first half of the year. The only other market of any significance to finish in the black over that period was supposedly red-hot Brazil, which gained at a modest 1.8%.
Oil prices seen masking Canada "export recession"
Reuters
July 24, 2008
Oil prices will continue falling and dip below $100 a barrel by the end of this year, unmasking an "export recession" in Canada that will result in anaemic growth, says a new a report from Export Development Canada (EDC).
The EDC quarterly global forecast can be found here.
Canadian government has little exposure to Fannie, Freddie
Reuters
July 14, 2008
Canada's holdings of debt issued by U.S. mortgage finance agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are well within the limit of 6% of its foreign reserves, a Department of Finance official said earlier this Monday.
Innovation
eCustoms
eCustoms delivers comprehensive and efficient import/export customs compliance software solutions to all sectors of Global trade. Company expertise spans the entire spectrum of trade compliance and also provides critical news and information on the latest border initiatives, such as the ACE (Automated Commercial Environment) program for US importers.
Publications
Strategic Gateways and Trade Corridors
Transport Canada
A recent Transport Canada report explains a comprehensive new framework developed to advance the competitiveness of the Canadian economy on the rapidly changing playing field of global commerce. The report promotes coherent planning among governments, and partnerships between public and private sectors to enhance infrastructure at key locations along the Canada-U.S. border and along Canada's Atlantic and Pacific gateways.
Read more here.
Freight Transportation Infrastructure Policies in Canada, Mexico & the US
By Stephen Blank, Graham Parsons, Juan Carlos Villa
In 2007, Ottawa, Mexico City and Washington all announced new transportation infrastructure development programs. A recent paper from the North American Transportation Competitiveness Leadership Council provides an introduction to the current situation, an overview of the three national programs and a brief critique. It asks if these new national efforts will create the foundation for a freight transportation system that will maintain North American global competitiveness in the first decades of the 21st century.
Transportation Overhaul Essential for Trade
University of Western Ontario
With border bottlenecks and insufficient infrastructure pinching U.S.-Canada and provincial trade, experts on transportation, trade and emerging markets are calling for transportation upgrades and streamlined rules to help keep companies in Canada. The Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, recently hosted a workshop entitled, "The Ontario-Québec Continental Gateway and Trade Corridor: Developing Competitive and Sustainable Transportation Policy Workshop."
More information on the workshop can be found here.
Blog
Don't shut down bridge planning
Detroit Free Press
With so much border traffic and trade riding on the border, and so many unanswered questions, the stakes are too high for the Michigan Legislature to essentially stop progress on a second crossing near Zug Island...
