From the Ottawa Citizen, July 1, 2012
We need to pay more attention to Mexico Let’s remove the visa requirement. Awkwardly imposed in July 2009, it continues to rankle Mexicans and handicaps those who want to visit Canada for business or tourism.1 Jul 2012 Ottawa Citizen COLIN ROBERTSON On Sunday, as we celebrate Canada Day, Mexicans will be going to the polls. They will elect a new president to succeed Felipe Calderon who is constitutionally limited to a single six-year term. For most Canadians, Mexico is an accessible and slightly exotic beach holiday in wintertime or the location for macabre drug-related murders separating heads from bodies. Yet Mexico matters to Canada. It is an important if overlooked trading partner. It should be our pivot into the growing Latin American market. It is also of critical interest to the United States, our first and foremost strategic relationship. How the United States handles its southern border inevitably becomes the default for management of its northern border, notwithstanding our efforts at differentiation. There is also the political dimension of the 50 million Americans who claim Latino, mostly Mexican, heritage. We need to pay more attention to Mexico. The election of a new administration is the opportunity to re-set Canada-Mexico relations. Start with trade and the TransPacific Partnership negotiations now that we both have a seat at the table. The 20-year-old NAFTA ushered in a several-fold increase in trade but we’ve realized its gains. TPP is the vehicle for taking the economic relationship to a new level. For our trains, planes and automobiles, opening the Mexican border created an integrated continental supply chain that has served us well. The new parts plants in Mexico, many of them under the Magna flagship, have become an essential piece in the recovery of the automobile industry. Regenerating North American manufacturing will require a three-nation dialogue. The Obama administration is preoccupied with its own re-election so we should look for areas of common cause with the new Mexican administration. We bring to the table know-how and resources. Mexico offers a growing market with a population five times that of Canada. Its young, increasingly educated, workforce is literally down the road. The improvement of our transportation corridors by land, water and rail is a priority. We need to secure and establish redundancies for our electrical grids and pipelines, areas in which Canada has competence and experience. This should open the door to how we can improve mutual investment. We have developed significant banking and mining interests. This has not been reciprocated. Mexican investment in Latin America is $50 billion with $10 billion in Brazil alone. We need to try harder. If there is one lesson of the past two decades it is that governments need to better involve business in their deliberations. Governments establish the regulatory framework for growth but it is business that creates the enterprises that guarantee longterm jobs. We need a Canada-Mexico Business Council that involves our leading business associations but, more importantly, their CEOs. There are notable outliers on the Canadian side: for example, Bombardier, RIM and Scotiabank should all be enlisted to share their experiences and to identify problems that need governments’ attention. Labour mobility needs addressing. It may be a taboo subject with the U.S., but this is not the case with Canada and Mexico. Our migrant worker program has successfully supported our farming interests and we could roll this out into other service industries, including the oilsands where homegrown labour is insufficient. Let’s remove the visa requirement. Awkwardly imposed in July 2009, it continues to rankle Mexicans and handicaps those who want to visit Canada for business or tourism. Gov. Gen. David Johnston recently visited Brazil with an entourage of university presidents seeking more international students. Mexico should be next. Canada does governance well. The biggest challenge for the new Mexican government will be the drug wars that have claimed 50,000 lives during the Calderon administration. We have deep experience that we have shared around the world in how to run elections, educate judges, teach police, and train troops. We should also open a security dialogue with the long-term goal of integrating Mexico into NORAD. For further inspiration and ideas, look to the recently published Canada and Mexico’s Unfinished Agenda, the most recent in the “Canada Amongst Nations” series. Foreign policy is about pursuit of our national strategic interests. But with Mexico, mañana — tomorrow — has for too long characterized our relationship. Prime Minister Stephen Harper should be the first to telephone his congratulations to the new Mexican president and set up a meeting with Foreign Minister John Baird with the new Mexican administration. The ever-ready Baird will convince the Mexicans of our commitment, con mucho gusto!
Interview with David Akin on SUN-TV Daily Brief July 5, 2012
