CCCE Endorses Canada-United States Procurement Negotiations

June 10, 2009

Business leaders across the country today strongly congratulated Canada’s premiers for their joint commitment to extending Canada-United States free trade to provincial, state and municipal levels.

“At a time when Buy American provisions in the United States are hurting businesses and workers on both sides of the border, we need to explore every possible means of encouraging the free flow of goods and services among our communities,” said Thomas d’Aquino, Chief Executive and President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE).

The CCCE is Canada’s most influential business association, composed of 150 chief executives and leading entrepreneurs from all major sectors and regions of the country.

In a letter to the premiers on June 1, the CCCE and other business groups recommended that all levels of government cooperate in pursuing an ambitious bilateral procurement agreement that would safeguard jobs in both countries.

“We are gratified that Prime Minister Stephen Harper, International Trade Minister Stockwell Day and all of Canada’s provincial and territorial leaders have moved so quickly to build a national consensus on this vital issue,” Mr. d’Aquino said, responding to a statement issued yesterday by the Council of the Federation.

“It is clear that a broad and reciprocal procurement agreement would be the most effective way to secure mutually beneficial market access over the long term. Meantime, Canada should pursue aggressively short-term measures to ensure that government stimulus programs in both countries achieve the greatest possible impact in restoring strong economic growth.”

For more than three decades, the CCCE has worked to strengthen the Canada-United States partnership. In March, the Council’s member chief executives and entrepreneurs met in Washington, D.C., for consultations with senior Obama Administration officials, including United States Trade Representative Ronald Kirk. Council members also held a joint strategy session with the heads of the United States Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers.

CCCE members lead companies that collectively administer $3.5 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $800 billion, and are responsible for the vast majority of Canada’s exports, investment, research and development, and training.

In addition to Mr. d’Aquino, the members of the CCCE’s Executive Committee are: Chair, Gordon M. Nixon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Royal Bank of Canada; Honorary Chair Richard L. George, President and Chief Executive Officer, Suncor Energy Inc.; and Vice Chairs Laurent Beaudoin, Chairman, Bombardier Inc., Paul Desmarais, Jr., Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Power Corporation of Canada, J. Bruce Flatt, Senior Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Brookfield Asset Management Inc., Hartley T. Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer, James Richardson & Sons, Limited, and Annette Verschuren, President, The Home Depot Canada and Asia.