Canada Must Take the Lead and Move Quickly with Ambitious North American Agenda, Business Leaders Say

April 5, 2004

Canada’s top CEOs are calling on the federal government to seize the initiative in strengthening Canada’s influence in North America and globally through more effective management of the Canada-United States partnership.

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) today published a groundbreaking, 43-page paper titledNew Frontiers: Building a 21st Century Canada-United States Partnership in North America. The paper puts forward a comprehensive strategy and 15 specific recommendations aimed at enhancing Canada’s security and prosperity.

“While the CCCE’s vision for North America encompasses Mexico, we believe that Canada and the United States must lead in addressing the key challenges facing our continent today,” said Thomas d’Aquino, the CCCE’s President and Chief Executive.

The paper’s release follows more than a year of research and consultation with academics, business leaders and government officials in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

“In releasing this paper, our intention is to stimulate rather than pre-empt a broad public discussion of the key issues that need to be addressed,” Mr. d’Aquino said. “Our goal in the months ahead is to help foster a powerful consensus that it is in the interest of both countries to move forward urgently in developing and implementing an ambitious yet practical agenda.”

New Frontiers builds on the five pillars of the CCCE’s North American Security and Prosperity Initiative, launched in January 2003: reinventing borders; regulatory efficiency; resource security; the North American defence alliance; and new institutions. Some of the paper’s recommendations expand on this framework in areas such as tariff harmonization, rules of origin, trade remedies, energy strategy, core defence priorities, and strengthening Canada-United States institutions, including the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).

Other recommendations focus on the process for developing and executing a comprehensive strategy, including the need for greater coordination across government departments and between federal and provincial governments and between the public and private sectors.

As the next step in its continuing consultations, the CCCE will hold its Spring Members’ Meeting in Washington, D.C., on April 19 and 20, 2004. Confirmed speakers include Secretary Andrew Card, Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and General John Gordon, the President’s Homeland Security Advisor, and Canada’s International Trade Minister James Peterson.

“CCCE’s New Frontiers discussion paper is a forward-looking document of exceptional clarity,” said Allan Gotlieb, former Canadian Ambassador to the United States, one of many experts and strategic thinkers who reviewed the paper prior to its release. “I fully agree with its recommendation that Canada should take the initiative and be ready to move quickly with a proposal that could grab attention and win support in the White House and Congress.”

Other reviewers were equally enthusiastic. Robert Pastor of American University said the paper combines “a breath-taking continental vision and eminently practical steps”; Jeffrey Schott of the Institute for International Economics called it “a concise and compelling call to action”; John Weekes, former Canadian chief trade negotiator, said its recommended approach “is both urgent and necessary”.

New Frontiers is available in both English and French.

Widely recognized as Canada’s most influential business organization, the CCCE was the private sector leader in the development and promotion of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement in the 1980s and the North American Free Trade Agreement in the early 1990s. Founded in 1976, it is devoted to strengthening the country’s economy and society through the development of sound public policy in Canada, North America and the world. Member chief executives head companies that administer more than $2.3 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of close to $600 billion and account for a significant majority of Canada’s private sector investment, exports, training and research and development.

In addition to Mr. d’Aquino, the members of the CCCE’s Executive Committee are: Chairman Richard L. George, President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor Energy Inc.; Honorary Chairman A. Charles Baillie; and Vice-Chairmen Derek H. Burney, Dominic D’Alessandro, Paul Desmarais, Jr., Gwyn Morgan, Gordon Nixon and Paul M. Tellier, the chief executives respectively of CAE, Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, EnCana Corporation, Royal Bank of Canada and Bombardier Inc.