India and Canada: A New Era of Cooperation
Thank you for the opportunity to appear this evening. I recognize that you are looking at Canada’s relationships with a number of key economic partners, but I would like to focus my opening remarks on one of those countries, India. In particular, I would like to highlight the work that the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) has done with our counterparts at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in laying the groundwork for a potentially major expansion of the bilateral relationship. Private sector work on the Canada-India bilateral arrangement began in 2005, when our Prime Ministers recommended the creation of a CEO Roundtable to offer ideas for strengthening economic ties. The first India-Canada CEO Roundtable was subsequently held in March, 2007, when our Council mounted a CEO mission to Delhi and Mumbai. Roundtable participants issued a joint statement that called for closer bilateral commercial ties and […]
Letter to Canada’s Premiers and Territorial Leaders Regarding the Impact of ‘Buy American’ Restrictions
The following letter was delivered today to Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders: Dear Premier, We are writing on behalf of businesses across Canada that are now being excluded from state and local procurement markets in the United States as a result of Buy American provisions contained in recent legislation. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which became law in February, requires all iron, steel, and manufactured goods procured for public works funded under the Act to be made in the United States. We are now seeing similar restrictions appear in other bills before the United States Congress. Canadian manufacturers of steel and other construction materials, water and wastewater treatment technologies, heating and ventilation systems, energy technologies, and medical devices are currently being hurt by Buy American restrictions. While Buy American preferences have been used by state and local authorities in the past, the restrictions now […]
The Real Crisis Facing Canada
We’ve got a big problem in this country. I’m not talking about the hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost in our manufacturing sector. I’m not talking about a $50 billion federal deficit this year. I’m not even talking about the fact that as of Monday, you’ll need a passport to go cross-border shopping. Those are all problems. They are real, and they have serious consequences. But I am more worried about what happens next; about what happens after this recession ends; about how we will keep our economy growing and our standard of living rising when we have only two people in the labour force for every three jobs that need doing. For now, of course, governments are back to focusing on the standard three priorities in any recession: jobs, jobs, jobs. There’s nothing wrong with that in the short term. People are hurting, and governments should be there […]
Total Tax Contribution – Canada’s Tax Regime: Complexity and Competitiveness in Difficult Times
Total Tax Contribution – Canada’s Tax Regime: Complexity And Competitiveness In Difficult Times
Joint Statement by Canadian and European Business Leaders Hailing Launch of Canada-EU Talks
Joint Statement by Canadian and European Business Leaders Hailing Launch of Canada-EU Talks
Canadian Council of Chief Executives CEO Welcomes the European Union’s Commitment to Launch Economic Partnership Negotiations with Canada
Thomas d’Aquino, Chief Executive and President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, welcomed today’s decision of the European Union to launch negotiations with Canada aimed at establishing an ambitious transAtlantic economic partnership. The negotiations, which are to be initiated in Prague on May 6 by Canadian and European Union leaders, will deal with a comprehensive set of subjects including trade in goods, technical barriers to trade, customs procedures, cross-border trade in services, investment, government procurement, regulatory co-operation, intellectual property, the movement of persons, dispute settlement, and sustainable development. Mr. d’Aquino, a long-standing proponent of the initiative, praised the European Union decision. “This commitment by the European Union, which Canada is expected to reciprocate in the days to come, has great potential to significantly enhance the economic relationship between the world’s largest trading bloc and Canada. Successful negotiations will lead to job creation, expanded trade and investment, and deeper co-operation between the […]
Statement by Thomas d’Aquino in Response to Reported Comments by Janet Napolitano, United States Secretary of Homeland Security
The following is a statement by Thomas d’Aquino, Chief Executive and President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, in response to reported comments by United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano: “I am a longstanding friend and ally of the United States, but sometimes failures in our two-way dialogue cause me to shake my head in sadness and dismay. The claim that some of the 9/11 terrorists entered the United States from Canada is, quite simply, a myth – an urban legend that began with a handful of erroneous media reports in the days following the terrorist strikes. Subsequent investigations have established conclusively that all of the hijackers entered the United States from countries other than Canada, carrying documents issued to them by the United States government. Again and again, Canadian and American authorities have sought to correct the record. It is long past time to put this […]
Business Leaders Support Call for Unified National Policy on Carbon Pricing
The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) supports today’s call by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) for a unified national approach to putting a price on emissions of the greenhouse gases linked to climate change. The NRTEE report, Achieving 2050: A Carbon Pricing Policy for Canada, calls for a nationwide cap-and-trade system that would cover almost all sources of greenhouse gases, from large factories and power generation to the fuels used in cars and homes. “Price signals are an important tool for spurring business investment in new technologies and for changing consumer behaviour, but they must be applied consistently across the economy if they are to be effective,” said CCCE Executive Vice President David Stewart-Patterson. In 2007, the CCCE issued a policy declaration, Clean Growth: Building a Canadian Environmental Superpower, based on five principles: achieving a coherent national plan; recognizing the critical role of developing and deploying new technologies; establishing […]
Perspectives, Spring 2009: Excerpts From Recent Speeches by Members of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives
Perspectives, Spring 2009: Excerpts From Recent Speeches By Members Of The Canadian Council of Chief Executives
Developments and Priorities in the Canada-United States Relationship
Thank you for the opportunity to appear once again before this Committee, this time to discuss recent developments and current priorities within the Canada-United States relationship. Your invitation was especially timely given that the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) just last week held a two-day meeting of our member CEOs in Washington, D.C. Our agenda included sessions with a wide range of key actors in politics, business, and academia. This included a candid discussion with the architect of President Barack Obama’s economic strategy, Larry Summers, Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and another with Paul Volcker, Chairman of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. We also were privileged to be the first foreign group to meet with newly confirmed United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk. On the Canadian side, we were joined by Environment Minister Jim Prentice and by Bank of […]
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