40 years ago, the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada, also known as the Macdonald Commission, presented its report to the newly elected Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Commissioned by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1982, the Commission’s first recommendation was that Canada pursue a free trade agreement with the United States to foster a more flexible economy, which would be capable of adjusting to international and technological change. Its other recommendations included an elected Senate and greater social and economic equity. Four decades later, as Canada stares in the face of perhaps its greatest ever set of geopolitical challenges ranging from the election of President Trump, China, Russia, the Middle East, crypto, AI, human migration, and the opioid crisis, could there be a more opportune time to take stock of Canada and its relationship with the United States? Canada’s entire history is in one sense a view through the lens of the U.S. Our country was founded in part out of fear of a U.S. invasion. Over the decades that followed, reciprocity, free trade, and the views for or against it would shape Canada’s national identity. Common wisdom stated that Canada needed a strong national government to withstand U.S. influence, and through that view Canada’s entire institutional, cultural and global policy framework came into being. What forty years of free trade has shown us as a country, is that Canada’s security and prosperity relies on a strong national government that can act because of its strong and forward-looking relationship with the United States – not despite it.
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- Reuters
- Pages
- 7
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- Canada