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1. Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative >
2. Speeches >
3. Vancouver, B.C. - September 10, 2007

Vancouver, B.C. - September 10, 2007

Speaking Notes for the Honourable David Emerson, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics

Based on a transcript.

Thank you and good morning.

For those of us with an abiding interest in trade, transportation and logistics, the Canada Maritime Conference has become a truly first-class event. I congratulate the organizers, presenters and participants for this year’s thematic focus: Gateways to the Future.

Nowhere are gateways more fundamentally linked to the future than here in Canada.

I want to talk today about the Government of Canada’s vision for the Asia-Pacific Gateway initiative. And I want to position the Gateway as part of our broader vision for trade and long term prosperity.

Canada has a population less than the State of California. By itself, that’s not a striking fact. What is striking is the fact that this modest population base occupies one of the largest national land masses in the world.

Our diverse regions, our people, and our industries are dispersed across vast expanses of country...in fact something close to 10 million square kilometres of country.

As a matter of economics, we trade to survive. Domestic markets have always been small and scattered across a formidable geography.

As a corollary, transportation has substantially shaped our trade patterns, our economy and our country. Transportation has bound us as a nation, it has connected us to international markets, and it has provided the commercial oxygen that has sustained our prosperity.

But today’s global economy is on a turnpike of dramatic change and transformation.

The emergence of new economic superpowers like China and India, environmental constraints, 24-7 global capital markets, distance destroying technological change and threats to international security... are all part of a new global reality, and a new competitive reality.

Old models of trade, commerce and wealth creation will not deliver the opportunities and growth in living standards my generation has enjoyed. In today’s competitive environment, it’s no longer good enough to be nice, honest, friendly and ever so cautious Canadians with plentiful natural resources on offer.

Competing head to head with the best in the world increasingly requires us to be part of deeply integrated supply chains and value networks.

Competitive success is driven by open markets, seamless borders, global distribution systems, continuous just-in-time delivery, service quality and reliability. And virtually all aspects of commerce must embody the best available science and technology drawn from all corners of the world.

As Thomas Friedman has written: ‘The World is Flat’. Technology has levelled the playing field. Customers can be anyone, anywhere on the planet. And the same is true of competing sources of supply.

Attempts to retreat into protectionism , and hang on to old ways of doing business, are ultimately doomed to failure. Of even greater concern, they are a distraction from the imperative for change. Like it or not, globalization is not going away. And there is nowhere to hide.

But contrary to the hysterical rants we hear too often in Canada, we are not confronted by some dark sinister force.

We are actually dealing with a technology-driven liberation...liberation of people in terms of choices, freedom and access to information. The sovereign consumer has been massively empowered.

More correctly, billions of sovereign consumers have been massively empowered. Ordinary people, people who simply want the best for themselves and their families have been empowered to buy from that supplier anywhere in the world that delivers the best value.

And, for virtually every community on the face of the earth the economic implications have been profound.

While globalization is in no way a creation of government, we cannot be a passive observer, nor should we be an active resister.

As government, our role has to be to establish an economic framework that provides Canadians the best possible opportunity to succeed in the new world of trade and commerce.

Like individuals and businesses, we too are in competition. We’re in competition with other governments, governments trying to do the same for their citizens, but do it better.

Our Government has begun to lay out a comprehensive approach to tackling prosperity in a document called ‘Advantage Canada’.

Taxation, regulation, health care, environmental, and human resource initiatives will all combine to form a broad based approach to strengthening the economy and expanding opportunities available to Canadians.

Most relevant to today’s discussion is that part of Advantage Canada I have direct responsibility for...global commerce and the strategy for improving our competitive performance internationally.

A robust strategy requires the many pieces of the competitiveness puzzle to be put together in a precise, reinforcing way.

For one of the world’s most trade dependent countries, commercial framework agreements are essential:

free trade agreements to reduce tariffs and non tariff barriers; liberalized air service agreements to support the free flow of people and air cargo; foreign investment promotion and protection agreements to support two way investment between Canada and our trading partners; science and technology agreements to facilitate the flow of advanced technology across global value chains and between innovating countries. But framework agreements by themselves are inert. They are passive. They have to be complemented by a dynamic transportation and logistics system...one that moves people and merchandise smoothly, continuously and efficiently around the world.

And that is what the Asia-Pacific Gateway Initiative is all about. It’s about a globally competitive transportation ‘system’.

The key word is ‘system’. The Gateway is about the integration of infrastructure, regulatory policies, governance frameworks and operational issues into a powerful transportation and logistics system that connects the markets of North America with the markets of the Asia-Pacific.

Getting it right involves a continuous search for the weakest link in the logistical chain. Maybe the weakest link is a badly needed investment in infrastructure to expand capacity; maybe it’s a border security check that causes a killer delay in moving products or people across a border; or maybe it’s a simple process or regulatory improvement that enhances speed and continuity of movement.

Here in BC, we’ve talked about the Gateway for over 30 years. But until the last couple of years, we’ve been long on talk, but short on action.

That’s all changed. Working in close partnership with BC and the other western provinces, we are putting the Gateway pieces together at an accelerating pace.

Canada has put more than $1 billion on the table which; in combination with provinces, local governments, and the private sector; will generate investments of more than $12 billion over the next 5-10 years.

Infrastructure investments have been announced in every western province, with 80 percent of the investment to be made right here in British Columbia.

We are investing in road and rail interchanges. We are investing in support of ports and airports. We are investing in highways and bridges. We are investing in security technology and border processing capacity.

We are investing in advanced traffic management facilities. We are investing to improve the compatibility of the gateway system with the liveability of communities it touches.

Clearly, concrete and steel are not enough. We’re also improving our governance and management capacity through lower mainland port amalgamation, and through improved methods of intermodal movement of containers.

Stakeholders are working in partnership. They share the sense of urgency. We all know the opportunity is now. We know the risks of inaction or delay. Miss this window and we may never recover.

When the new Fairview Terminal opens in Prince Rupert this week, it will be enormously satisfying. This is a community that has pursued a gateway dream for over 40 years. They’ve seen glimpses of success with coal and grain. But the disappointments have far outnumbered the successes.

With their new container port, with the huge potential demand from China and others for capacity, I believe the sun is now rising on the Port of Prince Rupert. And the benefits will be felt from Rupert, across the west, into the Canadian north, and deep into the industrial heartland of North America.

We all see the dynamism of the Asia-Pacific region. The 21 APEC economies now account for nearly half of world trade and the global economic centre of gravity is rapidly shifting toward Asia. We all know Canada’s future demands that we be part of it.

But we are playing catch up. Canada’s share of the Asian market is currently less than 1%. That’s down from 2.5% twenty years ago. We’re even losing ground in the North American market. China has now, or will soon, displace Canada as the number one source of US imports.

Why this happened and how it happened can be debated at length. There is no point. The bottom line is the same.

The bottom line is that Canadians have to take their game to a new level. If we do not we will pay dearly in terms of jobs and living standards.

As I said earlier, there are many pieces to the puzzle and the game itself is not static. Other countries are moving aggressively.

Check out the way Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Peru are forging new arrangements, taking calculated risks and leaving old approaches behind.

The same is true across the Atlantic. Look at Ireland, look at Finland. You will see countries that saw the future and responded. They acted boldly, they calculated the risks, they went for it and they benefited big time.

Canadians will have to do the same. We will have to act more boldly, more aggressively and accept more risk. In many situations we will need strategic investments and partnerships from countries and companies that have an interest in our success.

The Gateway is clearly a critical initiative for driving trade with Asia. But, here again, by itself by itself it’s not enough.

That’s why we’re pursuing complementary trade liberalization initiatives aimed at markets which hold the most promise for Canadian business.

We are negotiating Free Trade Agreements with South Korea and Singapore. Beyond their own intrinsic potential as growing consumer markets, these two economies are attractive places from which Canadian companies can serve other Asian markets.

We also concluded recently a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement with India. And we are making good progress on a similar deal with China.

I just returned from APEC last week where we announced the launch of investment negotiations with Viet Nam. With over 8% of GDP growth in 2006, Viet Nam is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Canadian companies are there and they are excited by the prospects.

We also concluded an agreement to negotiate a Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement with the ASEAN group of 10 Southeast Asian countries. The ASEAN group represents a population of 500 million and a combined GDP of over $2 trillion US.

Here again, Canadian companies have said they want to be there and we are responding.

In today’s world, investment drives trade up and down supply chains. “No investment, no trade” pretty much sums up today’s global commerce. These agreements will play an increasingly prominent role as Canadian companies seek to develop or participate in supply chains with footprints in Asia and around the Pacific.

Of course international supply chains and networks only succeed when critical people can readily travel the breadth of the network.

That’s why we are stepping up the negotiation of enhanced air service agreements. Just this weekend, the Prime Minister announced a deal with New Zealand. The first direct flight from New Zealand will land in Vancouver in early November carrying New Zealand’s Trade Minister and a high level business delegation.

Today our focus is Asia-Pacific, but Canada’s global commerce strategy is national in scope.

The Prime Minister has articulated a national framework that will integrate foreign policy, trade, transportation and other economic initiatives focused on strategically important groupings of markets...trans Atlantic markets, pan Pacific markets and the markets of the Americas.

Just as we have worked with stakeholders in the Asia Pacific Gateway, Canada is working with the Governments of Ontario and Quebec to further develop the north-south trade and transportation corridor that today carries over half of Canada’s trade with the US.

In Atlantic Canada, our government is also working with the provinces to establish an Atlantic Gateway to channel transatlantic trade through ports like Halifax.

Our gateway strategies and our global commerce strategy all build on what we call the North American ‘platform’. Canada’s economic future is inextricably linked to an integrated North American approach to competitiveness.

By leveraging the strengths of all three NAFTA partners... through enhanced cross border trade, through integrated industrial and technology clusters, through easier movement of people, through improved regulatory compatibility...we can position ourselves to realize the enormous opportunities and confront the competitive threats from a new generation of global tigers.

With over 400 million people, world leading technological capacity and capital markets, North America has long been the world’s most dynamic economic zone. Today that status is under threat. With mounting competitive pressures from emerging economies, the nations of North America will have to pull together as never before. Canada, the United States and Mexico all agree that, in collaboration, we can all be stronger than the sum of our parts.

That’s why our government is committed to the work program under the umbrella of the Security and Prosperity Partnership. That work is critical to strengthen our collective safety, security and prosperity through various forms of cross border co operation.

Complementing the SPP is the work underway by the NAFTA Commission to improve the flow of trade, people and investment between Canada, the US and Mexico.

Let me offer some concluding remarks.

The Government of Canada is committed to a strategy for global commerce and competitive success. We recognize the new rigours, the competitive intensity and the rapidly changing contours of the international marketplace.

We recognize that trade and investment policies must be developed in synchronized lock-step with improvements to transportation and logistics.

Other countries are moving hard and fast to consolidate and build on already solid momentum.

We have to elevate our game. Governments, business and our workforce have to confront a future that will be far tougher, far more competitive and subject to rapid, dramatic change.

Old approaches, rigid thinking and fear of change will fail us and fail the next generation.

Few would disagree on the need to execute the Gateway on an ambitious, disciplined way. But there’s much more to do.

We need now to look to a next phase. As we establish the necessary transportation and logistical excellence, a new wave of value creation will begin to build.

A successful gateway will attract new kinds of businesses, new kinds of skills and an endless array of wealth creation opportunities that simply were not available to us in the past.

Much of this will be transportation and logistics related, but the opportunities are more far reaching.

Trade related services, including financial services, will be stimulated. International technology partnerships will be facilitated.

Even traditional industries will find the global marketplace less threatening and more accessible.

We need to pull out the stops, unleash the creative potential, the entrepreneurial spirit and the boundless energy that is characteristically Canadian.

Let’s get beyond traditional Canadian caution and reticence. Let’s turn a potential wave of opportunity into a tidal wave of real jobs, real businesses and real prosperity.

Global commerce is the future. A global commerce strategy provides the pathways, and opens the doors. Creative entrepreneurs will seize the opportunities.

Being late in the game we will have to run twice as hard. Enough talk, time is wasting. Let’s get moving.

Thank you.

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Date Modified:

2011-04-05