North America Works -- Part III: Detroit/Windsor border-hopping nurses

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North America Works -- Part III: Detroit/Windsor border-hopping nurses

Lee Anne Raper is living the North American life along another border, the one that separates Canada and the U.S. A nurse at the Henry Ford Hospital close to downtown Detroit, Raper doesn’t live in Detroit. Actually, she doesn’t even live in the United States. For the past 19 years, she has driven to work every day across the Ambassador Bridge from her home in Windsor, Ontario, a trip of only about six miles.

“I can see where I live from the 17th story of the hospital,” she says. “I actually know some of the (border) guards. They call me by name and ask me if I’m going to work.”

Raper is just one of about 800 Canadian nurses who cross the border every day to work in the U.S. These border-hopping nurses highlight some of the similarities but also the differences between the economies of the two North American neighbors that share a 5,525-mile border and enjoy one of the world’s longest-standing and most amicable relationships.

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Canada trade deal faces the lawyers: Germany builds its case against CETA with 70 bankers’ boxes

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Canada trade deal faces the lawyers: Germany builds its case against CETA with 70 bankers’ boxes

The documents arrived at the Bundesverfassungsgericht on Wednesday: 70 bankers’ boxes containing more than 125,000 signed powers-of-attorney, passed from person to person along a human chain to the doors of the courthouse. The BVerfG, as it’s known for short, is Germany’s highest constitutional court, and the NGOs that delivered the documents to the court were filing what they claim is the largest constitutional challenge in the country’s history. Its goal is to stop the proposed free trade agreement between Canada and the European Union.

September could prove the pivotal month for the Canada and European Union Comprehensive Economic and Free Trade Agreement (CETA), and Germany could be the key battleground as the treaty’s fate is decided.

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Reinstate top regulatory cooperation official, say business groups

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Reinstate top regulatory cooperation official, say business groups

Canadian and American business groups are calling on Ottawa to reinstate a senior official, arguing regulatory cooperation might be in jeopardy without him.

Sixteen business groups, including the Canadian and U.S. Chambers of Commerce and Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, sent a letter to David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador in Washington, D.C. last Friday. They asked for Robert Carberry, formerly assistant secretary for the Regulatory Cooperation Council secretariat at the Privy Council Office, to be put back in his role. 

“More than any single individual on either side of the border, Mr. Carberry’s leadership and dedication to regulatory cooperation between our countries and the many disparate agencies of our governments has been essential to the success of [this] key bilateral initiative,” the letter says.

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The Great Lakes need a new maritime strategy — and fast

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The Great Lakes need a new maritime strategy — and fast

Untapped economic potential and environmental concerns are the driving forces behind a new maritime strategy for the Great Lakes, the first of its kind.

“In order to remain competitive in today’s global markets, we need to improve and expand the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence maritime transportation system,” Premier Kathleen Wynne said when she announced the strategy along with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on June 15.

The Great Lakes regional economy was worth US$5.8 trillion in 2015 and would be the third largest economy in the world if it were a country, according to a recent BMO report. “The economic importance of the region can’t be overstated,” it says.

But not enough is being done to promote maritime transport in the region, says the Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers, the organization that produced the maritime strategy. The conference brings together the leaders from Ontario, Quebec, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

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Lessons for Canada from New Zealand’s dairy industry

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Lessons for Canada from New Zealand’s dairy industry

Tiny New Zealand, with a population just one-eighth that of Canada, is on a quest to quench the world’s thirst for milk. Today milk is the country’s biggest export, and 95 per cent of what Kiwi farmers produce goes abroad, mostly to China.

Compare that to Canada, where dairy farmers keep fighting to protect their supply management system, which means higher milk prices for consumers and puts a strain on Canada’s trading relationships. Only five per cent of what Canada produces is exported.

While Canada is wringing its hands about what to do about the dairy sector, the question to ask is: Will ending supply management spell doom for Canadian dairy farmers?

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The financial consequences of a European Union without Britain

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The financial consequences of a European Union without Britain

Banking, insurance and pension firms based in the Greater Toronto Area and elsewhere in Canada would be left scrambling for solid ground if Britain decides to exit the European Union next month.  

If the vote were held today, 40 per cent of Britons would vote to leave the EU, according to the Financial Times poll tracker.

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The consequences of Justin Trudeau’s Chinese trade decision

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The consequences of Justin Trudeau’s Chinese trade decision

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a tough decision on Canada’s relationship with China: Will Ottawa agree to Beijing’s demand that Canada stop treating China as a “non-market” economy under the World Trade Organization?

The stakes are high. Refusing the Chinese would likely end the chances of a far-reaching trade deal with Canada’s second-biggest trading partner. A recent report puts the value of a Chinese trade deal at $7.8 billion in new economic activity for Canada. But experts say China will come to the table only if Canada first grants it market economy status.

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App aimed at easing border congestion takes top prize at Canada-U.S. hackathon

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App aimed at easing border congestion takes top prize at Canada-U.S. hackathon

A two-member team of young professionals from Chicago has a new idea for unclogging the Canada-U.S. border: an app for importers and exporters based on the popular TurboTax program that many taxpayers use to fill out their annual tax forms.

The Chicago team, called TradeSherpa and made up of Steve Martinez and Price Shoemaker, emerged this past weekend as the winner of a two-day “hackathon” sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Global Affairs Canada, at which 23 teams were challenged to produce the most useful app for cross-border trade.

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How the Windstream Energy case affects Canada’s trade future

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How the Windstream Energy case affects Canada’s trade future

If a U.S. wind-power company has its way, the federal government could end up footing the bill for part of a costly and controversial Ontario energy initiative. The case could renew the conversation around international business conflicts at a time when two major trade pacts are awaiting ratification in Canada.

Windstream Energy, based in New York state, won a contract in 2010 to build 100 offshore wind turbines near Kingston. But less than a year later, the Ontario government halted all offshore wind-power development, claiming it needed more time to study the potential risks of such projects.

The company says the provincial government acted in “an arbitrary and political manner.” Rather than pursuing its case with the province however, Windstream is demanding $475 million from the federal government under a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement that allows companies to sue Canada over government measures that interfere with investments.

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How the TPP opens new markets for Ontario wine

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How the TPP opens new markets for Ontario wine

When Canada and the U.S. agreed to a landmark free trade deal nearly 30 years ago, John Neufeld worried that his 73-hectare vineyard was doomed. At the time, the farm supplied grapes to nearby wineries, which had little faith that their products could compete against better-known — and superior — California wines.

“The information we had at that time was that California, with the reduction [in tariffs], would just come in and take over the Ontario marketplace,” Neufeld recalls. He was so worried that he ripped out all of his vines in the late 1980s. For several years, the farm grew only peaches and other tree fruits.

He was so wrong. Not only does he grow grapes again, but his vineyard, now named Palatine Hills Estates Winery, won many awards for his own vintages.

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