FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 26, 2003S
Deep integration with U.S. not such a bright idea-study
OTTAWA-The "Big Idea"-a
bargain that would see Canada giving the U.S. a
strong North American security perimeter and greater access to our
energy
resources in return for supposedly secure access to the U.S.
market-threatens the space we need to pursue needed economic, environmental
and social policies, according to a new CCPA study.
Why
the "Big Idea" is
a Bad Idea, by senior CLC economist Andrew Jackson
critiques proposals for still deeper economic integration with the
U.S.,
discusses the economic costs and benefits of economic integration to
date,
and argues that Canada needs to retain room to manoeuvere in terms
of
economic policy if we are to build a more sophisticated and environmentally
sustainable economy.
Jackson
explains that the Big Idea not only poses threats to the expression
of distinctive Canadian values on defence, international affairs, and
immigration and refugee issues. It would also limit our necessary ability
to shape industrial development, to control our energy sector, to move
towards a more environmentally sustainable economy; to levy taxes at
the
level needed to maintain a distinctive Canadian social model, and to
limit
the impacts of international trade and investment agreements on our
social
and cultural policies.
According
to Jackson, the Big Idea distracts attention from our real problems:
the failure of corporate Canada to innovate and to invest
adequately in research and development, workers, skills, and new plants
and about by constant
invocations of the need for "competitive" taxes.
"A
more sensible approach to Canadian industrial policy would be to
retain
and expand our room to manoeuvre under the current WTO rules while
exploring possibilities for closer North American co-operation in the
few
very closely integrated sectors where we have joint interests," Jackson
says.
Jackson
concludes that "the
alternative to deeper integration is not a
rejection of close trade and investment ties with the U.S., but more
active
shaping of those links in the interests of Canadians."
Why
the "Big Idea" is
a Bad Idea is available from the CCPA web site at
http://www.policyalternatives.ca
For more information contact Kerri-Anne Finn at 613-563-1341 x306.
A link to a U.S. site that deals with issues of corporate irresponsibility:
http://www.corpwatch.org/home/PHH.jsp