This volume covers the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Mexico; Canada's policy towards South Africa; growing peacekeeping efforts around the world; and common international problems such as immigration, drug trafficking, and the impact of trade, aid and human rights on foreign policy. Speeches are by political personalities such as Pierre Trudeau, Joe Clark, Barbara McDougall, MacDonald and Brian Mulroney.
The aim of this volume is to examine and compare the trade policies followed by the most important trading nations of the world. Today there are few, if any, large scale studies of comparative trade such as this one. Moreover trade policies and controversies are expected to become even more important in the future.The volume offers an easily accessible overview of trade policies in each of the world's major trading countries. Thus, this handbook can be of great use to students of comparative economic systems in general and to economists, policymakers, and the general informed public, serving as a comprehensive source of reference and comparison. The references at the end of each chapter and the selected bibliography at the end of the volume identify the most important sources of additional information on the trade policies of the world's most important trading countries.
Brian Mulroney captured the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives and became the first prime minister in thirty-five years - and the first Conservative since Sir John A. Macdonald - to win consecutive majorities. His victory was the largest in Canadian political history, yet his party was almost wiped out in the election following his resignation. In Transforming the Nation, leading Canadian politicians and scholars reflect on the major policy debates of the period and offer new and surprising interpretations of Brian Mulroney. Mulroney had a tremendous impact on Canada, charting a new direction for the country through his decisions on a variety of public-policy issues - free trade with the United States, social-security reform, foreign policy, and Canada's North. The Mulroney government represented a dramatic break with Canada's past. Mulroney received severe criticism for many of his new initiatives and left office with the lowest approval rating of any Canadian prime minister. However, much of the legislation he put in place was both embraced and expanded by the Liberals who succeeded him. Transforming the Nation is a significant contribution to our understanding of the complex world of Canadian public policy during the Mulroney era.
Free Trade provides a historical framework for ongoing discussion of economic and environmental issues. While there is empirical evidence on trade flows - they increased dramatically in both directions - the debate on related issues continues. The impact of free trade on jobs and manufacturing productivity, the effectiveness of dispute settlement, the growth of foreign direct investment, the absence of adjustment programs, and the consequences for social programs are all issues for spirited discussion. Many of the leading actors in shaping both the FTA and NAFTA participated in the conference, including former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, former President George Bush, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Secretary of State James Baker, former Canadian Trade Ministers John Crosbie and Michael Wilson, former U.S. Trade Ambassadors Clayton Yeutter and Carla Hills, as well as former Mexican Trade Minister Jaime Serra Puche. Other senior officials included Canada's Derek Burney and Simon Reisman. Donald S. Macdonald, chairman of the landmark Royal Commission that recommended the "leap of faith" of free trade, gave the keynote address. A Royal Bank of Canada impact study, "Two Cheers for the FTA," provided a baseline for discussion by a panel of eminent economists from all three NAFTA countries, and strong defences of positions against free trade included presentations by Andrew Jackson of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Jim Stanford of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), and Gerald Larose of Quebec's Conseil des syndicats nationaux (CSN). Participants from the provinces included former Ontario Premier Bob Rae, while NAFTA and the environment were considered by a panel led by former Quebec Premier Pierre Marc Johnson and joined by Quebec Liberal Leader Jean Charest. Other participants included Jean Anderson, Laurent Beaudoin, Fernando Clavijo, Thomas d'Aquino, William Dymond, Francis Fox, Jonathan Fried, Michael Hart, Stanley Hartt, Richard Lipsey, Victor Lichtinger, John McCallum, Peter McPherson, Jacques Ménard, William Merkin, Simon Potter, Charles E. Roh, David Schorr, Charles Sirois, Guy Stanley, Yvonne Stinson, Peter Watson, William Watson, L.R. Wilson, and Paul Wonnacott. Free Trade: Risks and Rewards is an important reminder of why the issue was so passionately debated at the time and why it remains important.
Aid and Ebb Tide: A History of CIDA and Canadian Development Assistance examines Canada’s mixed record since 1950 in transferring over $50 billion in capital and expertise to developing countries through ODA. It focuses in particular on the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the organization chiefly responsible for delivering Canada’s development assistance. Aid and Ebb Tide calls for a renewed and reformed Canadian commitment to development co-operation at a time when the gap between the world’s richest and poorest has been widening alarmingly and millions are still being born into poverty and human insecurity.
