Global Trade Affecting Canada's Economy

∗ 1. How do you think Global Trade has affected Canada and it’s economy?

Trade is vital to Canada’s economy and to the well-being of all Canadians. To support economic growth and safeguard Canadian prosperity, Canada has committed to an ambitious international trade strategy, and they have been very successful. However, progress on domestic trade has not always kept pace.

Today, global trade has evolved and Canada’s internal trade rules have not kept pace. Barriers to interprovincial and interterritorial trade are impacting our ability to take advantage of the benefits of our economy. While many of the irritants may appear to be minor, these minor differences can mean big disadvantages for Canadian consumers, workers and businesses. It is time

That’s why, in Budget 2014, the federal government announced the creation of a new Internal Trade Barriers Index. The Index will set a baseline for understanding internal trade barriers and how the impacts increase or decrease over time. It will also give policy makers good information to guide decisions on priority areas for action.

∗ 2. What do you think Canada can do to improve its global trade?

The Government of Canada’s work to expand international trade and investment agreements has opened a world of opportunities for Canadian businesses and workers and opened up new choices for consumers. We must do the same domestically to strengthen our internal market. We must ensure first and foremost that it isn’t easier to trade with other countries than it is to trade within our own borders.

Canada’s strong economic fundamentals, natural wealth, • human capital and international connections all constitute enormous resources that can be brought to bear in making Canada a more innovative, dynamic and competitive player in the global economy. Transforming these resources into international influence and capacity requires strong and • coordinated leadership from all Canadian governments and a commitment helping Canadian businesses and citizens

129). Opium grown in the fields of Afghanistan today ends up as heroin on the streets of cities right across the globe, from Paris to Berlin, to London and New York, to Cape Town and Lagos. The trading routes along which it travels so speedily and efficiently are under pinned and facilitated by these infrastructural improvements (Friman, 2004). In the European region, the relaxation of border controls and attempts to create a pan-Europe free market have further facilitated trade. The impact on drug consumption patterns has been little short of transformative. Taking the British case, Pearson (1987b) observes how the unprecedented heroin “epidemic” there in the early 1980s would simply not have been possible without the opening up at that time of new trafficking routes from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Similarly, Parker notes that the second wave of heroin “outbreaks” that occurred a decade later in the mid-1990s was underpinned by the increasing availability of the drug in Britain which was, in turn, facilitated and enabled by the same mechanisms and systems for trade that were associated with the development of an effective global economy (Parkeret al., 1998, pp. 46-50). In other words, the globalization of trade