On February 28, 2011, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce along with its Québec counterpart, the Fédération des Chambres de commerce du Québec, staged the very first Ontario-Québec Economic Forum.

Hosted by Hon. Sandra Pupatello, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development and Trade and Clément Gignac, Québec’s Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Exports, the initiative brought together 150 leaders from both provinces, representing the business, academia and not-for-profit sectors.

During the course of the day, participants tackled some tough issues, including:

1. The Ontario-Québec productivity gap
2. How to encourage businesses to better leverage new technologies
3. How to foster more effective cooperation to enhance innovation
4. Investing in talent through education and profound changes to corporate culture

You can now access streamed videos and photos from the event.

Ministers Pupatello and Gignac Take Questions from CBC's Amanda Lang at the Ontario-Québec Economic Forum on February 28, 2011

A Starting Point for Follow Up Action…

 Post-Forum, the time for action and engagement remains. The Ontario-Québec Trade and Cooperation Agreement Private Sector Advisory Committee (PSAC), co-chaired by Heather Munroe-Blum (Principal and Vice-Chancellor, McGill University) and Mark Lievonen (President, Sanofi Pasteur Limited) is leading the way. Their recent call for action to all Forum participants includes a request to identify specific barriers to interprovincial trade, investment or labour mobility and to put forward some suggestions to remove such barriers.

This information should assist both governments in finding ways to further streamline processes, remove barriers to trade and provide businesses in both provinces with the best chance to sustain themselves, grow, attract further investments and create a true climate of collaboration.

Ontario’s economy has experienced some dramatic changes over the past year and a half. A strong Canadian dollar, high oil and energy prices, a weakening US trading partner, and intensifying global competition have all had a significant impact on business. These changes have only reinforced the need to diversify export markets. Expanding into the international marketplace has proven to be beneficial to businesses individually and the broader business climate as a whole.

Taking the plunge into new markets can be risky for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and it can be difficult to find the resources necessary to make the expansion. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has developed a program, Export Market Access (EMA), with funding from the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada to help SME’s export to new markets and expand within current markets. Since its inception in 2008, the program has helped over 220 companies and given out over 2.3 million dollars.

EMA helps with some of the costs associated with reaching new export markets in four categories: direct contact, marketing tools, market research and foreign bidding projects. The contributions made by the EMA program make it possible for many SME’s to launch themselves into markets that would otherwise be unattainable.

Making these export markets available allows for a stronger more stable customer base for these SME’s. If we continue to invest in business within the province, the Ontario economy will emerge stronger and more diverse. For more information on the EMA program, please visit the website at www.exportaccess.ca.

Implications of Canada’s 2009 annual trade deficit are mixed – is it a good thing our imports are growing at a greater rate than our exports or more bad news. Take a look at this post on ventures blog to read more.

Canada’s trade deficit – good or bad?

Between three and four hundred thousand people cross the U.S. – Canadian border each day. 7.1 million American jobs and 3 million Canadian ones are dependent upon cross-border trade. Since 9/11, a myriad of new security and trade regulations have led to costly delays or “thickening” of the border. Two new reports were released this month encouraging solutions to enhance security, reduce compliance costs and expedite trade and travel at U.S. – Canadian border points.

Toward a New Frontier: Improving the U.S. – Canadian Border, authored by Chris Sands of The Hudson Institute, as part of the Metropolitan Policy Program of The Brookings Institution and Finding The Balance: Shared Border of the Future, sponsored jointly by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Canadian Chamber of Commerce, both provide important and timely guidance to provincial, state and federal governments.

In addition to further infrastructure investment, both reports call for more common sense flexibility in resource allocation at the border and refinement to regulations and operating procedures so that both countries can be made more secure, while at the same time ensuring more efficient movement of low-risk goods and people.

Canada is the largest trading partner for 37 of 50 states. With more than $1.6 billion in two-way trade crossing the border each day, this is the largest bi-lateral trading relationship in the world. Process and infrastructure enhancements at the border can have a huge impact in better positioning both countries for economic recovery. Both reports are essential reads for the Harper and Obama administrations.

This is something many of you have probably heard if you’ve ever played on any sort of team. Coaches worldwide have taught this lesson to create harmonious, effective, competitive teams. It seems once again a team lesson applies to something else in life, this time it’s the global economy.  

A recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal by Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, focused on this lesson by emphasizing that trade barriers are a key concern that have the real potential to prolong the recession. The article: Don’t Go Wobbly on Trade – Barriers to commerce are a surefire way to prolong the recession states, “A more interdependent Global economy means that a downturn in one country translates more rapidly to a downturn elsewhere,” but the good news is, “with the global production chain more interlinked than ever before, we all benefit more quickly and more directly from a pick up in global trading flows.”

I say let’s all win together.