Korean Job Discussion Forums

[AgentM]

The West needs to speak with a single voice to open up new trade opportunities in the Asian Pacific, Canada's former trade minister David Emerson says.

As the Western premiers gather in Yukon's Dawson City this week to kick around new strategies to climb out of recession, Mr. Emerson said in an interview that Canada has relied too much on U.S. trade and it will take the combined forces of Western Canada to get Ottawa's attention focused on forging new ties with countries such as India, China and Russia.

�Canada really has been slow to engage with the Asia-Pacific region,� said Mr. Emerson, who was Prime Minister Stephen Harper's international trade minister before the last election. As Canadian businesses confront a thicker U.S. border, Mr. Emerson said, the country - especially B.C. � needs an aggressive new policy to tap alternative markets.

�There are some very critical trends, and if we don't identify them, and adapt and react to them, I think we could face some rough patches ahead,� he said. �We are going to have to make those investments [in expanding trade] to drive our competitiveness over the next five years.�

The federal government is needed to help open those doors, he said, but making that a priority in Ottawa will take some persuasion.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/grow-the-west-look-to-the-far-east-says-former-trade-minister/article1184788/
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Although Emerson's a snake, I agree with him on this. Canada definitely needs to diversify our trade more. I'm glad that Canada is negotiating a major trade agreement with the European Union, that's a good start!