Want more proof that Stephen Harper is totally out of touch with what Canada needs to do, read the following published in the Montreal Gazette today. I have shorted the article but the link to the full story follows the article.
HONOLULU — Prime Minister Stephen Harper and leaders from APEC countries get down to business Saturday in Hawaii with a series of high-level meetings, but it’s one that Canada’s not officially invited to that’s one of the most notable on the agenda.
Harper is expected to hold around five bilateral meetings Saturday morning and afternoon in Honolulu before leaders from Pacific Rim countries launch into the official program for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, a 21-member group whose goal is to improve economic integration in the region.
However, it’s a gathering of leaders from nine countries, including the United States, in the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that seems to be the club that everyone wants to join — and Canada isn’t a member, yet.
President Barack Obama is hosting Saturday morning a meeting of the members in the TPP, a trade group that White House officials call “the most promising vehicle” for economic integration in Asia-Pacific and the “next phase” of the U.S. trade agenda.
“The Canadians have in recent years been pretty MIA (missing in action) when it comes to the Asia-Pacific. Part of it is the fact that we are frozen out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” explained Kim Richard Nossal, a specialist in Canada-U.S. relations and director of the Centre for International and Defence Policy at Queen’s University.
“The fact that Canada is on the sidelines is a significant problem.”
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a ten-member Asia-Pacific regional trade agreement currently being negotiated among the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and now, Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda made the highly anticipated announcement Friday that his country would join the group. Korea has also been closely eyeing the group.
….The Harper government has been trumpeting the benefits of increased trade throughout Asia-Pacific, including less expensive consumer goods and new Canadian jobs.
International Trade Minister Ed Fast, who is in Hawaii with Harper, said the government has been holding meetings with members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership but doesn’t believe — at least for now — it’s a good agreement for Canada.
“If we conclude that participating in the TPP will bring prosperity to Canadian workers, we are prepared to look closely at joining the discussions,” Fast said this week.
“We have not yet come to a point where we have been able to determine that it’s in our best interests to be part of that process.”
A report recently published by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and Canada China Business Council said the Conservative government must be more engaged across the Asia-Pacific region.
“Canada has a reputation in Asia of showing up there but not being serious about establishing long-term relationships,” said the report.
Canada’s “reputation in Asia has declined in recent years with our neglect of bilateral relationships and regional institutions,” it added.
…. “He (Harper) needs to be thinking about ‘How do I position Canada in the Pacific Rim.’ Canada could be a major player,” said Christopher Sands, a specialist in Canada-U.S. relations at the Hudson Institute, a think-tank in Washington D.C.
.... Yuen Pau Woo, CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, said the Harper government “should be quite concerned” the country isn’t part of the TPP, what he calls one of the most important trade deals in the region.
Moreover, the federal government has no free-trade deals with Asian countries and has developed a reputation for starting talks but being unable to complete them, he said. Canada, for example, has been negotiating with Singapore for a decade and Korea for seven years.
“That is the unfortunate track record that we have,” Woo said.
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