Course Correction: Advice on Canada’s Future Foreign Policy

This submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is centred on the discussions of the Consultative Forum on Canada’s Role in the World, held April 25, 2003.

Document Highlights

In April 2003, key leaders in Canada’s business community participated in the Consultative Forum on Canada’s Role in the World, an event organized by The Conference Board of Canada. This submission paper to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is based on the forum’s roundtable discussions.

The paper first sets forth the argument that the prosperity pillar remains critical to Canada’s foreign policy, a point that forum participants agreed upon. This is followed by a description of and elaboration on the five main concerns that surfaced during discussions.

We need to:

• better integrate our trade and foreign policies;
• effectively handle regulations and subsidies issues;
• establish a commonality among and within government tiers regarding Canada’s foreign presence;
• align our consular representation with our trade practice; and
• initiate discussions with the United States concerning a North American strategy.

Participants also raised several valid questions about foreign policy in general. Issues ranged from balancing our independence and reliance on our southern neighbour to how far we can agree to integration without compromising our own policies and independence. The focus of the paper then shifts to the development of a new foreign policy framework for Canada.