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"From the editor's desktop" by William Watson Sorry, the summary of this article is not available. "Two cheers for the FTA" by John McCallum The FTA is at least partly responsible for the explosion of Canada-US trade in the last 10 years. And it did not prevent a sharp decline in the Canadian dollar, as conspiracy theorists had argued it would. Beyond that, judgements are more difficult. Tariff reduction probably has increased productivity in Canadian manufacturing, if only modestly, while the effect on jobs is unclear. Some were lost in the transition but others were gained because of higher exports. The deal may have encouraged foreigners to invest here, and its dispute settlement procedures have probably de-politicized bilateral trade disputes at least marginally. Bottom line? Not a triumph, but a positive contribution overall. "From leaps of faith to lapses of logic" by Andrew Jackson There is no denying that the Canada-US free trade agreement has led to a big increase in cross-border trade. But the productivity gains that were promised have failed to materialize. And what gains there have been have gone mainly to business firms' bottom lines. Workers' standard of living has not improved. Though free trade did not cause all the damage suffered by Canadian manufacturing in the early 1990s, it may have been responsible for as much as a third of job losses in the sector, and it has done little to remedy the sector's continuing structural weakness. We may not want to bring back all the industrial policies of the 1970s, but government action to build manufacturing is urgently needed. "Interviews with the protagonists" Brian Mulroney and John Turner How does the man who brought Canada free trade feel about the 1988 debate with John Turner, the suspension of negotiations in 1987, and the way the deal has played out in its first 10 years? On Oct. 25, 1988, in one of the most famous exchanges in Canadian political
history, Liberal Party leader John Turner told Prime Minister Brian Mulroney that
in signing a free trade deal with the United States he had "sold out" the country.
Does he still think that? What are his views of how the Free Trade Agreement has
turned out? How will the country survive the apparently irresistible forces of
globalization? "Five windows for the future of NAFTA's environment commission" by Pierre Marc Johnson In its first five years, NAFTA's Commission for Environmental Cooperation experienced the growing pains of a new institution: cultural adaptatation, interpreting a broad mandate and difficulty to focus. If it can narrow the range of its activities, it stands to make useful contributions in five areas: data-gathering and research; raising awareness; capacity-building; encouraging enforcement of environmental laws; and fostering cooperation both within and beyond NAFTA. Its biggest challenge in the medium term will be to expand from three to 30 members, as NAFTA evolves into a hemispheric free trade association. Whether such a potentially top-heavy commission can function remains to be seen. "Dispute settlement under FTA-NAFTA" by Peter Watson NAFTA's dispute-settlement processes largely carried forward those introduced in the Canada-US FTA. One sign of their success is their frequent use. There have been 46 cases under the Chapter 19 provisions on anti-dumping and countervail, and six under Chapter 20, which governs failure to implement the agreement. In general, the two smaller countries have brought more cases against the US than vice versa. The dispute settlement processes obviously haven't eliminated disputes, but they have made them easier to manage. "In 1988 we freed trade. Now let's free transport." by Darren Prokop On both sides of the 49th parallel, the trucking industry has been dramatically deregulated. But international trucking is still subject to restrictive rules, especially on cabotage - that is, hauls within the United States by Canadian trucking firms, and vice versa. There has been some improvement, but only for hauls whose ultimate destination is another NAFTA partner, and only for rigs, not drivers. The logic of free trade requires a fully integrated North American transportation market, and that won't happen without greatly liberalized cabotage rules. "Courts, legislatures and executives in the post-Charter era" by the Hon. Beverley McLachlin Courts striking down laws is nothing new in Canada, as a review of both the Persons Case in the 1920s and the Alberta Press Case in the 1930s makes clear. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms has clearly given impetus to the assertion of rights and to the pursuit of equality. But the courts have not shown undue "activism" or radically re-made law, and have not generally taken it upon themselves to find the social compromises that remain the appropriate domain of legislatures. "L'affaire des juges de la cour provinciale et l'extension du contrôle judiciaire" by Pierre Patenaude Recent articles in Policy Options have focused on the alleged unilateral extension of judicial power by use of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But a recent Supreme Court decision had nothing to do with the Charter. In ruling that legislatures do not have the right to reduce judges' salaries, the Chief Justice, speaking for the majority, referred to the preamble of the BNA Act, which says Canada is to have a British system of government. But in the British system of government, certainly circa 1867, parliament was supreme. And in Canada, judges' powers emanated - and still emanate - from the expressed will of the majority, not from unwritten but supposedly implicit constitutional principles. "The case for domestic partnership laws" by Rainer Knopff A society that values child-rearing and care-giving has every reason to provide special preferences for heterosexual marriages. That some married couples do not have children does not weaken this argument. On the other hand, society may also have an interest in encouraging permanent, caring relationships between people who do not engage in procreative sex - or any sex at all. Domestic partnership laws that allowed people of either sex and any sexual persuasion to form socially-sanctioned partnerships should therefore be considered. Groups who prefer that homosexual marriage be legalized should not regard them as a consolation prize. "The benefits of universality" by Nicholas Rowe and Frances Woolley This summary of the authors' forthcoming paper in the Canadian Journal of Economics argues that targeted social programs, which came to dominate Canadian social policy in the 1990s, are both unfair and inefficient. Unfair because if Canadians decide people shouldn't have to bear the entire cost of raising children, having a hip replacement or acquiring an education, their exemption from cost shouldn't vary according to their income. Inefficient because clawbacks add to the effective marginal tax rate faced by the recipients of social programs, thus increasing the distortion of their work, leisure, investment and saving choices. "Don't sell Hydro short" by Myron Gordon The Ontario government thinks Ontario Hydro's assets are worth just $17.1 billion, compared to its debt of $38 billion. In fact, Hydro's value may be as high as $51.2 billion, depending on the outcome of a three to five year program to increase the efficiency of its nuclear plants. Before selling off much of the province's electricity industry to foreign multinationals, who, motivated only by profit, would raise electricity prices to their level in neighbouring US states, the government should wait to see the results of the efficiency drive. Book review: Alexander Moens reviews Maxwell A. Cameron et al. (eds) To Walk Without Fear: The Global Movement to Ban Landmines Sorry, the summary of this article is not available. "Is north-south killing east-west?" by Patrick Grady and Kathleen Macmillan Sorry, the summary of this article is not available. |
