Even as the controversy rages over softwood lumber, the book can be closed on whether Canada's great trade deals with the United States have benefited Canada.
Those deals the Free Trade Agreement of the late 1980s and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which replaced FTA in 1994 have made the United States the engine of Canada's economy. Yet, new threats loom on the horizon.
free trade
November 8, 2002
2:00AM
April 19, 2001
2:00AM
Its no accident modern democracy emerged in trading nations and cities. The democratic impulse developed in England, the Netherlands, and a number of city-states, most notably in Italy. All were heavily involved in trade.
Such democratic breakthroughs were grounded in what today we call economic freedom and property rights. Sustainable democracy and freedom has never emerged in any city or state that lacks economic freedom most particularly, the freedom to exchange goods (the domestic version of free trade) and property rights.