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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Doer faces festering trade woes in U.S.

By: Murray McNeill

Posted: 10/29/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Gary Doer has his work cut out for him if he hopes to resolve a number of festering trade and border issues between Canada and the United States, one former ambassador said Wednesday.Frank McKenna told a Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce luncheon that one of the biggest challenges Doer faces as Canada's new ambassador to the United States is getting the ear of U.S. politicians.

McKenna, who held the ambassador's job for about a year around the middle of this decade, said U.S. politicians have a lot on their minds these days.

Externally, it's things like wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and ongoing concerns about North Korea's nuclear-testing activities.

And internally, it's soaring job losses, mortgage foreclosures, controversial health-care reforms, and a ballooning federal deficit.

"All of these things are occupying a lot of their minds," the former New Brunswick premier said. "So the bottom line is... it's hard to get their attention."

He said Canada does have pressing issues that need to be addressed. They include the devastating impact that new U.S. country-of-origin labelling rules and buy-American policies are having on Canadian exports, and the negative impact that strict new U.S. border-security measures are having on Canada's tourism industry.

He said American travellers essentially need a passport to get back into the United States, and a lot of them don't have one. So a growing number of them are forgoing trips to Canada.

And he described the country-of-origin labelling rules, which discourage U.S. hog-finishing operations from buying weanling pigs from Canada, as "a protectionist measure under the guise of food safety."

However, one of the things Canada has going for it is that it's still one of America's closest allies and trading partners, McKenna said.

"I'm convinced that with the latest member we have in our embassy and if we roll up our sleeves, we can resolve these problems..."

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 29, 2009 B8

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