Toronto’s financial district/Wikimedia

In an age of rolling political, economic, security and public health disruptions, the world — including our democratic allies — writes Canadian Chamber of Commerce President Perrin Beatty, “increasingly needs what Canada has.”

By Perrin Beatty

December 12,2023

This could be Canada’s moment. Our country has everything required to be a global leader in physical, food and energy security. We have an incredibly rich resource inheritance. We have a diverse, educated and peaceful population. We’re located far from most conflicts and we’re next door to the world’s richest nation. For all these reasons and more, Canada has tremendous competitive advantages in the global arena.

Instead, we’re at risk of losing our place on the international stage. For decades, Canada’s strength was our willingness to engage and to contribute to solutions. We enjoyed a position of influence in global affairs that far outstripped the size of our population and our economy, and our closest ally, the United States, considered us a strategic partner. More recently, though, we’ve contented ourselves with becoming a bystander and critic in global politics rather than a player. Increasingly, we are perceived as an unserious nation that cares more about good feelings than good results.

Even our most important relationship has become largely transactional. Our southern neighbour now considers each issue individually and evaluates it in terms of the domestic political consequences. Canada wins when we propose solutions that benefit both countries. We lose when we simply respond to the larger partner’s demands, pleading for special treatment without offering special value.

To regain our position and our purpose, whether in our relations with the United States or with the larger international community, we need to understand how much the world has changed.

Today, most people who were born in Canada have no memory of anything other than democracy, peace and prosperity. We’ve come to take this condition for granted, failing to see it as something to be earned and defended. But the life we know is not the ordinary state for most of the world’s population, and the globe is becoming more violent and less free. What makes Canadians so blessed is no longer guaranteed.

For fifty years, Freedom House has been assessing countries on their political rights and civil liberties. The 2023 edition of its report, Freedom in the World, found that freedom among the 195 nations studied declined for the 17th consecutive year. Unfortunately, the erosion continues as autocratic regimes become more aggressive and as many democracies themselves become more illiberal. Consider last August’s meeting of the BRICS countries and their announced plans to add other nations, including Iran. BRICS is a club most Canadians wouldn’t want to join. And it’s a group in which there are substantial conflicts — between India and China, for example, whose forces clashed along their shared border just a year ago. Their one area of agreement is in wanting to dismantle the international order built after World War II.

Beyond becoming a reliable source of vital commodities, we must also pay closer attention to our important international relationships.

These issues are not simply the province of politicians and diplomats. They are equally important to the business community, whose success requires stability, the rule of law, open markets and rising prosperity. The health of the global economy depends on our ability to resolve global problems.

Well before Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, we witnessed major strains in international relations. Even as global problems such as climate change, pandemics and terrorism demand a concerted international response, we watch institutions including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization become steadily less effective.

It is not a pretty picture. Undemocratic regimes grow while multilateral institutions decline and political dysfunction destabilizes established democracies. As competition between systems of government intensifies, our problems seem larger than our leaders. The world has become a fundamentally more dangerous place.

These trends pose a serious threat to our country’s interests. In the face of all these challenges, how could this be Canada’s moment? As a starting point, we need to recognize that it’s our choice whether to continue a drift into irrelevance or to play a more important role on the global stage. If we want to be treated as a serious nation, we should demonstrate our seriousness.

Our response must be more than just economic, but we start with major economic advantages. The world, including our democratic allies, increasingly needs what Canada has. We have an abundance of the “three Fs” — food, fuel and fertilizer — as well as many of the critical minerals vital for both national security and the transition to a greener economy. And, unlike many of our competitors, we’re a democracy committed to producing them in a way that respects both human rights and the environment. Our natural wealth presents both a tremendous economic opportunity for Canada and an obligation to help meet the world’s needs. What we need is political will and a strategy.

Beyond becoming a reliable source of vital commodities, we must also pay closer attention to our important international relationships.

We’re at the start of an American presidential election that is likely to be a competition between protectionists. Once that election is over, our continental trade deal, CUSMA, will require the three countries to signal whether they want to renew the agreement in 2026. It’s too early to start formal discussions with the United States and Mexico before their national elections. However, as the US will have the most important say on CUSMA’s survival, we should already be undertaking a concerted Team Canada campaign. We need to mobilize all of our resources, including the business community, provincial premiers, mayors and others, to demonstrate to Americans in Washington and beyond how their relationship with Canada benefits them.

And, looking beyond North America, we must revise the government’s Indo-Pacific strategy to reflect how circumstances have changed in the past year. We should begin with South Korea and Japan, two modern industrialized democracies that respect the rule of law and share many of our most important values. Both are interested in stronger partnerships with Canada, particularly to achieve food and energy security. They need to know that we are ready to take their call. Our actions can no longer be performative. Others will judge us not by what we say, but by what we do.

This could, indeed, be Canada’s moment, but only if we are prepared to make it happen.

Perrin Beatty is President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.