8/2/2019 HonoraryPresidentRaymondChretien
2/4
Amrica del Norte han privilegiado las relaciones bilaterales, en
el marco de susdiscusiones.
When I was the Canadian ambassador in Washington DC, trilateral
approach was notthe way governments wanted to address North
American issues. In fact, Mexican and
American governments were rather opened to it but the Canadian
governmentpreferred much more bilateral relations. Why?
1) First, one of the main reasons is that, by opting for
bilateral relationships, ratherthan trilateral ones, the Canadian
Government wanted to protect and preserve itsstatus of the best
friend of the United States.
Did the Canadian bilateral approach work? Well, after several
years of bilateralism, wecan be sceptical about the outcomes of the
Canadian strategy since it did not impedeMexico to become a partner
as important as Canada, if not more, in the eyes of thecurrent
American administration. And, of course, the Canadian government
should beglad to see one of its North American partners getting
stronger, rather than weaker.
Moreover, it should try to take advantage of the tremendous new
opportunities thispositive evolution offers.
2) Second, the Canadian government preferred a bilateral
dialogue to make sure thatCanada-US topics would not disappear into
Mexico-US considerations which cover alarger range of problems.
Of course, there are a certain number of problems that, indeed,
need to be discusseden tte--tte, between Canada and the US. For
example, trade disputes such as thesoftwood lumber conflict, the
mad cow disease or the management of the Great Lakesare issues
which need to discussed between Canada and the US.
But, we must realize that most of our long term challenges on
the economic, security,demographic, labour and environmental front
would benefit from a vision taking intoconsideration the interest
of our whole North American region which does not simplyequal the
sum of our national interests.
One might ask: Is there a cost for not endorsing a trilateral
approach? Well, shouldhave we adopted a trilateral approach right
from the signing of NAFTA, would Canadahave developed stronger
commercial ties with Mexico? Would Canada nowadays beless dependent
on the American market? Maybe.
But, the real questions are:Are Mexican or US-Mexico problems
impacting on North American efficiency? If so,shouldnt the Canadian
government be concerned and active, when possible, inelaborating
North American solutions to North American problems?
I am thinking, among other things, about the development gap
problem we still havewith Mexico, especially the south of
Mexico.
2
8/2/2019 HonoraryPresidentRaymondChretien
3/4
If founding members of the European Union had considered 20
years ago thateconomic problems in Ireland and Spain were not of
their concern, France andGermany and other EU members would not be
benefiting today from these twoimportant European markets.
The development gap in North America has a price and not only
Mexicans are payingfor it. All North Americans do, through lesser
economic and environmentalperformance, through illegal immigration
impacts and through lesser exports towardsthe south of North
America, to name a few. In fact, it is the performance of our
ownregional bloc which has to compete with the European Union, the
Mercosur andChina, that is affected.
My generation has succeeded in establishing solid foundations
for a dynamic traderelation between our three countries. Should you
be able to complete our free tradeagreement with a broader and
larger project that will bring our partnership beyondtrade and
security considerations, we will have taken another step to make of
NorthAmerica a strong and prosperous region.
Les partenaires nord-amricains ont montr, lors de leur rencontre
au mois de mars Waco (Texas) quils sont prts adopter une approche
renouvele. Dune part, avec lePartenariat pour la prosprit et la
scurit, ils sont convenus de se rencontrerrgulirement. Ils ont
galement demand leurs ministres concerns par les
enjeuxnord-amricains, de prsenter des rapports semestriels sur les
initiatives dvelopperentre nos trois pays.
Ainsi, lapproche trilatrale fait tranquillement sa place au sein
des sphres politiqueset gouvernementales. Mais je crois que cest
avec votre gnration que vritablement,nous entrerons dans une
dynamique trois lchelle nord-amricaine. La tenue du
Triumvirat traduit bien cette volont nouvelle dopter pour le
dveloppement duneplus grande concertation politique entre nos trois
pays.
Esa simulacin contribuir a formar una nueva generacin de
canadienses, deamericanos y mexicanos en mayores condiciones de
conducir a los socios del TLCANsobre la va de un dilogo ms amplio y
de una colaboracin trilateral ms estrecha.
Esa simulacin se hace eco de la necesidad creciente de
cooperacin mayor entrenuestros pases. Ese ejercicio al cual ustedes
participan constituye tambin un pasoadelante hacia une democracia
mas fuerte. De hecho, ustedes muestran, a travs desu participacin,
que seria oportuno para nuestros parlamentos desarrollar nuevos
tipos de colaboracin y nuevas instancias de concertacin
polticas. De hecho, losdesafos que traen los problemas de medio
ambiente y de inmigracin requieren denuevas ideas y respuestas.
Durante esta semana, ustedes tendrn la oportunidad de contribuir
a la elaboracinde una visin renovada de nuestros objetivos comunes.
Necesitamos de suaportacin porque nuestros retos son importantes y
requerirn un trabajo de largotiempo.
3
