Even though we met Jessica LeCroy just recently I was hoping to get a few insights about Iraq, where she had spent a year, since at the initial meeting there were not to be any comments until after the US presidential election. "I was quite pleasantly surprised about the results (of the Iraqi elections). I did not expect what happened,” said LeCroy, adding, "there is still a lot of work to be done." It would be interesting to hear more from her about Iraq, as it is a place where we have Estonian soldiers.
LeCroy's speech was in general a reiteration of the role of the US Consulate and their immigration policy. Immigration usually causes a fair amount of discussion at the ethnic journalists club since the US tends to be the main choice of entry for most and therefore has rules that are stiffer than Canada’s.
LeCroy raised some facts that should be of some interest:
* Trade between Canada/U.S. is worth some 570 billion Canadian dollars per years, one billion a day between Ontario and the U.S.
* Bilateral trade in goods alone supports six million jobs in Canada and the U.S.
* It is projected that a five percent increase in bilateral trade could lead to roughly 300,000 new jobs on both sides of the border.
* Canada is very important to our states in the U.S. For 39 of the 50 states, Canada is the number one trading partner. 23 % of all U.S. exports come north to Canada. 85 % of Canada's exports, and 92 % of the province of Ontario's exports go to the U.S.
* 130 million people, or about 44 percent of the U.S. population live within a day's drive of Southern Ontario. That's quite a market in Canada's backyard.
* Canada does more trade with Home Depot than it does with all of France.
* Even today, Americans invest ten times more in Canada than in China.
When LeCroy spoke of the trade numbers between U.S. and Canada she was too polite to mention that the balance between the two favours Canada. That is the significant reality.
These realities are also ones Ottawa should have had in mind when it slapped the U.S. in the face by not supporting the American Missile Defence Program. Canada's position was "encouraged" (translation: rammed through) by the Québec members of the Federal Cabinet who had been lobbied by the disarmament coalition, an element whose grasp on economic reality is tenuous at best.