Canada announces end of economic relationship with US, & a bold new strategy to 2020 - Futurist, trends & innovation expert Jim Carroll

Canada announces end of economic relationship with US, & a bold new strategy to 2020

Ottawa, May 14, 2009

The country of Canada today announced the end of its centuries long relationship with the United States, and a bold new seven-point "Canada Transformed!" strategy that will re-orient its economic, cultural, societal values and innovation engine towards the world economy of 2020.

"It has come to the point that we can no longer rely on the United States as an honest and reliable economic partner," stated Canada at a news conference. "It is time that we adopt a bold new strategy that will align our economy away from the US, and towards the growth economies of the 21st century in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. As well, we will immediately begin working to enhance our long standing relationships with reliable partner nations in Europe."

The massive scope of the plan was not lost on Canada in the emotional conference. "We aim to reduce our role of being the largest trading partner with the United States, to becoming a marginal partner at best. We believe that this is the only right way forward."

Bold new thinking is required Canada spoke bluntly at the news conference of the need for bold new thinking. "Our relationship with the US is one that has become, through no fault of our own, increasingly abusive. We're honest, faithful, and do our part to provide to the relationship. We have been the largest trading partner to the United States for over a century. And yet, in return, we find ourselves taking on an increasing amount of abuse, neglect, and ever more hostile actions. We're sad that it must come to an end, but we believe that it is time."

Canada cited a long list of complaints and grievances, ranging from ongoing trade disputes, "downright hostile treatment" of Canadian citizens by US border guards, and increasingly aggressive use of a "Buy America" policy by state and local governments in the US -- despite a promise in Ottawa by President Barak Obama that he did not believe protectionism was the right way forward.

"Clearly, the US has no interest in playing fair with Canada," stated Canada in the news conference. "Our last straw came with appallingly ignorant comments from new US Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano about the reality of the Canadian border." Canada noted that both the conservative and liberal news media throughout the US remain in a state of shock at how badly Napilotano dropped the ball with her recent inaccurate comments about the Canadian border, particularly given the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by both governments in establishing the world's most sophisticated intelligent border infrastructure.

"It would seem that she believes that the very existence of Canada is a threat to her country," stated Canada at the standing-room only news conference.

Canada Transformed!

At the press conference, Canada announced a significant 10 year, 7 point plan, branded "Canada Transformed!", that will re-orient it's economy away from the United States to the AEA (Asia, Europe and Africa) markets, by the 2020, with a number of key goals:

Energy & oil: Canada will invest in a massive infrastructure project that will allow it to deliver the bulk of it's significant energy/oil resources to Asia, Europe and Africa within 5-7 years. The infrastructure project will consist of a number of significant pipeline projects that will direct Canadian oil, natural gas and other energy sources to east and west coast ports, as well as shipping and marine infrastructure, that will provide for a "ocean railway of energy" destined to the AEA countries.
"Today, Canada is the largest supplier of energy to the United States. By 2020, Canada aims to provide almost no energy to the US," noted Canada at the news conference. "We wish them well in their efforts to solve their energy crisis. We do not intend to help them any further."
Food & agriculture: Global food production must double to meet world population growth, and Canadian grain, beef, pork and other producers will work to achieve an AEA target market of 90% by 2020. "The Canadian agricultural system has been held hostage to the interests of protectionist agricultural interests in its worst form in the US," noted Canada. "We intend to end this abuse -- most recently, the implementation of country-of-origin-labeling rules by the US Department of Agriculture that have had a devastating impact on Canadian pork and beef producers. The US has not played an honest game with Canadian agricultural trade for quite some time, and we have come to the realization that they will never do so. "
"Quite simply, the rest of the world beyond the US needs a stable, reliable food supplier, and Canada intends to become the leading global brand in that regard."
Resources: Canada will seek investment from major Asian and mid-East sovereign wealth funds in an ambitious effort to re-orient the target markets for at least 80% of Canadian mineral commodities to AEA nations by 2015.
"Quite simply, Canada has the natural resources -- iron, nickel, copper, uranium and just every other type of metal -- that the newly industrialized world in Asia needs. As we witness a continued declined in US economic power, particularly in the manufacturing sector, we must ensure that we pursue growth opportunities elsewhere in the world."
"As China re-industrializes with the economic recovery, we intend to be their partner of choice."
Manufacturing: Since the advent of the US-Canada free-trade agreement in 1994, Canada has shared in one of the modern world's greatest economic successes -- the highly integrated Canadian-US manufacturing network supply chain. However, the collapse of the US manufacturing sector, as well as continuous suffocation of the border flow of goods, it is clear that Canada must re-orient itself to the new realities of the 21st century.
"A nation does not move forward suffering from the ongoing implementation of economic choke points," noted Canada. "We will re-align ourselves to economies that believe the way forward is through intelligent, smart-border policies that encourage the free flow of goods and people; not a nation that has a border policy that is driven by hysteria and paranoia."
"We will immediately provide strong incentives for Canadian manufacturers to re-focus on Canadian markets, as well as the establishment of significant new markets in AEA countries. There are over 2 billion people in these markets, and but 280 million in the US."
"Clearly, our future lies outside of North America, and we will align our manufacturing sector to this reality."
Immigration-based knowledge factories: Canada is the envy of other nations throughout the world for its' open, welcoming culture towards new immigrants. It plans to build on this reputation by establishing itself as the world's dominant source for high-level, specialized knowledge expertise in almost every single professional field.
"We believe that we are entering the second era of off-shoring," noted Canada, "with the next wave going far beyond customer support call centers. Nations around the world will need access to high level talent in the fields of medicine and health care, scientific research, agricultural and architectural skills, legal and professional services -- and will seek to access that knowledge through the global communications networks that will dominate the economy of the 21st century."
"We will welcome global knowledge experts in every field of human endeavor to relocate to Canada, enjoy all the attributes that our nation has to offer, and provide their skills to a massive offshore groups of clients in AEA nations.
"In doing so, we will establish Canada as the global hub for the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Quite simply, Brand Canada will become the most widely recognized phase when it comes to the need for access to knowledge."
A new Caribbean tourism strategy: Canada will establish a new "highway in the sky" that will divert much of its south-bound tourism traffic away from the United States, and towards the Caribbean nations with which it has had a long and fruitful relationship. It will combine this with an aggressive plan to upgrade the health care infrastructure of these Caribbean nation partners.
"Millions of Canadians spend their winters in Florida and other sunshine states," stated Canada, "but we will provide financial and other incentives to encourage them to relocate their winter travel to border-friendly Caribbean countries."
In recognition that many of the US bound Candian tourists are senior citizens, it also announced an ambitious plan to upgrade the health care system in selected Caribbean nations, and integrate those systems with the Canadian health care system.
"By 2015, we believe that any Canadian vacationing in one of our Caribbean partner nations should be able to avail themselves of health care facilities that match Canada's world-class health care infrastructure. We will invest heavily in order to upgrade hospital, medical professional and other health care infrastructure throughout the Caribbean region; by doing so, we will also improve the quality of life of members of the nations of our Caribbean friends, who have also found their economies devastated by the increasingly insularity of the US."
Immediate border construction: Finally, Canada announced that it would immediately begin construction of border that would prevent unauthorized entry into Canada by US citizens.
"We will immediately begin planning construction of a 4,500 mile physical border along our common frontier with the US," noted Canada. "We increasingly view the US health care system to be in peril -- within a decade, some US states will be devoting more than 60% of their GDP to health care. Clearly, many US citizens will plan to flee to Canada to take advantage of our world-class universal health care system."
"We must prevent this mass migration of Americans into Canada, and believe that significantly enhanced border structures are the only means of doing so."

Summary

At the close of the news conference, Canada stated that it was taking these actions with reluctance, but with conviction that it was the right thing to do.

"Nations have always achieved continued economic success by making bold leaps. We believe, given the continuing deterioration in our relationship with the US, and the ongoing and continued lack of respect that they provide to us, that it is time to move on."

"Canada is the most resource rich, tolerant, energy abundant, agriculturally advanced, second largest country in the world, with a massive base of skills, energy, commodities, food, and capabilities. We intend to assert our place in the economy of the 21st century with a sense of pride, purpose, and clear direction," said Canada at the conclusion of the press conference.

"Besides that, we're just plain nice," said Canada, blushing, in a closing comment.

"We do wish the US well in its future. Perhaps it could use our decision as the basis for a period of reflection as to how it might reconsider its actions on the global stage in the future."

"We are excited about our future, and believe that we have made the right decision at the right time for the right purpose. Canada Transformed! will see our nation emerge as one of the leading economies on the world stage by 2020, and we embark on this voyage with a sense of courage, enthusiasm, and certainty as to its' impact."

The United States was not immediately available for comment.

-----------------

Jim Carroll is a leading international futurist, trends & innovation expert, with a client list of global giants that includes the Walt Disney Corporation, Toshiba, Visa, IBM, Nestle, the BBC, Caterpillar, Rockwell Collins, Trane (Ingersoll Rand), and countless other organizations. He regularly offers up his opinion to business and government leaders with regards to strategies for success in the high velocity global economy of the 21st century.

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	Canada announces end of economic relationship with US, & a bold new strategy to 2020 *Ottawa, May 14, 2009* The country of Canada today announced the end of its centuries long relationship with the United States, and a bold new seven-point "Canada Transformed!" strategy that will re-orient its economic, cultural, societal values and innovation engine towards the world economy of 2020. "It has come to the point that we can no longer rely on the United States as an honest and reliable economic partner," stated Canada at a news conference. "It is time that we adopt a bold new strategy that will align our economy away from the US, and towards the growth economies of the 21st century in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. As well, we will immediately begin working to enhance our long standing relationships with reliable partner nations in Europe." The massive scope of the plan was not lost on Canada in the emotional conference. "We aim to reduce our role of being the largest trading partner with the United States, to becoming a marginal partner at best. We believe that this is the only right way forward." Bold new thinking is required Canada spoke bluntly at the news conference of the need for bold new thinking. "Our relationship with the US is one that has become, through no fault of our own, increasingly abusive. We're honest, faithful, and do our part to provide to the relationship. We have been the largest trading partner to the United States for over a century. And yet, in return, we find ourselves taking on an increasing amount of abuse, neglect, and ever more hostile actions. We're sad that it must come to an end, but we believe that it is time." Canada cited a long list of complaints and grievances, ranging from ongoing trade disputes, "downright hostile treatment" of Canadian citizens by US border guards, and increasingly aggressive use of a "Buy America" policy by state and local governments in the US -- despite a promise in Ottawa by President Barak Obama that he did not believe protectionism was the right way forward. "Clearly, the US has no interest in playing fair with Canada," stated Canada in the news conference. "Our last straw came with appallingly ignorant comments from new US Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano about the reality of the Canadian border." Canada noted that both the conservative and liberal news media throughout the US remain in a state of shock at how badly Napilotano dropped the ball with her recent inaccurate comments about the Canadian border, particularly given the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by both governments in establishing the world's most sophisticated intelligent border infrastructure. "It would seem that she believes that the very existence of Canada is a threat to her country," stated Canada at the standing-room only news conference. Canada Transformed! At the press conference, Canada announced a significant 10 year, 7 point plan, branded "Canada Transformed!", that will re-orient it's economy away from the United States to the AEA (Asia, Europe and Africa) markets, by the 2020, with a number of key goals: Energy & oil: Canada will invest in a massive infrastructure project that will allow it to deliver the bulk of it's significant energy/oil resources to Asia, Europe and Africa within 5-7 years. The infrastructure project will consist of a number of significant pipeline projects that will direct Canadian oil, natural gas and other energy sources to east and west coast ports, as well as shipping and marine infrastructure, that will provide for a "ocean railway of energy" destined to the AEA countries. "Today, Canada is the largest supplier of energy to the United States. By 2020, Canada aims to provide almost no energy to the US," noted Canada at the news conference. "We wish them well in their efforts to solve their energy crisis. We do not intend to help them any further." Food & agriculture: Global food production must double to meet world population growth, and Canadian grain, beef, pork and other producers will work to achieve an AEA target market of 90% by 2020. "The Canadian agricultural system has been held hostage to the interests of protectionist agricultural interests in its worst form in the US," noted Canada. "We intend to end this abuse -- most recently, the implementation of country-of-origin-labeling rules by the US Department of Agriculture that have had a devastating impact on Canadian pork and beef producers. The US has not played an honest game with Canadian agricultural trade for quite some time, and we have come to the realization that they will never do so. " "Quite simply, the rest of the world beyond the US needs a stable, reliable food supplier, and Canada intends to become the leading global brand in that regard." Resources: Canada will seek investment from major Asian and mid-East sovereign wealth funds in an ambitious effort to re-orient the target markets for at least 80% of Canadian mineral commodities to AEA nations by 2015. "Quite simply, Canada has the natural resources -- iron, nickel, copper, uranium and just every other type of metal -- that the newly industrialized world in Asia needs. As we witness a continued declined in US economic power, particularly in the manufacturing sector, we must ensure that we pursue growth opportunities elsewhere in the world." "As China re-industrializes with the economic recovery, we intend to be their partner of choice." Manufacturing: Since the advent of the US-Canada free-trade agreement in 1994, Canada has shared in one of the modern world's greatest economic successes -- the highly integrated Canadian-US manufacturing network supply chain. However, the collapse of the US manufacturing sector, as well as continuous suffocation of the border flow of goods, it is clear that Canada must re-orient itself to the new realities of the 21st century. "A nation does not move forward suffering from the ongoing implementation of economic choke points," noted Canada. "We will re-align ourselves to economies that believe the way forward is through intelligent, smart-border policies that encourage the free flow of goods and people; not a nation that has a border policy that is driven by hysteria and paranoia." "We will immediately provide strong incentives for Canadian manufacturers to re-focus on Canadian markets, as well as the establishment of significant new markets in AEA countries. There are over 2 billion people in these markets, and but 280 million in the US." "Clearly, our future lies outside of North America, and we will align our manufacturing sector to this reality." Immigration-based knowledge factories: Canada is the envy of other nations throughout the world for its' open, welcoming culture towards new immigrants. It plans to build on this reputation by establishing itself as the world's dominant source for high-level, specialized knowledge expertise in almost every single professional field. "We believe that we are entering the second era of off-shoring," noted Canada, "with the next wave going far beyond customer support call centers. Nations around the world will need access to high level talent in the fields of medicine and health care, scientific research, agricultural and architectural skills, legal and professional services -- and will seek to access that knowledge through the global communications networks that will dominate the economy of the 21st century." "We will welcome global knowledge experts in every field of human endeavor to relocate to Canada, enjoy all the attributes that our nation has to offer, and provide their skills to a massive offshore groups of clients in AEA nations. "In doing so, we will establish Canada as the global hub for the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Quite simply, Brand Canada will become the most widely recognized phase when it comes to the need for access to knowledge." A new Caribbean tourism strategy: Canada will establish a new "highway in the sky" that will divert much of its south-bound tourism traffic away from the United States, and towards the Caribbean nations with which it has had a long and fruitful relationship. It will combine this with an aggressive plan to upgrade the health care infrastructure of these Caribbean nation partners. "Millions of Canadians spend their winters in Florida and other sunshine states," stated Canada, "but we will provide financial and other incentives to encourage them to relocate their winter travel to border-friendly Caribbean countries." In recognition that many of the US bound Candian tourists are senior citizens, it also announced an ambitious plan to upgrade the health care system in selected Caribbean nations, and integrate those systems with the Canadian health care system. "By 2015, we believe that any Canadian vacationing in one of our Caribbean partner nations should be able to avail themselves of health care facilities that match Canada's world-class health care infrastructure. We will invest heavily in order to upgrade hospital, medical professional and other health care infrastructure throughout the Caribbean region; by doing so, we will also improve the quality of life of members of the nations of our Caribbean friends, who have also found their economies devastated by the increasingly insularity of the US." Immediate border construction: Finally, Canada announced that it would immediately begin construction of border that would prevent unauthorized entry into Canada by US citizens. "We will immediately begin planning construction of a 4,500 mile physical border along our common frontier with the US," noted Canada. "We increasingly view the US health care system to be in peril -- within a decade, some US states will be devoting more than 60% of their GDP to health care. Clearly, many US citizens will plan to flee to Canada to take advantage of our world-class universal health care system." "We must prevent this mass migration of Americans into Canada, and believe that significantly enhanced border structures are the only means of doing so." Summary At the close of the news conference, Canada stated that it was taking these actions with reluctance, but with conviction that it was the right thing to do. "Nations have always achieved continued economic success by making bold leaps. We believe, given the continuing deterioration in our relationship with the US, and the ongoing and continued lack of respect that they provide to us, that it is time to move on." "Canada is the most resource rich, tolerant, energy abundant, agriculturally advanced, second largest country in the world, with a massive base of skills, energy, commodities, food, and capabilities. We intend to assert our place in the economy of the 21st century with a sense of pride, purpose, and clear direction," said Canada at the conclusion of the press conference. "Besides that, we're just plain nice," said Canada, blushing, in a closing comment. "We do wish the US well in its future. Perhaps it could use our decision as the basis for a period of reflection as to how it might reconsider its actions on the global stage in the future." "We are excited about our future, and believe that we have made the right decision at the right time for the right purpose. Canada Transformed! will see our nation emerge as one of the leading economies on the world stage by 2020, and we embark on this voyage with a sense of courage, enthusiasm, and certainty as to its' impact." The United States was not immediately available for comment. ----------------- Jim Carroll is a leading international futurist, trends & innovation expert, with a client list of global giants that includes the Walt Disney Corporation, Toshiba, Visa, IBM, Nestle, the BBC, Caterpillar, Rockwell Collins, Trane (Ingersoll Rand), and countless other organizations. He regularly offers up his opinion to business and government leaders with regards to strategies for success in the high velocity global economy of the 21st century. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .