The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1973, Síða 48

46
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SUMMER 1973
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
from 1963 to 1969; Kenneth Joyner,
British Management Consultant and
former General Properties Manager
for British Airways (BOAC); Geoffrey
Knight, C.E.B., vice-chairman British
Aircraft Corporation; Richard Ta-
verne, Q.C., Independent Labour
member of the British Parliament and
former Minister of State in the Treas-
ury, and John R. Gorman, Manager
for Canada for BOAC. Richard S.
Malone, publisher and editor-in-chief
of the Winnipeg Free Press, was the
moderator of a panel discussion.
The speakers were of a high calibre.
“The British speakers at the seminar
were a delight to listen to—articulate,
witty, well-informed and enthusiastic”,
the appropriate description by Harry
Mardon of the Winnipeg Tribune.
The development of the European
Common Market, the world’s largest
trade bloc, is bound to have import-
ant effects on Canada, which means
the Canadian people. The Canadian
economy more than any other depends
on foreign trade. Britain is still Can-
ada’s biggest trade customer after the
United Sates and now our preferen-
tial tariff agreement of 1937 with Bri-
tain is to be abolished.
At the seminar, the Common Mar-
ket tariff was downplayed, that it was
not a harsh one and a good deal lower
than the U.S. tariff. Because of Bri-
tain’s heavy importation of grain, her
influence will be for levelling down
the tariff on grain. Britain’s perman-
ent interest is in free trade. Further-
more, Canadian exports to the Com-
mon Market have already been ex-
panding at a considerable rate, especi-
ally Canadian textile and fashion
products.
One suggestion made for Canadian
business was to take advantage of liber-
al subsidies offered by Britain to new
industries; and thus establish sub-
sidiaries there which could compete
in the other Common Market coun-
tries. Since the end of the last war
2,000 U.S. companies have been
established in Britain, but fewer than
100 Canadian firms have done so. The
Canadian speakers took a dim view
of this, considering that Canadian
money was needed for industrial
development in Canada.
Canadian trade expansion in the
Pacific and other non-European mar-
kets was duly noted and Ganadians
were urged to seek alternative mar-
kets. Yet the words of Lord Thomson
of Fleet which were quoted bear
repetition: “The reluctance of Canad-
ian businessmen to see beyond their
own frontiers and invest in Europe
may well prove to be the biggest prob-
lem arising from Britain’s member-
ship in the European Economic Com-
munity”.
Canada depends on its exports to
survive and to prosper and the EEC
market of 253 million people offers
great possibilities.