bout de papier, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1994) — Fall 1994 // Automne 1994, pp. 7–8
Minister MacLaren leads the International Trade portfolio of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Trade Commissioner Service into the next century. After almost one year as Minister and many years thinking about trade and economic issues as a foreign service officer, a businessman and a politician, he offers some views on where we are now and where we are going.
bdp: Minister, what are your impressions on the changes in the Department from the time you served and your time now as Minister? Any really shocking and noticeable changes?
MacLaren: The major change, without question, is the degree to which the External Affairs side of the Department, the political side as it were, has become commercialized. The people in the traditional diplomatic service or practice have become much more commercially-sensitive and see Canada’s interests as they should, in part, in commercial terms.
bdp: Minister, do you believe that the present balance in the Department between political officers and the traditional Trade Commissioners is about right? Or should we be, even within the new Department, putting more focus on recruiting commercial officers?
MacLaren: You have to expect that the Trade Minister’s answer is going to be somewhat biased. I believe there is certainly room for additional effort, additional training and involvement of our External Affairs officers abroad in the trade promotion side of our activities.
bdp: Do you think the resources within the Trade Commissioner Service today are deployed appropriately from your perspective? One example: We have Trade Commissioners in the United States which is of course our largest trading partner. However, market information is readily available there. Do we need Trade Commissioners aterview with Roy MacLarel there for trade promotion/trade development or should we be deploying them in less developed markets or dedicating these resources more to trade policy issues?
MacLaren: Well certainly in the recent past when trade with sub-Saharan Africa appeared to be stalled or not going forward as rapidly as we would have wished, and other markets were progressing very well, the previous Government transferred the emphasis from Africa to Asia and Latin America. That emphasis is one we want to continue and enhance.
Other rationalizations or increased emphasis can be seen in our relations with the provincial governments. We are very much concerned at the moment to be able to provide provincial governments with the representation abroad that they used to provide themselves. With fiscal restraint they look increasingly to the federal government to provide that representation. It may be that in those circumstances we should rely more on them to provide the domestic support to exporters.
Another area where I think we can make some real progress in the future is to ensure that we work closely with trade associations and industry associations in our trade promotion activities.
Going back to your previous question, the whole need for emphasis on trade promotion or commercial activities by all our people is not only a recognition of Canadian priorities but also a recognition of what is happening in the world. The globalization, to use the cliché, of the world economy means that all foreign services are much more engaged in commercial activities than they have been in the past. The distinction between the traditional political activities of our diplomats and the commercial side is becoming very blurred. I’m not sure that that won’t be a trend that will continue over the next ten years.
bdp: You were a businessman for a long period. Did you ever have recourse to the Trade Commissioner Service?
MacLaren: Yes, many times. When I first joined External Affairs in 1957, I soon learned to have a real respect for our Trade Commissioners and the quality of our Trade Commissioner Service. That respect has only been enhanced by my own business experience travelling abroad and preparing to go abroad on business. The missions and the Trade Commissioners were most helpful and I greatly benefited from it.
bdp: I noticed the Red Book said that the Government should pay more attention to the promotion of trade in services and the export promotion of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Your business was a services industry and a small enterprise. Have you seen any discernible shift in DFAIT towards helping in those particular niche markets?
MacLaren: I think that services is more than a niche market. It’s becoming a substantial part of total trade. That’s in part reflected by the Uruguay Round of the GATT addressing trade and services for the first time. Obviously our Trade Commissioners are going to have to and are meeting that challenge of the increased emphasis on trade in services. That is not only amongst developed countries but increasingly so with the developing world as well.
We have obviously given great emphasis to small- and medium-sized enterprises since we came to office. I have been working to ensure that our Trade Commissioners abroad are fully sensitive towards the needs of these enterprises. One of the principal activities in that regard has been to get the banks and the Export Development Corporation working separately and together to help finance exports of small- and medium-sized enterprises. So it’s working. It’s coming but we have some distance to go yet. We have got to get out into all corners of Canada and ensure that everyone is aware of the services and support we can provide for small- and medium-sized business.
bdp: Minister, it is almost a year since you have been in office. Is there a particular highlight in your first year in office that springs to mind as your most memorable occasion?
MacLaren: Obviously the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and the coming into effect of NAFTA were two major events. Both of them have reduced trade and non-tariff barriers and injected rules-based regimes into services and trade and agriculture. Now the challenge is to ensure that Canadian companies are able to take full advantage of those increased opportunities abroad. I guess that is my principal emphasis and has been the event that has impressed itself on me.
bdp: And the flip side of this? What has been your major disappointment?
MacLaren: I have not had any disappointments, I am glad to say. There are lots of challenges.
bdp: Not even trade negotiations with the United States?
MacLaren: Well, that’s been certainly difficult. I guess if I did have one disappointment, if you wish to put it that way, is that, despite our GATT and NAFTA commitments, Canadian/US trade is still marked by some substantial disputes. They don’t account for a massive part of our total trade but they seem to me incongruous in a free trade relationship. I want to work with the Americans and Mexicans to ensure that we can reduce those points of abrasion as rapidly as possible.
bdp: Minister, your priorities for the next year?
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MacLaren: Regionally, Asia and Latin America. Secondly, to try to ensure that we make some progress in reducing the impact of US anti-dumping laws on bilateral and trilateral trade. Three, that we work towards the implementation of the World Trade Organization. Finally, above all things, we get small- and medium-sized Canadian businesses more involved in exporting.
bdp: Minister, the Red Book talks about looking at the role of the Trade Commissioner Service in cooperation with the trade associations and others. Have you any particular thoughts or ideas on what is the appropriate role or direction of the Trade Commissioner Service in the future?
MacLaren: I think what we should all recognize is that the traditional trade barriers have been reduced or eliminated. Global trade is opening to a degree that we have not seen before. Investment and trade march hand in hand and indeed to a substantial degree trade and investment are becoming indistinguishable. I think we are going to see increasingly an emphasis on joint ventures — Canadian companies involved in joint ventures with local partners. We already see it in Mexico and in much of Asia. I think that’s the next
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bdp: Are you still writing memoirs?
MacLaren: I have written a book about a Canadian who was an African explorer and that will be out early next year. But no, I haven’t been keeping a diary as it were.
bdp: Do you know any good Trade Commissioner stories?
MacLaren: I do recall when I was at the first UNCTAD conference in 1964 in Geneva, Dana Wilgress was the head of our delegation. During the inevitable longueurs of the four-month conference Dana Wilgress used to regale me with stories of the Trade Commissioner Service prior to the First World War in 1913. I realized then and I have realized since, that the Trade Commissioner Service has a long and honourable history. So my own knowledge of the Trade Commissioner Service, either first hand or second hand, stretches back 80 years.
bdp: Thank you very much for your time, Minister
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1994) — Fall 1994 // Automne 1994, pp. 7–8. Read the rest of this issue →
