Canadian Interests Research Articles

Evolution of a Government Photo Op: The Media Tradition of a Canadian Finance Minister’s New Budget Shoes

Background: Photo opportunities enable tight scripting and image control while catering to the media’s need for visual content. This research traces how, since 1955, Canadian finance ministers and the media have exhibited a uniquely Canadian interest in the minister’s budget day shoes.Analysis: A review of newspaper coverage about the federal budget indicates that news stories contributed to the myth of parliamentary tradition that evolved into packaged photo ops. Interviews with journalists and a finance minister’s staff, among others, provide insights about photo-op management in a permanent campaigning environment.Conclusion and implications: The case study adds to knowledge about strategic communication in government and the evolution of media-state relations in Canada.

Reforming the Canadian Refugee Determination System

If Canadian refugee policy is to serve interests of Canadians as well as those of genuine refugees in an effective manner, far more radical changes will be needed than have been attempted to date. They must include the introduction of robust safe third country designations, a review of the 1985 Singh decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, and possible withdrawal by Canada of its accession to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. Other measures should also be considered such as placing an annual limit on the intake of refugees from overseas combined with that of successful in-country asylum seekers as well as establishing provision for temporary refugee status in Canada in addition to permanent resettlement. Measures should be taken to return Canada to its role primarily as a resettlement country for refugees selected abroad and not one that accommodates large numbers of asylum seekers making claims on our territory. With strong public backing for major changes, political parties that oppose such reforms will do so at the risk of losing electoral support.

Vague labelling laws and outdated fish naming lists undermine seafood market transparency in Canada

Despite the expressed interest of Canadians in sustainable and comprehensively labelled seafood, the country’s seafood labelling requirements remain scant and naming conventions in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) ‘fish list’ allow the grouping of multiple species under single ‘umbrella’ terms. Here, we test the extent to which CFIA listings reflect current market availability and conceal biodiversity, using the flatfishes as a model. Accordingly, we compared CFIA-listed flatfish species with those documented in Canadian import records, those in production records of Canada and its flatfish suppliers, as well as those identified in DNA-based market surveys conducted across Canada. Of the 43 flatfish species on the CFIA list, only three have consistently shown up in Canadian imports, production records and market surveys, whereas almost a third (n = 15) failed to appear in any of the latter over at least a decade. Species have been detected on the market that are absent from this list, while overfished and/or threatened taxa have been found concealed under vague generic terms. The list’s many superfluous inclusions, outdated names, missing species and poor correspondence with trading partner’s naming conventions are inconsistent with the legal tenets of Canadian policy to uphold fair market practices and consumer choice, and instead result in a system inundated by numerous paths of misinterpretation, misclassification and substitution. Moreover, Canada’s official flatfish trade statistics lack sufficient taxonomic granularity to elucidate all species involved and track flatfish trade flows. Illuminating these loopholes should compel improvements in Canadian seafood labelling and traceability legislative frameworks.

On the Legitimacy of Cross-Border Pharmacy

Cross-border pharmacy sales of prescription drugs to U.S. patients by Canadian Internet pharmacies have generated significant controversy in the U.S. and Canada. Violative of U.S. legislation and Canadian professional codes of conduct, cross-border pharmacy has nonetheless flourished in response to strong demand and incomplete enforcement. Proponents laud the greater affordability of needed drugs provided by cross-border pharmacy; opponents decry the practice as unsafe, economically ill-advised and harmful to Canadian interests in the long term. This article evaluates the safety arguments that have been put forward by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and others and concludes that they do not justify a prohibition on prescription drug imports from Canada. Similarly. Canadian professional regulatory bodies' objections to the participation of Canadian pharmacists and physicians in cross-border dispensing are a misapplication of conduct rules developed in another context. Objections to cross-border drug sates based on an economic analysis assume normative positions that should be explicitly identified and socially determined. On the other hand, if patient safety, professional responsibility and economic arguments fail to provide adequate support for a policy of prohibition, then self-interest in protecting domestic drug supplies and prices may support, at least from a Canadian perspective, some constraints on cross-border pharmacy.

The fragile authoritarians: China, Russia, and Canadian foreign policy

This paper examines how China and Russia play into the opportunities and constraints that shape Canadian foreign policy. While both countries contribute significantly to the challenges of twenty-first-century world politics, neither is a juggernaut: both face serious internal difficulties and fear the West in ways that should temper our preoccupation with relative decline. The paper concludes that, by seeing these authoritarian powers as more fragile than frightening, Canada can worry less about how engagement might be seen to reward bad behaviour and more about beneficial outcomes in areas that serve Canadian interests.

George Drew, the Law of the Sea, and the Diefenbaker Government, 1957-1963

ABSTRACT Scholarly analysis of John Diefenbaker’s government between 1957 and 1963 has focused heavily on Diefenbaker’s influence in the conduct of Canadian foreign policy. From the “renegade in power” to the “rogue Tory”, Diefenbaker frequently receives the primary credit or blame for determining Canada’s place in the wider world. This traditional evaluation, however, ignores the broad latitude often given to senior Canadian diplomats. Diefenbaker’s high commissioner to Britain, George Drew, played a particularly important role in shaping Anglo-Canadian relations. Building on his senior status within Progressive Conservative ranks, Drew proved resolute and unorthodox in advancing Canadian interests. A detailed case study of Drew’s efforts to secure a comprehensive international agreement on the law of the sea demonstrates his impact on Canadian foreign policy. Drew headed the Canadian delegation to two United Nations law of the sea conferences in 1958 and 1960 and vigorously pursued an international agreement delineating the width of the territorial sea eventually brokered after the Diefenbaker government left office in 1963.

Promoting Quality in Nursing Education in Canada through a Canadian Examination for Baccalaureate Nurses.

Since its creation in 1942, the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing's mandate has been to foster high-quality nursing education in Canada in the interest of healthier Canadians. To this end, the Canadian Examination for Baccalaureate Nurses/l'examen canadien du baccalauréat en sciences infirmières (CEBN/ECBSI) has been developed and will be launched in 2020. Its purpose, what the Canadian Examination for Baccalaureate Nurses designation signifies and the development of the examination are described.

Collaborer avec le Commonwealth? Les relations canado-britanniques et la détention de guerre au Canada, 1940–1945

This article examines the detention of German prisoners of war in Canada between 1940 and 1945. More specifically, it examines Canada-UK relations regarding this wartime captivity. Relatively unexamined in historiography, relations between Ottawa and London concerning the treatment of enemy prisoners reveals the political dynamic existing between the two Commonwealth allies as the conflict progressed. Examining intra-Commonwealth relations surrounding the issue of German prisoners and its consequences allows us to highlight the interactions as the basis of this cooperation, and the constraints they imposed on the Canadian government. In so doing, the study shows that the position imposed by the War Office in London regarding its authority over the detention in Canada was strongly questioned by Canadian authorities. These authorities went so far as to reject certain British policies by invoking Canada's national sovereignty. The nationalism defended by the Mackenzie King government, that is the duality of the predominance of Canadian interests and Ottawa's contribution to the allied war effort, clearly influenced the Dominion's positions and its relations with Great Britain. Through discussions about the detention of German soldiers in Canada between 1940 and 1045, Canada's international status emerges as a central issue.

The Mulroney government and humanitarian intervention in the former Yugoslavia

Based on primary and secondary sources, this article analyzes the policy of the Mulroney government on humanitarian intervention in the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1993. It finds that the Mulroney government chose to play a leading role in the international intervention in the former Yugoslavia, because doing so both allowed the government to implement its vision of a post-Cold War world order that aligned with its understanding of Canadian interests, and satisfied the demands and preferences of the Canadian public. At the same time, the Mulroney government stumbled into unanticipated situations in Yugoslavia, and failed to respond to them effectively. This led the government to reconsider the assumptions that had motivated its initial enthusiasm for intervention, and to commence a review of peacekeeping and intervention that it would not live to implement.

The European Union in international relations of Canada at the end of XX – beginning of XXI century

Canada and the EU had a common vision of the fundamentals of the international relations system in the late XX – early XXI century and the need to respect the principles of international law. Canada in this matter has always acted together with other international actors on a coalition basis, accumulating defense potential.
 The EU has seen in Canadians close partners who share its values and have similar approaches to resolving conflict, so there are prospects for development of bilateral cooperation in the international arena.
 This was possible also due to the emergence of the Common foreign and defense policy of the EU and the implementation of important steps towards the development of European security policy and defense (ESDP). Therefore, at least a hypothetical European defense identity allows Canada to establish international cooperation with the EU in the defense sphere.
 Ottawa sought to demonstrate that Europe remains important to Canadian and international security interests, so he ESDP must not lead to the destruction of traditionally close relations between Canada and the European partners. Constitutive remains also link Europe with Canada in the framework of NATO.
 After the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 and the terrorist attacks of 2001, the EU is particularly interested in boosting relations with Canada. Despite the unity of views and approaches to solving most of the problems of international relations in the late XX – early XXI century between Canada and the EU, a common component in bilateral relations is still far from perfect, leaving the prospects for improving the Canadian-European cooperation on the international arena.
 Keywords: Canada, the European Union, international relationships, foreign policy

Promoting a Different Type of North–South Interactions: Québécois Cultural and Religious Paradiplomacy with Latin America

ABSTRACTThe historiography on Canadian–Latin American relations states that economic incentives, along with geopolitical concerns during the Second World War, have always been the chief reason behind Canadian interests in the region. This article argues that social groups from Quebec had other incentives to establish connections with Latin America. Quebec’s civil society became well connected with Latin American groups before the North American Free Trade Agreement facilitated economic and political cooperation, thanks mostly to the intensive Catholic missionary effort in the region, and positive representations of Latino culture in French Canadian sociopolitical circles in the 1940s and 1950s. As a result, Francophones’ interests diverged from Canada’s main objectives in the region; Quebec’s civil society’s engagement was distinctly more cultural and social in nature. Because of the difference of objectives, this article shows that social groups from Quebec attempted to influence Canadian–Latin American relations to suit their interests.

“They have gone back to their country”: French landscapes and Inuit encounters in 18th century southern Labrador

Although French and Basque fishing and whaling crews had been coming to southern Labrador since the early sixteenth century, colonization in a more permanent form would not begin until the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Emerging as an outgrowth of similar colonial efforts along Quebec’s Lower North Shore, colonization of Labrador was driven by Canadian interests and administered by colonial officials in Québec. However, the simple possession of Labrador landscapes was not equivalent to their successful exploitation. Detailed study of one land grant in Red Bay-St. Modet demonstrates how tenuous the possession of lands in Labrador could be, whether challenges came from French rivals or from Inuit raids. This article uses historical, cartographic, and archaeological evidence to discuss how the French established, contested, and used Labrador land concessions, and explores how Inuit reacted to the increasing encroachments of the French.

Testing the Excess Return Hypothesis: The Canadian Case

This study examines the relationship between stock returns and the term structure of interest rates in a Canadian setting. Following 132 The BRC Academy Journal of Business Vol. 6, No. 1 Zhou’s study of the US market (Federal Reserve Board, 1996), the hypothesis tested is the excess return hypothesis, which states that expected returns move one-for-one with interest rates. This relationship is explored using nominal and real return data for Canadian stocks and bonds. In addition, given the close relationship between the Canadian and US economies, the study examines the ability of US interest rates to predict Canadian stock returns. Using first differenced returns, the study finds that nominal Canadian interest rates have predictive power vis-a-vis nominal Canadian stock returns, but, unlike Zhou’s (1996) results for the US, the relationship is negative. This is also true when real returns are used. As for US interest rates and Canadian stock returns, the relationship is of mixed sign and mainly insignificant for both nominal and real stock returns and interest rates. The only evidence supporting the excess return hypothesis occurs when two-stage least squares, using the short-term interest rate as an instrumental variable, are used to regress real Canadian stock returns on real US interest rates. Finally, tests to determine whether the results are dependent on the period studied indicate that they are not sample-dependent. JEL Classification: G10

Parliamentary Reform in Canada: The Significance of Senate Reform

In this paper, I will argue that the Canadian Parliamentary system has become significantly less democratic over time and therefore requires reform. Specifically, I will focus on the Senate and the ways in which the institution has had a negative impact on the state of Canadian democracy. Through an analysis of how Senators are selected, the make up of the Senate, and the institution’s role in Canadian governance, I come to the conclusion that Canadians must demand reform if they are to maintain a strong, healthy democracy that serves their interests. Mainly, I support a Triple E Senatorial system since it gets at the root of the problem by decentralizing federal power and giving it to the provinces and Canadian people. I also include a brief discussion of Justin Trudeau’s plan for the Senate which proposes more immediate reform and does not require constitutional revision. Rather than demanding abolition or tolerating the status quo, taking these steps towards reform will ensure that Canadian interests are the government’s top priority. Through reform, Canadians would have more effective “sober second thought” and a democracy that works for the people, not the party in power.

Living up to expectations: Canada and South Africa in the era of the Global Markets Action Plan

South Africa was identified as the only “emerging market with broad Canadian interests” in Africa under the Harper Government's Global Markets Action Plan (GMAP). Yet the story of Canada's post-apartheid relationship with South Africa has been mostly one of unfulfilled possibilities. This leads to questions about the viability of the GMAP strategy, at least in this case. We seek to explain the growing divergence between these two states, and consider potential foundations for renewing the relationship. By applying Cox and Jordaan's framework for analysis, we consider how these two types of middle powers have drifted apart, and how they might (re)forge a relationship that is mutually beneficial and builds on a complex and contradictory history of cooperation. Only through a concerted and broadly based Canadian effort to re-engage South Africa and South Africans can the aspirations embedded in the GMAP become a plausible prospect.

The instrumentalization of foreign aid under the Harper government

This article examines the main trends in Canadian aid policies from the 2006 election of the Conservatives under Stephen Harper to their defeat in 2015. It finds that the Harper government increasingly instrumentalized Canadian foreign aid, reorienting it to benefit Canadian interests, to the detriment of poverty reduction abroad. This was part of a broader foreign policy that sabotaged Canada’s ability to use its soft power to influence the global order.

A National Force: The Evolution of Canada’s Army, 1950–2000, by Peter Kasurak

Reviewed by: Isabel Campbell, Directorate of History and Heritage, National Defence HeadquartersThis review represents reviewer's personal views and not those of department.Peter Kasurak's history has garnered national attention, with Literary Review of Canada calling his portrayal of Canadian ground forces army astray.[1] Few would quarrel with that assessment for 1990s; however, Kasurak uses persuasion rather than solid analysis to support his refreshing, but one-dimensional argument that reliance on British Army ... left Canadian Army without a staff that could focus on national military strategy or development of an 'army of future' (16). While Canadian Army had a limited capacity ... for thinking about problems ... [outside] army's assignment and was even myopic, reasons for this shortcoming different from and more complex than he suggests (67). The American influence on Canadian military thinking and Canadian attempts to use United Nations and North Atlantic alliance to create an independent strategy are well known, but he too often overlooks this context and diverse challenges facing Canadian Army officer corps during period.David French's Army, Empire, and Cold War proffers a more balanced approach to British Army's history, while demonstrating that Kasurak's statements about British doctrine are dated and inaccurate.[2] British, Canadian, American, and other officers developed concepts for manoeuvre warfare, mobile forces, and air-portable forces for nuclear and conventional battlefields, but could not implement their ideas due to low threat levels, tight budgets, and other factors. Under these circumstances, West Germans and other NATO members insisted on a North American presence on European Central Front. Was an inadequate, dependent officer corps really responsible for eventual outcomes of Trudeau reassessment of Canadian foreign and defence policy, as Kasurak claims?Kasurak condemns army's commitment to Central role in defiance of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's direction as one of most under-reported incidences of insubordination in Canadian civil-military relations (285). Pursuing this preference led Leo Cadieux [the minister of national defence from 1967 to 1970] and senior armed forces and departmental officials to thumb their noses at direction to move army from Central Front (285). A few years later, Trudeau and Cadieux's successor, Donald Macdonald, were greatly upset to find that direction had not been followed (285). Yet Trudeau could have accepted Cadieux's resignation and pushed for a complete withdrawal of troops from alliance, though Mitchell Sharp, secretary of state for external affairs, likely would have resigned. Sharp regarded presence of Canadian troops in Europe as beneficial to Canadian interests and considered Trudeau a remarkably effective chairman of Cabinet who genuinely sought consensus.[3] Trudeau was no autocrat.A look at allegations against Cadieux demonstrates work's major flaws. Quoting briefly from a key record of 13 August 1969, Kasurak ignores conflicting evidence it contains. On this day, because he could not implement original directive, Cadieux sought guidance, presenting Trudeau and his colleagues with a compromise plan. Charles Drury, president of Treasury Board, astutely observed that the proposal looked to be just reducing, not required change in roles. Cadieux explained that to implement a new mobile role, Lyman Lemnitzer (the Supreme Allied Commander Europe) had requested larger numbers and new equipment, which Canada could not afford within authorized budget of $1.815 billion. After discussions to eliminate Canada's nuclear commitment to alliance, Trudeau and his authorized Cadieux to negotiate an interim land force reduction by June 1970, which would continue with its present equipment until new light equipment was available within three years. …

Gene Allen. Making National News: A History of Canadian Press.

The United States has always cast a long shadow over Canada; indeed, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau famously likened the Canada-U.S. relationship to a mouse lying next to an elephant. Yet, the overwhelming American presence in the Canadian reality has also paradoxically helped to form a distinct Canadian identity. A good example lies in the origins and development of one of modern Canada's nation-building institutions, the news agency Canadian Press (CP). As described by Gene Allen in Making National News: A History of Canadian Press, CP originated as a vehicle to transmit news via the Associated Press (AP) to Canadian newspapers over the telegraph wires in the late nineteenth century. In this detailed, exhaustively researched account, Allen, a professor and former professional journalist, describes how newspaper owners created the news cooperative to reduce the high costs of receiving American telegraphic news transmissions. Allen makes a good case for his argument that the growth and development of CP often mirrored Canada's coming of age as a twentieth-century nation. Canada's internal French-English conflict and the external Great Britain-U.S. dialectic for influence within the English-language population was evident in CP's attempts to accommodate the French-language press and the decades-long rivalry between the British news agency Reuters and AP. Moreover, CP's development was also beset by the overall Canadian issue of regionalism, whereby the Western Canada and Maritimes newspaper publishers were frustrated by the predominance of central Canadian interests.

Canada’s Growing Interest in the Far Away West Asia

West Asian region is known for the presence of the Arab oil-rich countries. In the post-Second World War, Arab–Israeli conflict was one of the major international issues of the world. This Arab–Israel region of the West Asia was under the British control. Britain failed to handle the conflict and handed it over to the newly formed United Nations (UN) and through the UN mediation, the state of Israel was created in 1948. All the major powers of the world got involved in one way or other in the process of creation of the state of Israel in the midst of the Arab countries. Canada as a member of the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) became involved in the West Asian region. In the post-Second World War period, Canada had virtually no commercial or strategic interests in any countries of the region. Now Canada works closely with its network of diplomatic missions across the region to promote and defend Canadian values and interests and strengthen development and trade cooperation with a range of government, private sector and civil society partners, as well as regional organizations. The West Asian region—the Arab countries and Israel—is one of the areas where merchandise trade as well as arms trade is a significant area of interest of Canada. This article discusses Canada’s involvement in West Asia since the creation of the state of Israel. Canada supported Israel and their relations are multifaceted and have been enhanced in recent years through increased cooperation in several areas, including arms trade, investment and innovation. Canada has also many trade agreements including the arms trade to West Asian Arab countries. This article shows various issues of Canada and West Asia trade relations, particularly arms trade with Israel and other West Asia Arab countries, which has more of a political orientation rather than an economic one.

Canadian Stock Returns and the Term Structure of Interest Rates

This study examines the relationship between stock returns and the term structure of interest rates in a Canadian setting. Following Zhou’s study of the U.S. market (Federal Reserve Board, 1996), the hypothesis tested is the excess return hypothesis, which states that expected returns move one-for-one with ex-ante interest rates. Inasmuch as the co-movement of nominal stock returns and nominal interest rates could be due to changes in expected inflation, the hypothesis is tested using real as well as nominal return data. The study examines the ability of both U.S. and Canadian interest rates to predict Canadian stock returns. Stock returns were computed using the S&P/TSX monthly price index of stocks traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The monthly price index data cover the period 1956:01 to 2008:06. Log returns were computed for horizons of 3, 12, 24, 36, 60 and 84 months and then annualized for each month. The zero-coupon bond yield for the matching maturity implied by the term structure for Canadian government securities is used as a proxy for the Canadian interest rate. The Canadian term structure data (obtained from the Bank of Canada) are only available from 1986:01, with the exception of the 3-month maturity yield, which is available from 1956:01 from the Canadian Socio-Economic Management (CANSIM) database. U.S. zero-coupon bond yields were available for the entire period for all investment horizons considered. Data for the period 1956:01 to 1991:02 were obtained from McCulloch and Kwon’s (1993) dataset of zero-coupon bond yields implied by the yield curve of U.S. Treasury securities. Data for the period 1991:03 to 2009:01 were obtained from the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) database. Int Adv Econ Res (2014) 20:465–466 DOI 10.1007/s11294-014-9491-y