Released on July 13, 2004
Government Relations Minister Len Taylor addressed Midwest U.S. legislators on the weekend to take stock of NAFTA's impacts on Saskatchewan so far, and to identify a future North American trade agenda that would provide additional benefits to Saskatchewan.Taylor told the Midwest-Canada Relations Committee that agriculture and forestry are two important industries in Saskatchewan that continue to be hurt by the absence in NAFTA of mutually-agreed trade remedy rules for assessing duties on 'unfairly' traded goods. He also stated that better cross-border regulatory co-operation is required in such areas as animal health (e.g. BSE risk management) and transportation if NAFTA is to work better for Saskatchewan.
Looking to the future of the North American economic space, Taylor said Saskatchewan would benefit from:
• new 'border facilitation' measures that, while enhancing mutual security, could also help to boost legitimate cross-border trade, travel and investment;
• looking at new options for preventing and resolving trade disputes, especially in the agricultural and other natural resource sectors;
• working better together to reduce or eliminate intentional trade distortions within the continental free trade area, such as the most recent U.S. Farm Act; and
• enhancing transportation 'corridor' infrastructure, whether at or beyond the border.
The Midwestern Legislative Conference (MLC) has several continuing committees, one of which is the Midwest-Canada Relations Committee. Taylor is a member of the Committee and Saskatchewan Speaker Myron Kowalsky is its Canadian co-chair. The meetings wrap up on July 14th, 2004. For the first time ever, next year's MLC meeting will be held in a non-U.S. location - in Regina - to help celebrate Saskatchewan's centennial.
The MLC is a regional association of State legislatures representing the 11 Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The purpose of the MLC is to foster regional intergovernmental co-operation in the Midwest through the joint consideration of common problems, the interchange of information and ideas, the sharing of knowledge and experience and, as appropriate, the pursuit of collaborative efforts to improve state government. All 1,550 Midwestern state lawmakers, as well as provincial parliamentarians representing the affiliated provinces of Saskatchewan and Ontario are eligible to participate in MLC activities.
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| Anna Arneson Government Relations and Aboriginal Affairs Regina Phone: (306) 787-8008 |