Canadian PM’s Visit Was Over-Hyped By Both Canada And Barbados Governments
On July 16th, we had Prime Minister Owen Arthur telling Voice of Barbados that never in the history of the Caribbean would so much change be set in motion as during the week that he was to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and CARICOM was to meet to discuss trade relations.
That week has come and gone, and while there may be changes in the years down the road, what we saw at the end was a commitment to talk that was over-hyped by both the Canadians and our Prime Minister.
Election Time In Canada – Caribbean Tour May Aid Canadian PM Win Haitian-Canadian Votes
If we needed further proof of the hype, the Canadian National Post newspaper provides it this morning. It turns out that the Canadian Prime Minister, like our Prime Minister, is facing an election soon and his handlers hoped that the swing through our region would pay political dividends. Especially important to the Canadian PM are some by-elections in areas where Haitian immigrants hold the swing votes. His government hopes that Harper’s trip to Haiti will pay off in Canadian Haitian votes.
Also slipping out in the article is a statement by Daivd Schwanen, director of research for Center for International Governance Innovation, that he met with various Barbados leaders including our Deputy Prime Minister and that our Deputy PM (Mia Mottley) expressed doubts about free trade. Said Mr. Schwanen…
“The leaders here (Barbados) including the deputy prime minister really emphasized the doubts they have about free trade. They want to be engaged but it seems to me it’s going to take more than a few speeches,” says Schwanen. “People are little bit skeptical.”
For once we agree with Deputy PM Mottley
Contrary to the Prime Minister’s optimistic assessment of the Canadian PM’s visit, we share Mia Mottley’s skepticism for a regional trade agreement with Canada. After all, CARICOM countries can’t even agree amongst themselves about CARICOM free trade. How can they hope to provide a uniform position in negotiations with Canada?
The Canadian National Post: PM’s Haitian Visit Could Pay Byelection Dividends
6 Comments
July 23, 2007 at 1:03 pm
This is an acceptable analysis of the proposed relations between Barbados and Canada. I must tip my hat at the editor on this one. It ia like gathering the members of your house to go and repair a neighbour’s house after a hurricane…although theirs is not fully intact. Home drums must be well prepared to beat first…and it provides little comprehension to give implications of a strengthened united agreement for CARICOM when CARICOM has not yet found its own trade capacity.
July 23, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Actually I did no know that Mottley was capable of having an opinion on anything !
Generally speaking she huffs a lot of hot empty air,a little like my dog more bark than bite.
July 23, 2007 at 4:16 pm
hey hey, so tell me “Waiting in Vain” do you agree or disagree with the sentiment in this article?
July 23, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Its kinda because they have no choice…. The WTO isn’t going to keep voting to give extensions for CARICOM to have the CARIBCAN/CBI/ACP agreements….. The reason I think they’re going for it is CARICOM is nervous that if Latin America gets an FTA with Canada/the US and EU and they don’t– then they will be at a disadvantage.
July 23, 2007 at 5:12 pm
that is quite a remarkable analogy to this mr payne. in fact that claim is easily justified when considering the increasingly globalised and open world economy we live in. you see as more major trade blocks are forming it is a matter of cat eat mouse. and we certainly have to run with the cat and aggregate within these trade treaties offered…however it is not a matter of if we need to do it because the evidence is clearly there with the implications ot america and south korea and their new trade agreement on the table…it is simply a matter of timing…and that we certainly dont have.
July 24, 2007 at 2:12 pm
In response to Equilibrium. You know I find it remarkable and facinating the way in which the large countries have sold us little folks on the free trade thing. The idea of “you’ll be left out” has created a rush or urgency for everyone to move fast and do all these deals. The funny thing is, there’s been no time to test out how “Free Trade” will work and due to the rush to sign these things nobody has had the time to see if it will fail and to save themselves.