Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
February 1992
Abstract
This book is based on a study funded, in part, by the Canadian Department of Regional Industrial Expansion. The book provides a good insight into the Canadian positions during the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, the concerns and expectations of key industry groups in the Prairies, and a good review of several quantitative studies that 74 estimated the impacts of bilateral trade liberalization in Canada. However, the conclusions of the book are not based on anyone particular quantitative study.
The author's basic thrust is that in recent decades, the Prairie economies have become diversified and much less dependent on eastern Canada for industrial inputs and consumer goods, while the United States has become less competitive in manufacturing and in a wide variety of consumer goods. Consequently, the potential benefits of the Bilateral Free Trade Agreement for the prairies have been greatly reduced. Dorey argues that as a result of this Agreement, the Canadian government has to harmonize its policies with those of the United States, and inherent in this process are significant risks for losing the government support for the future development of the Prairie region.
Comments
Published in Great Plains Research 2:1 (February 1992), pp. 122-124. Copyright © 1992 The Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Used by permission. http://www.unl.edu/plains/publications/GPR/gpr.shtml