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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">August 4, 2004 <i>(10:00 a.m. EDT)</i> No. 87</span></span></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">WINNERS OF NAFTA@10 MULTIMEDIA ESSAY COMPETITION<br>
CANADA’S EXPERIENCE WITH NAFTA</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt">International Trade Minister Jim Peterson today announced the winners of the
NAFTA@10 multimedia essay competition for Canadian students, Canada’s
Experience with NAFTA.</span></span></p>
<br>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Contestants were invited to submit an essay that reflects the impact and role of NAFTA
in the economies of all three member countries.</span></span></p>
<br>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt">The competition was designed to encourage a lively, informed dialogue on the impact
and role of trade liberalization in North America. Canada’s Experience with NAFTA was
administered by the Canadian Bureau for International Education and was launched in
October 2003 as part of the 10th anniversary of NAFTA.</span></span></p>
<br>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt">“These young people have a firm grasp of the important link between international trade
and investment and their standard of living,” said International Trade Minister Jim
Peterson. “The quality of their work is truly impressive.”</span></span></p>
<br>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt">The $5,000 First Prize was awarded to Elizabeth Cobbett of Concordia University for
her essay “Deeper North American Integration? Putting the Horse Back Before the
Cart.” Francis Bedros of Carleton University won the $1000 Second Prize for his essay
“Harmonization of Environmental Standards and Convergence of Environmental Policy
in Canada: the NAFTA Context.” Third Prize, also worth $1000, was presented to
Irène Artru of Laval University for her essay “Controlling the Environmental and Social
Impacts of NAFTA: Successes and Missteps in Implementing the Side Agreements.”</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Honourable Mentions were also awarded to Szandra Bereczky for her essay “NAFTA
Chapter 10: Enhancing Trust in the Canadian Business Community;” Hanako Saito for
“Wage Inequality and Trade Preferences in Mexico after NAFTA;” and Rafael Pacquing
for “The Influence of Chapter 11 on the Recent Australia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.”</span></span></p>
<br>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt">The full texts of the winning essays, as well as of those that received an Honourable
Mention, can be found at </span></span><a href="https://bac-lac.wayback.archive-it.org/web/20071207021224/http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/nafta-alena/celeb2-en.asp"><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #0000ff"><span style="text-decoration: underline">http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/nafta-alena/celeb2-en.asp</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">.</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">All views expressed in the papers are solely those of the authors and do not represent
the views of the Government of Canada.</span></span></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">- 30 -</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">Excerpts from the winning essays are attached.</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">For further information, media representatives may contact:</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">Jacqueline LaRocque<br>
Director of Communications<br>
Office of the Minister of International Trade<br>
(613) 992-7332</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">Media Relations Office<br>
Foreign Affairs Canada and International Trade Canada<br>
(613) 995-1874<br>
</span></span></span><a href="https://bac-lac.wayback.archive-it.org/web/20071207021224/http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/"><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #0000ff"><span style="text-decoration: underline">http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000"></span></span></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">EXCERPTS FROM WINNING ESSAYS ON CANADA’S EXPERIENCE
WITH NAFTA</span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-weight: bold">Elizabeth Cobbett, <i>First Prize</i></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">“More specifically, it has been suggested that a sectoral customs union would be the
preferred variant of a customs union because it has the merit of simultaneously
promoting further economic integration through converging sectors, and leaving more
difficult and contentious sectors to be dealt with later. The flexibility of a sectoral
customs union would also have the added advantage of permitting the inclusion of
Mexico in a trilateral agreement in certain sectors.”</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-weight: bold">Francis Bedros, <i>Second Prize</i></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">“What is basically to be drawn from NAFTA is that its mandate is to define not what a
country’s environmental policy should be, but rather how the objectives of
environmental policy should be achieved. Quite clearly, they are to be achieved in a
way that restricts trade between the partner states as little as possible.”</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">“Finally, it could well be that the liberalization of trade, that stimulus to economic growth
which is so feared by the environmental groups, will in the long run promote protection
of the environment. For the higher the per capita income, the more resources the
government is able to allocate to environmental monitoring. In the long run, it seems
that economic growth, once it attains a degree of development that is difficult to define
(although necessarily high), contributes to the improvement of environmental
standards.”</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-weight: bold">Irène Artru,<i> Third Prize</i></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">“Ten years after their initial implementation, have they performed up to expectations?
Has the full potential of the mechanisms provided for by the two treaties in fact been
realized?”</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">“Perhaps the contrasting results of the two agreements are not entirely due to whether
appropriate resources are allocated to the respective sector of intervention. It is
possible that the lengthy debate on the social clause is affecting implementation of the
North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation and in some way obstructing the full
realization of its potential, while on the other hand the notion of international
environmental cooperation is much more widespread, and indeed making rapid
progress.”</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-weight: bold">Szandra Bereczky, <i>Honourable Mention</i></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">“NAFTA is a model free trade agreement in the realm of government procurement. Its
Chapter 10 provides sufficient legislative guidance to foster commitment and
engagement from all three member states. This commitment helps to minimize
corruption and to break down excessively nationally focused procurement policies.“</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-weight: bold">Hanako Saito, <i>Honourable Mention</i></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">“Since income inequality depends upon the effects of technological change, foreign
direct investment and institutional changes in the country, strong demand for skilled
workers seems to represent the future trend. Without appropriate investment in higher
education from the private sector and the government, income inequality will continue to
rise in Mexico and many other countries in Latin America.”</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-weight: bold">Rafael Pacquing, <i>Honourable Mention</i></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">“Every FTA [free trade agreement] is a compromise between the negotiating
governments and their domestic constituencies. Furthermore, extraneous political
events and sentiments can have unforeseen consequences on the negotiating process.
It is therefore unlikely that an FTA will completely satisfy the demands of every political
constituency, even those of its supporters. It is also unlikely that an ideal FTA from a
commercial or economic perspective will emerge anywhere. The more complex FTA
negotiations are, the greater the likelihood that the final product will have imperfections.
The AUSFTA [Australia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement] and NAFTA are not exceptions.”</span></span></span></p>
<br>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="color: #000000">“NAFTA Chapter 11 represents one of the most developed regimes for the treatment of
investment in an FTA. The Australian policy community recognized this and considered
what Chapter 11 could do for them if they were to have similar provisions in the
AUSFTA. Even though NAFTA Chapter 11 was ultimately not adopted by the
Australians, for the foreseeable future it will remain the standard for other agreements
to follow and will continue to provide guidance to other countries entering into FTAs of
their own.”</span></span></span></p>
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