At the time of Barack Obama’s visit to Ottawa, CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel were asked to score priorities for forthcoming discussions between Canada and the United States. Establishing common borders and ensuring free flow of goods and services emerged as the top priorities in a virtual consensus among panelists.
Middling priorities in the minds of panelists are:
- Ensuring that stimulus measures in the two countries are mutually reinforcing
- Strategy for a secure North American energy supply and distribution
- Fighting trade protectionism around the world
- Upgrade border crossings
- Eliminating regulatory differences that are minor but costly, especially in the troubled auto sector
- A joint strategy for clean energy
- Bilateral dialogue on the financial services industries
- Removing barriers to labour mobility between the two countries
The lowest priority in the minds of panelists was discussions to create a North American market in greenhouse gas emissions.
These are the key findings from this past week’s Internet survey of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. The weekly business survey is undertaken for Canadian Business magazine under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.
View / Download complete poll in PDF 
