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- Ten focus groups were conducted across Canada in March, 2004 to gauge awareness of international trade along with attitudes to Canadian trade policy, how the public has been consulted on trade policy, and how the public should be consulted in the future.
- Awareness of international trade and trade policy is very low. Awareness of consultation efforts is even lower, provoking mirth in the groups at the thought that the public had ever been consulted.
- There are positive feelings towards liberalized trade and some negative feelings towards Canada’s trade relationship with the United States. Motivated in part by political concerns, a minority is passionate in its concern about undue reliance on the American marketplace. This passionate minority is backed by a majority that is concerned about the economic vulnerability of depending excessively on this one market but is not particularly anti-American.
- Social values are generally undefined at a top-of-mind level; however, participants do introduce social values when discussing trade issues. They care about human rights and other social issues but are generally unwilling and un-insistent that trade and social values be linked.
- Participants seem more aware of trade issues than of investment issues. They are largely favourable to outwards investment, seeing many merits in Canadian investment abroad. They seem divided about the merits of foreign investment within Canada.
- There is a general consensus that sustainable development is good for the world. Social values do come into play insofar as those of our trading partners that have weak human rights, labour, or environmental records ought to meet increasingly higher standards over time.
- Participants are nonetheless unconvinced that our government can successfully impose ethical, environmental or other standards on third world regimes. At most, we can expect our aid-giving agencies to insure that the corrupt disappearance of our assistance is kept to a minimum.
- There is some ambivalence over consultation with the Canadian public. Both Francophones and Anglophones would like to see more transparency and consultation from government; Anglophones are slightly willing to defer some consultation to experts and stakeholders.
- The basic goals of the international trade storyline resonate well with participants but the language, structure, and detail do not.
- The language tends to be seen as grandiose, incomprehensible, un-auditable, misleading, and unattainable. Anglophones favour an action plan with a reporting timetable and measures for auditing achievements. Francophones favour more candidness, e.g. more ready acknowledgement by the Minister of the unavoidable difficulties standing in the way of achieving the goals of the storyline.
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