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October 17, 2005
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Paul Martin in New York: Business Panel Enthusiastic about PM’s Blunt Talk, Ambivalent about his Veiled Threat, and Against Re-Opening NAFTA
A BDO Dunwoody/Chamber Weekly CEO/Business Leader Poll by COMPAS in the Financial Post
The business panel is enthusiastic about the Prime Minister’s blunt speech in New York on softwood lumber, giving him and his government one of the highest performance scores to date - 67%. They are delighted by his frank talk about softwood but not so sure about his veiled threat to redirect oil to China and India. They feel that the Prime Minister was long overdue in addressing the issue forcefully but that it is foolish to make an empty threat.

As for NAFTA, a majority does not want the treaty re-opened, fearing that a NAFTA successor would be less favourable to Canada, not more.
Panellists feel that Canada-U.S. relations are in a bad state but they do not feel this way any more strongly than in past months.

They repudiate at least as strongly as in the summer a union leader’s call for oil exports to the U.S. to be blocked.

These are the key findings from the week’s web survey of CEOs and business leaders undertaken by COMPAS for the Financial Post under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
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