{"id":66090,"date":"2020-05-27T14:50:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T18:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=66090"},"modified":"2020-05-27T14:50:13","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T18:50:13","slug":"brock-co-led-group-makes-recommendations-on-opening-canada-u-s-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2020\/05\/brock-co-led-group-makes-recommendations-on-opening-canada-u-s-border\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock co-led group makes recommendations on opening Canada-U.S. border"},"content":{"rendered":"

Businesses, organizations, shoppers and vacationers are among those hoping the Canada-U.S. border will fully reopen soon.<\/p>\n

More than $2 billion in trade flows between the two countries every day, but COVID-19 restrictions have limited border passage to the provision of essential services, with no indication of when it will open up.<\/p>\n

When that does happen, it has to be done responsibly and creatively so that there\u2019s a \u201cseamless\u201d flow of trade between the two countries, says a bi-national group co-led by Brock University\u2019s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not pushing for the border to re-open: health comes first,\u201d says NCO Director and Brock Political Science Associate Professor Charles Conteh.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our recommendations are framed within the context of \u2018when it is safe to do so,\u2019 \u2018when it makes sense to do so,\u2019 how we responsibly proceed, and how we can take a multi-phased approach tailored to specific regions,\u201d says Conteh.<\/p>\n

The NCO, along with the University at Buffalo and the World Trade Center Buffalo Niagara led a workshop earlier this month to examine how current border restrictions are impacting industry in Canada and the U.S.<\/p>\n

Representatives from industry associations, economic development agencies, the public sector, corporations engaged in cross-border commerce, bridge operators, academia and the policy community gave input into strategies for reopening the border \u201cin a responsible manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resulting strategies are contained in a list of seven recommendations subsequently released by the Binational Prosperity Initiative, a partnership between the NCO and the University at Buffalo.<\/p>\n

Conteh says it\u2019s important that officials from both countries take a \u201ctailored approach\u201d moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to move from a one-size-fits-all opening of the border from coast to coast to thinking in a more tailored way, because the Niagara-Buffalo region will have different needs and particularities than the Windsor-Detroit region, for example,\u201d says Conteh.<\/p>\n

He also stresses that economic recovery campaigns urging people to \u201cbuy American\u201d or \u201cbuy Canadian\u201d not be too exclusionary.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada and the U.S. are in the same sandbox together and make stuff together,\u201d says Conteh. \u201cThere is a complex value chain across different sectors of industry, so any \u2018Buy American\u2019 should have a Canadian exemption, which would be us saying essentially \u2018Buy Canadian and American.\u2019 Do not exclude Canada in any stimulus packages because our economic destinies are bound together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Binational Prosperity Initiative\u2019s seven recommendations include:<\/p>\n