Canada Under Free Trade

Edelgard E. Mahant is a professor of political science at Glendon
College, York University, and co-author of An Introduction to
Canadian–American Relations.

Compiled and written by academics, labor leaders, policy analysts, and
journalists, most of the 22 articles in this book are informative and
well researched. Some of the pieces are largely factual. Bruce Campbell
and Andrew Jackson write about the effects of FTA on the Canadian
economy and the Canadian manufacturing sector, respectively. Mel Clark
provide a detailed, clause-by-clause comparison of GATT and FTA, but
unfortunately does not include NAFTA and is much too sanguine about the
GATT enforcement mechanisms. Jim Stanford criticizes the FTA and the
NAFTA investment provisions, but, interestingly, accepts the
neoclassical assumptions of his opponents.

Scott Sinclair explains many of the differences between FTA and NAFTA
in terms of investment and services, while John Dillon relates FTA and
NAFTA to American trade policy toward the Western hemisphere generally.
Daniel Drache, in an essay entitled “The Future of Trading Blocs,”
is the one contributor who considers the more general issue of the
future of the nation-state system. Two appendices list plant closures in
Canada and examine the idea that there was a conspiracy to raise the
value of the Canadian dollar.

Both critics and proponents of FTA and NAFTA will want to consult this
informative book.