U.K. Sees Atlantic Canada Partnerships On Everything From Cybersecurity To Covid-19 Response
MONCTON – There’s room to grow when it comes to the trade and policy collaboration between Atlantic Canada and the U.K., as Canada seeks to diversify and the U.K. prepares for new free trade deals after leaving the European Union.
U.K. High Commissioner to Canada Susan le Jeune d’Allegeershecque said her country generally has an interest in boosting trade and investment with Canada. But when it comes to the two countries’ trade relationship, “we could be doing more with each other.”
“I think we’ve all recognized in the wake of this horrible pandemic that we need to diversify our economic activity, and I think in Canada’s case that means building more trade with countries other than the United States,” she said in a recent interview.
Her team has been working specifically to boost presence and relationships in Atlantic Canada, starting with an economic roundtable on board the British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth in Halifax in September 2019.
“Ideally what we were going to do is have a permanent presence in one of the provinces to cover the whole of Atlantic Canada,” she said.
But because of the pandemic, much of that work has moved online. In January, 32 New Brunswick businesses took part in a virtual economic roundtable with le Jeune d’Allegeershecque, hosted by Opportunities New Brunswick.
“The U.K. is one of the key growth markets New Brunswick is targeting as we look to diversify trade and exports and attract new investment to our province, especially for sectors such as food and beverage, IT, energy, and manufacturing,” said Sadie Perron, ONB CEO and Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Small Business, in an e-mail.
“The U.K.’s recent focus on clean energy has also opened the door to new opportunities for companies operating in sectors such as smart grid and clean technology.”
In roundtables such as the one in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, le Jeune d’Allegeershecque hopes to outline the U.K.’s position and discuss what could happen with regards to trade after Brexit. She also wanted to find out more about key areas for potential collaboration with each of the four Atlantic provinces.
Perron said the roundtable provided an open forum for companies to engage directly with le Jeune d’Allegeershecque, allowing them to gain insights about the U.K. economy and explore new opportunities for growth.
According to the latest trade data from the High Commission, Atlantic Canada’s exports to the U.K.in 2019 were worth nearly $1.34-billion, just a fraction of the $19.8-billion in the total Canadian exports to the U.K. On the other hand, Atlantic Canada imported $1.76-billion worth of goods and services from the U.K., compared to $9.2-billion for Canada as a whole.
In fact, 5 percent of all U.K. imports ($416.2-million) go to New Brunswick and 13 percent ($1.3-billion) go to Nova Scotia. On the other hand, New Brunswick only exports $39.1-million and Nova Scotia exports $97.9-million to the U.K., representing 0.2 percent and 0.5 percent of all Canadian exports to Great Britain, respectively.
In Atlantic Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province exporting more to the U.K. than it imports, with nearly 6 percent of all Canadian goods and services exported to the U.K. coming from the province.
The agri-food sector is among the areas that could see a boost in trade in the future, le Jeune d’Allegeershecque said.
“There’s quite a lot of trade already but one of the things that the current free trade agreement gives us is tariff-free access, and as we look to create a new free trade agreement, we will be looking at recognition of standards and things,” she said.
Currently, the Canada-U.K. agri-food trade is covered within the Canada-U.K. Trade Continuity Agreement, a deal that maintains the status quo after Brexit.
That deal carries over the preferential access to the U.K. market negotiated under the Canada-EU Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). Among the key benefits is the removal of 98 percent of tariffs on Canadian goods entering the U.K., in addition to protection for investments and intellectual property, and others.
The promise of CETA, which was expected to add $1.5-billion worth of agri-food exports for Canadian farmers, has not yet materialized due to differences in regulatory standards in the European market. But that could be addressed under bilateral deals with the U.K.
Beside agri-food, le Jeune d’Allegeershecque said technology is a key area of possible collaboration in Atlantic Canada. That includes artificial intelligence, fintech, life sciences, and particularly in New Brunswick, cybersecurity.
The U.K. and Canada are both part of the joint intelligence group Five Eyes Alliance. Le Jeune d’Allegeershecque believes this provides an advantage.
“We literally have no secrets from each other so I think that area is a huge opportunity for the future,” she said. “It’s an area I think, in which we are both very very strong. Your federal agency and ours worked very closely together. And that brings I think huge opportunities for businesses in that space together.”
On clean energy, le Jeune d’Allegeershecque hopes to build on the presence of British companies in the nuclear sector that’s already in New Brunswick.
“We both recognize that nuclear energy is going to be a part of our response to climate change,” she said.
However, the U.K. is just at the beginning of its trade talks and a deal could take some time to be formalized. CETA negotiations took seven years.
“Hopefully it’s not gonna take that long,” le Jeune d’Allegeershecque said. “Now that we are outside the European Union, we can and will negotiate really good free trade agreements. And I know that Canada is right at the top of the list of the ones that we want to start off fairly soon.”
Policy Opportunities
The U.K. is also looking to cooperate on policy areas, particularly Atlantic Canada’s response to Covid-19, and climate change and environmental policies. The U.K. is set to chair COP26 in November in Scotland, and le Jeune d’Allegeershecque said she’s interested in the “really innovative work” being done in Atlantic Canada.
When it comes to the pandemic response, the High Commissioner says the U.K. is looking to learn best practices from different jurisdictions. The U.K. is ahead in vaccinating its population, but Atlantic Canada has had an “incredibly effective approach” balancing health and safety with economic needs.
“It was an immediate and hard response, and the right response, obviously, in terms of the number of people who’ve been infected and the number of people who’ve died,” she said.
Le Jeune d’Allegeershecque says the U.K. and Canada should build on the historical links between the two countries that have been “taken for granted.” The High Commissioner herself has a personal link to New Brunswick, with an uncle who lives in Bathurst.
The two countries also have similarities in language and legal system, and geographical closeness, she noted.
“For us working with Canada is really, really easy. That doesn’t mean that we agree on everything but in terms of the big issues, we are on the same page,” she said. “That opens up all sorts of opportunities for us, politically and economically, and we are very keen to take advantage of that.”
Inda Intiar is a reporter for Huddle. Send her story suggestions: [email protected]