16 November 2009

Next big idea for Canada: An Asia strategy

This article is extracted from the 15 November 2009 edition of the “Toronto Star”.

We had the Auto Pact. Then free trade. Given the economic meltdown south of the border, we are badly in need of the next big idea.

It is decidedly not Richard Florida's Ontario in a Creative Age, or other similarly trendy but vacuous propositions.

Start with the big picture: The centre of economic gravity is shifting from the West to the East – China and India, in particular. American power and influence are waning, theirs are rising.

So how about an Asia strategy, to take Canada through the next 25 years?

It would entail a major push into China and India, while strengthening existing links with Japan, South Korea and other Asian nations.

A good time to start thinking about it would be after Stephen Harper's Dec. 2-6 visit to China. …

"Canada's relative weight in international relations is inevitably declining as the rapidly growing emerging powers, like India, assume greater roles on the world stage," says David Malone, our former high commissioner to India (2006-2008).

A Canada-India free trade deal is already in the works for the two $1 trillion economies. But that's not enough. It needs to be part of a bigger push….

We are also good at post-secondary education. It's a growing industry worldwide, with 2 million students enrolled outside their countries of origin.

In Australia, the sector generates $13 billion a year. It has 80,000 students from India, whereas Canada has only 4,000.

At the higher end of the education food chain, India plans to ease restrictions on foreign universities and make India a major global centre of research.

This is the next big frontier, says Malone, "a huge opportunity" for our education sector….

In the private sec