Globalization is clearly the dominant international business model today. It has been with us in one form or another for centuries; the spice trade between Europe and Asia, or the development of North America as a source of inputs and goods for European consumers. Globalization has always been about the unrelenting pursuit of competitiveness, which is producing the highest value at the lowest sustainable cost. And globalization is here to stay, although its form is constantly changing and with cycles in both trade and investment...

Canada has been built on international trade and investment. There is abundant evidence that freer trade and investment is a net creator of wealth, and Canada benefits from globalization as a small export-driven country dependent upon world markets. But our policy environment over the decades has been uneven and at times ambivalent, as have some pockets of the business community...

Moreover, some Canadian sectors and interests continue to resist freer trade, wishing to protect their own narrow interests (often ultimately hurting themselves) at the expense of wider economy. Political decisions would be required to overcome these vested interests.

For Canada to extract the full benefits of globalization, reforms would be needed to both international and domestic policies. On the international front, Canada is a small market compared with massive business opportunities in North America, Europe, Asia and globally, so trade is critical to our current and future wealth.

More than 20 years ago, Canada secured and benefited from a free trade deal for North America, and it has begun to embrace free trade beyond the continent. The next test case is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The next government will quickly need to embrace the benefits of the TPP and ensure that Canada has a level playing field for trade in the U.S. market in particular – or risk missing the opportunity and give an advantage to other TPP players...

This has been excerpted from the 28 September 2015 article by Daniel Muzyka, CEO and Glen Hodgson, senior vice-president and chief economist of the Conference Board of Canada, written for The Globe and Mail.