 |
||
|
Canadian Parliamentarians Attend Meeting of Midwestern State Legislators From August 8-11, 2010, the Honourable Judy Sgro, P.C., M.P., led a delegation of members of the Canadian Section of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group (IPG) to the 65th annual meeting of the Midwestern Legislative Conference (MLC) in Toronto, Ontario. The other members of the delegation were the Honourable Senator Art Eggleton, P.C., Mr. Jim Maloway, M.P., and Mr. Jeff Watson, M.P., Vice-Chair of the IPG. “The MLC meeting was a valuable opportunity for us to meet with state legislators to discuss regional issues of national importance for both our countries,” said Ms. Sgro. “We were pleased to discuss the numerous opportunities for Canada and the US Midwest to collaborate on improving regional trade links, which is essential for improving employment opportunities on both sides of the border and for strengthening North America’s presence in the changing landscape of the global economy. The Canadian delegation was also pleased to share some of Canada’s healthcare experiences with our US counterparts.” Ms. Sgro concluded: “Canada and the 11 MLC states share a mutually beneficial relationship, both culturally and economically. According to recent figures, nearly 1.5 million jobs in MLC states rely on bilateral trade with Canada, which was recently valued at $226.4 billion for the region: more than $86 billion was exported from the 11 states to Canada, while imports from Canada to the MLC states exceeded $140 billion. There are also frequent visits across the shared border. Recent data suggests that Canadians made about 4.5 million visits to the MLC states in a 12-month period and spent almost $1.2 billion. From the US perspective, residents of the MLC states made about 3.5 million visits to Canada and spent more than $1.5 billion.” The MLC is a regional association of state legislators from 11 US states, and includes provincial legislators from 3 affiliate Canadian provinces (see Appendix A). The purpose of the MLC is to foster regional intergovernmental cooperation in the Midwest through the joint consideration of common problems, the interchange of information and ideas, the sharing of knowledge and experience, and, as appropriate, the pursuit of collaborative efforts to improve state government. Information on the MLC is available at www.csgmidwest.org. It should be noted that the views expressed in this news release are specific to the Canadian Section of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group and, as such, may not reflect the views of our United States counterparts. The Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group aims to find points of convergence in respective national policies, to initiate dialogue on points of divergence, to encourage the exchange of information and to promote better understanding among legislators on shared issues of concern. Additional information on the Group can be found at www.parl.gc.ca/iia/us. -30- For further information:
|
||
 |