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Canadian Section of Canada-US Inter-Parliamentary Group Attends Winter Meeting of US Governors and Meets with US Congressional Counterparts From February 25-27, 2012, the Honourable Janis Johnson, Senator, Co-Chair of the Canadian Section of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group, led a delegation to the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association (NGA) in Washington, D.C. The other members of the delegation for the meeting were the Honourable Wilfred Moore, Q.C., Senator, the Honourable Wayne Easter, P.C., M.P., Vice-Chair, Mr. Mark Alder, M.P., Mr. John Carmichael, M.P., Vice-Chair, and Mr. Mathieu Ravignat, M.P., Vice-Chair. Following the NGA meeting, the delegation was joined by Mr. Gord Brown, M.P., Co-Chair and Mr. Brian Masse, M.P., Vice-Chair for about 50 meetings with members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, including with US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner. Prior to the Congressional visits, the delegation benefitted from an extensive briefing by Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Gary Doer, and his officials. While in Washington, the delegation also attended a number of events hosted by the Embassy. Senator Johnson said: “As always, the NGA meeting provided members of the delegation with an important chance to speak with US governors about a range of issues that affect both of our countries. We believe it’s useful to take every available opportunity to reinforce the nature and scope of the bilateral relationship, including the estimated 8 million US jobs that rely on trade with Canada and the 35 states that have Canada as their primary foreign export destination. Of course, a number of the sessions at the meeting, including those that were focussed on economic growth and energy as well as health care, provided information that is relevant for legislators and citizens in both of our countries.” “Equally, the meetings with our Congressional counterparts provided us with a critical opportunity to speak about the relationship between Canada and the United States. In our meetings, we discussed such issues as the action plan relating to the February 2011 announcement by Prime Minister Harper and President Obama of the perimeter security and economic competitiveness agenda, bilateral and international trade, the Buy American provisions in some US legislation, the thickening of the border and border-related fees, the sharing of both information and intelligence by law enforcement and related agencies, and the need to avoid duplication in such areas as inspection, among others,” said Mr. Brown. The NGA is the collective voice of US governors from the 50 states, three territories and two commonwealths. It is a public policy organization that represents the governors on Capitol Hill and before the US Administration on federal issues that affect them, and that develops and implements solutions to public policy challenges. 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: Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group - 613-943-1430 Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group - 613-992-8756 Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group - 613-944-4238
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