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Members of the Canadian Section of the Canada-US inter-parliamentary Group Attend the Meeting of Southern US Legislators From 31 July to 3 August 2010, the Honourable Senator Anne Cools, the Honourable Bryon Wilfert P.C., M.P., Mr. Christian Ouellet, M.P. and Mr. Terence Young, M.P. represented the Canadian Section of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group at the 64th annual meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC) in Charleston, South Carolina. At the meeting, each of the SLC’s six committees – Agriculture & Rural Development, Economic Development, Transportation & Cultural Affairs, Education, Energy & Environment, Fiscal Affairs & Government Operations, and Human Services & Public Safety – met, as did the Gulf Coast & Atlantic States Task Force. During these meetings, a number of topics that are important for Canada were discussed, including animal welfare, rural issues, the business climate, post-secondary education admission and retention, and nuclear energy. Meeting participants also had the opportunity to hear from Mr. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, and Representative James Clyburn, Majority Whip in the US House of Representatives. Canada and the 15 SLC states share a mutually beneficial relationship. According to recent figures, nearly 2.5 million jobs in those states rely on our bilateral trade, which was recently valued at just under $114.5 billion for the region in one year: more than $55 billion was exported from the 15 states to Canada, while they imported just over $59 billion from us. Visits are also frequent. Recent data suggest that Canadians made more than 6.6 million visits to the SLC states in a 12-month period and spent more than $4.2 billion, while residents of the SLC states made about 1.9 million visits to Canada and spent nearly $1.3 billion. Founded in 1947, the Southern Legislative Conference includes state legislators from 15 southern states (see list below). Its mission is to foster and encourage intergovernmental cooperation among member states. Information about the SLC can be found at www.slcatlanta.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: STATES IN THE SOUTHERN LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE Alabama Arkansas Florida Georgia Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia West Virginia
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