What do you think the future holds for the Canadian economy, specifically in regard to trade with Mexico?
The Canadian and Mexican economies have weathered the storm in the economic downturn of the last few years much better than the United States, which they rely on for more than 80 percent of their trade. In the last year, Canadian-Mexican trade has gone up 15 percent and there are signs that it will continue to grow … Mexico’s presidency of the G20 is global recognition of Mexico’s increasing leadership on financial issues at the world stage and of its own economic management, and there’s been a lot of cooperation between Canada and Mexico within the G8 context on issues relating to global financial and health and global economic matters, so we’ve two relatively strong economies working together quite closely.
What are the new areas that Canadian businesses are looking at in Mexico?
Environment and clean energy. When you’re an advanced economy in a country that’s got lots of resources, like Mexico has, the next jump in the value chain is managing those resources and I think Canada does a very good job at developing high technologies in water resources, energy management and clean technology … One industry that’s particularly relevant here in Jalisco is information technology. I know that Guadalajara was selected as the Creative Digital City and I think that’s an area where Canadians have a lot to contribute as well. We are leaders in the field of digital technologies, in creativity and artistic endeavors using modern technologies, and I see that as an area where we can work closely with what is clearly already the most advanced cluster in this regard in Mexico.
Canadian tourism is vital to Mexico. Every time there’s an incident in Mexico involving a Canadian tourist it gets very negative coverage in the press in Canada. But Canadians are still coming to Mexico in record numbers. Why is that?
Individual travelers look at a lot of different sources of information prior to making their decisions of where they’re going to travel. I think it is fair to say that of the 1.6 million Canadians that visited Mexico last year, the overwhelming majority of them enjoyed their stay and saw no particular problems. It is probably also true, however, that increasingly informed tourists are evaluating information about security situations and disruptions they might encounter when they travel. So we provide information in our travel advisories and we encourage people to be well informed.
Is the Canadian government satisfied with the way that Felipe Calderon is handling the security problems in Mexico and is the government actually trying to help in any way?
The issues related to security in Mexico are certainly preoccupying to Canada and we stand ready to help the Mexican government regardless of the administration here with its security issues. We do have a quite a large program of assistance to Mexico in the reform of its justice system and the professionalization of its police. We have training programs for judges and lawyers within the new legal reform system … We’re supportive of the Mexican government’s efforts to control its security issues and we will be supportive of the next administration’s efforts.
A lot of Mexicans maybe don’t differentiate much between the culture of the United States and Canada, but we’ve got Quebec coming here for the Festival Cultural de Mayo. Does French-Canadian culture offer something different?
We’re supportive of any cultural exchanges, irrespective of the part of Canada that it comes from, and vice-versa, I think Canadians have a lot to gain and appreciate from Canadian cultural exports as well … I’m delighted to hear about the Quebec cultural presence in the Festival de Mayo. Quebec culture is something unique within Canada and it is wonderful if we can bring it to a broader audience.
There’s a lot of academic exchange right now. What do you think Mexican students gain from their Canadian experience and should more Canadian students be coming to Mexico?
On Thursday night here in Guadalajara we had the first ever meeting of Mexican alumni from Canadian universities … It was wonderful to meet some 80 people who had studied in Canada for some part of their education. Everyone I spoke to was uniquely changed by their experience in a very positive way, both personally and professionally. Some of them were bringing back experiences they had gained and building careers around it or social issues they were working on. Certainly, everyone spoke about the friends they made … Not as many Canadians come here but we have exchange programs that allow for movement in both ways and I would like to see more Canadian students choose Mexico for part or all of their studies.