OTTAWA — Will a few days in Mexico City be enough time for Stephen Harper to thaw years of frosty relations between Canada and Mexico?
The prime minister and his Mexican counterpart, President Enrique Peña Nieto, held one-on-one meetings at the National Palace in Mexico City on Tuesday during Harper’s first official visit to the country. Over lunch, the two were expected to discuss ways they could repair the rift in their relationship.
Relations between Canada and Mexico soured in 2009 after Ottawa slapped a visa requirement on Mexican visitors. Ottawa said the visas were needed to deal with thousands of bogus asylum claims. But the country’s residents and its business leaders say they have felt Ottawa’s cold shoulder ever since.
Carlo Dade, the director of the Centre for Trade Investment Policy at the Canada West Foundation, said Mexico has been trying to reach out to Canada for two or three years to convince officials of the advantages of working together.
“The problem is, [Canadian officials] haven’t responded,” he told The Huffington Post Canada.
There are natural areas of co-operation. The two countries would benefit from working together to counter protectionist tendencies in the United States, Dade suggested. Both Mexico and Canada have been affected by U.S. trade rules such as county-of-origin labelling. The new regulation requires Canadian and Mexican cattle to carry a different label than U.S.-born cattle, even if they are all processed in the United States.
But Ottawa ignored Mexico City, he said.
Some analysts suggest it was because the Conservative government continued to see Mexico as an under-developed country with drug cartels and security problems.
It could also have been because, as Dade suggested, the Conservative movement was solely focused on matters of defence or those involving the U.S.
Or perhaps, he said, it was because “there is no short-term political gain in it for the government” since Mexico-Canada relations are not high on the list of concerns for Canadian voters.
Whatever the reason, the Conservatives showed little interest in engaging with Mexico, a country whose economy is booming, and which is on the verge of becoming an energy superpower, with the added benefit of a large middle class.
Economic reforms in Mexico have drawn the attention of the Chinese, the British and the Americans, said Colin Robertson, a former diplomat and senior strategic advisor with McKenna, Long Aldridge LLP.
“Everybody is actively wooing Mexico.”
Everyone, that is, but Canada.
The relationship is so poor that Mexican Ambassador Francisco Suárez Dávila recently described it as having lost “dynamism.”
“It has become stagnant,” Suárez Dávila told a university audience.
Last year, when Peña Nieto was in Ottawa just after his election, he suggested bringing a Team Mexico to Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, Robertson said. Canada and Mexico share overlapping interests in the energy, aerospace, auto and infrastructure sectors.
But with the visa issue dominating and souring relations, Suárez Dávila recently suggested that the visit might not go ahead if restrictions aren’t lifted.
During a press conference on Sunday, the ambassador said that officials at every level had pressed the visa issue with Canada and that many Canadian business leaders supported Mexico’s case.
“I want to emphasize: We have done our job,” he said. “We have no indication from the Canadian government on a solution…. We are willing to work constructively to solve this complex problem. We are doing our homework. The answer lies elsewhere.”
A top official with the Mexican foreign ministry, insisting on anonymity, said his government does not expect the visa issue to be settled today or tomorrow.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Harper and Peña Nieto sealed an agreement to expand air travel between the two countries and renewed their long-standing “joint action plan” to foster economic growth, security, immigration and trade.
The expanded air-access agreement could be a precursor to the Conservative government’s eventually lifting the visa restriction. Observers expect Ottawa will demonstrate willingness to work on the visa issue by suggesting a new trusted traveller program, modelled on Canada’s NEXUS program with the United States. Frequent travellers from Mexico would be vetted and given priority cards to avoid lengthy visa delays. That announcement is expected Wednesday when the North American Leaders’ Summit begins and the two meet with U.S. President Barack Obama.
Peter McKenna, a political science professor at the University of Prince Edward Island, said that it’s a good first step but that more needs to be done.
“We’re missing an opportunity there,” McKenna said. “It’s counterproductive.”
Warm relations could also help unlock doors in Latin America – a region Harper once claimed as a foreign policy focus.
Mexico is already an important energy ally to the United States and could surpass Canada as the Americans’ largest trading partner in the next decade or so, he said.
“We really have to get away from treating Mexico like a third-rate country. It’s not. It’s a major economic player, and it’s about time Canada realizes that.”
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FRANCE
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper stands on top of the Arc de Triomphe Saturday June 15, 2013 in Paris, France . THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
SWITZERLAND
Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes a moment to look at the Alps view from the shore line of Lake Geneva prior to holding a wrap up media conference following his participation at the Francophonie Summit in Montreux Switzerland on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010. Harper is in Europe from Oct. 21st to Oct. 26th to take part in the Francophonie Summit in Montreux, Switzerland and visit to Kyiv and Lviv Ukraine. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
COLOMBIA
EITAN ABRAMOVICH via Getty Images
GREECE
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and wife Laureen tour the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, on Saturday, May 28, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
CHINA
A panda reaches for Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a photo at the Chongqing Zoo in Chongqing, China, Saturday February 11, 2012. A pair of giant pandas born and raised in China are about to receive a Canadian welcome worthy of their name.Harper, who personally announced the loan deal during a trip to China last year, will be on hand to greet the new arrivals as they disembark from a highly customized plane trip. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
INDONESIA
Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrives to the Family Photo and Gala Dinner during the APEC summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia on Monday, October 7, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
INDIA
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and wife Laureen are given a tour by Priest Sundar Dixit during a visit to Sri Someshwara Swamy Temple in Bangalore, India on Thursday, November 8, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
CROATIA
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is given a tour of the Zagreb Cathedral by Reverend Josip Kuhtic in Zagreb, Croatia Saturday May 8, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
SINGAPORE
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks with Chinese opera singers as he stops for a quick photo while making his way to the Leaders Dinner at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-Operation Summit in Singapore Saturday Nov. 14, 2009. Harper is in Singapore to attend the APEC meetings before heading to India for a three day visit. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
IRELAND
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper stands with Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty (right) and Canada’s ambassador to Ireland Loyola Hearn (left) take in the replica tall ship Jeanie Johnston Sunday June 16, 2013 in Dublin, Ireland. The replica ship, built in 2002, was based on the original ship built in Quebec City in 1847.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
HAITI
Prime Minister Stephen Harper waves as he arrives by helicopter on board the Canadian frigit Athabasca stationed just outside the Hiatian capital, Port-au-Prince, Monday, Feb. 15, 2010. With Harper is Brigadier-General Guy Laroche (left) and Canadian Ambassador to Haiti Gilles Rivard. Prime Minister Harper will stay overnight on board the Canadian ship during his 2-day tour of earthquake stricken Haiti. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand
POLAND
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper chats with museum director Piotr M.A. Cywinski as he gets a tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State museum in Auschwitz, Poland, Saturday, April 5, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tom Hanson
AFGHANISTAN
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper walks from an American Blackhawk helicopter for a tour of a Canadian forward operation base in Ma’Sum Ghar, Kandahar province Afghanistan Wednesday May 23, 2007.(CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson) CANADA
VIETNAM
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper follows China’s President Hu Jintao (centre) and Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet (right) on their way to the official photograph at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hanoi Vietnam Sunday Nov 19, 2006.(CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson) CANADA
MEXICO
Mexican President Vicente Fox shakes hands with Prime Minister Stephen Harper as United States President George W. Bush looks-on following a tour of the Mayan Pyramid in Chichen Itza Mexico Thursday March 30, 2006. The three leaders are having a North American summit in Cancun Mexico over two days.(CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson)
ENGLAND
Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in London on Wednesday, June 6, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
MOROCCO
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper reviews the Guard of Honour at the royal palace in Agadir, Morocco Thursday Jan.27, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/POOL/Adrian Wyld
UKRAINE
Prime Minister Stephen Harper walks with Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych, left, upon his arrival to the Presidential Administrative Building in Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday, Oct. 25, 2010. Harper says he raised human rights issues in detail with Ukraine’s President Yanukovych during talks. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
NETHERLANDS
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper waves as he steps off his plane in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday May 5, 2010. Harper flew will visit a war cemetery Thursday to mark the country’s liberation in the Second World War.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
NEW YORK CITY
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper tours Times Square following a media interview in New York City Monday Feb. 23, 2009. Politics, not policy, has been the biggest change in five years of Harper government. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tom Hanson
HAWAII
Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with U.S. President Barack Obama at the 2011 APEC Summit in Kapolei, Hawaii on Sunday, November 13, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
AUSTRALIA
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper answers reporters questions at a news conference overlooking Sydney Harbour following the APEC summit in Sydney, Australia Sunday Sept 9, 2007. (CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson) CANADA
Canada Aims To Repair Visa Rift During Harper"s Mexico Visit
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