The international competitive position of Western Canada and each of the four western provinces within a Canadian context are the focus of this study. Through trade profiles of major commodity exports and their spatial markets, a situational assessment of the region and its continued heavy dependence on natural resources is offered.

Addresses the central economic issue of declining Canadian competitiveness and reports on the lack of progress Canada has been making in this area. Includes the Canadian economy and market globalization; scorecard on Canada's international competitiveness; strategies and organizational learning to bring about improvement; recommendations, and references. Graphs. Commissioned by Kodak Canada Inc.

Although a history of protest politics has done so much to define western Canada and to place it outside the Canadian mainstream, the aspirations and frustrations that animated western discontent over the years have been replaced by a new reality: the West is in, and many of the levers of national economic and political power rest in western Canadian hands. The protest tradition has yielded a dynamic region that leads rather than reacts to national economic, social, and political change. The westward shift of the Canadian economy and demography is likely to be an enduring structural change that reflects and is reinforced by the transformation of the continental and global economies. At the same time, western Canada faces major challenges, including finding a place for a sustainable resource economy in a rapidly changing global environment, establishing a full and modern partnership with Aboriginal peoples, and creating urban environments that will attract and retain human capital. None of these challenges are unique to the West but they all play out with great force, and great immediacy, in western Canada.

Strategic overview and assessment of the future impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the western Canadian economy. The analysis is confined mainly to opportunities related to the Mexican market, including an evaluation of the Mexican macro-economic policy environment and an identification of potential opportunities for Western Canadian goods exporters in that market; the results of a survey reporting the knowledge, experience, and intentions of western Canadian higher-order business service firms for Mexico; a situational assessment necessary for developing strategies for realizing the potential in Mexico as a result of NAFTA; and a specific set of recommendations directed at business, government, and higher education.

As the world economy is becoming increasingly global in nature, thefuture of Canada's welfare will directly depend on thecountry's response and reaction to a wide range of economic regimeswhich govern the international economy. This volume is an important andtimely analysis of past and current Canadian policies toward both theformal and less formal arrangements which regulate such areas asinternational trade and financial transactions, international serviceindustries, fisheries resources, and the environment. Often influencedby domestic political concerns and its relations with the UnitedStates, Canada has, as the authors point out, exhibited a high degreeof variation in its responses to these regimes. Canadian Foreign Policyand International Economic Regimes addresses a broad range of foreigneconomic policies not generally considered in the foreign policyliterature. Interdisciplinary in its approach, it will be of interestto those in political science and public policy, economics, and law, aswell as to those involved in international business.