On Monday our community had the opportunity to host Roy Norton, the consul general of Canada. Norton kicked off his Indiana tour by meeting in South Bend with local business and community leaders about why Canada is important to Indiana and St. Joseph County. While here, Norton also met with a Canadian company considering a South Bend location.
Several months ago we hosted a similar gathering with the Consulate General of Israel and have been working on similar partnership opportunities with local companies interested in doing business in other parts of the world.
Canadian consulates general are similar to Canadian embassies but are located in major cities, not capital cities, of foreign countries. Canadian consulates general offer a full range of diplomatic and consular services. The senior officer at a Canadian Consulate General is the consul general.
Norton is based in Detroit and represents Canada in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The Canadian Consulate General, which he heads, promotes Canadian interests -- trade, investment, the environment, culture and academic relations being among the principal ones. The office also provides consular, passport, visa and immigration services.
We often forget about the important relationship that exists between the U.S. and Canada. Canada has been an important friend, ally and customer of the U.S. for some time. Canada has a stable economy, solid financial ratings, a history of budget surpluses, and some of the lowest payroll and corporate taxes of all of the G7 nations. (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Canada). It recently was ranked as the best G7 country to do business with.
Canada is the top trading partner for the United States, with imports and exports totaling close to $600 billion in 2011. China, Mexico, Japan and Germany round out the top five, with Canada some $90 billion more than second place China. Almost $1.6 billion in merchandise trade crosses the Canada-U.S. border every day. Our country does 10 times as much business with Canada as it does with China.
Canada is the largest foreign market for U.S. goods and services. Millions of U.S. jobs depend on Canadian imports from the U.S. In Indiana, 160,000 jobs are dependent on trade with Canada, and in the 2nd Congressional District, 22,000 jobs. Canadian companies also employ 12,000 people in Indiana and 1,300 in the 2nd District. Automobiles and auto parts make up the largest sector of traded products.
Canada is by a wide margin the No. 1 supplier of imported energy to the United States -- meaning energy in all forms including oil, petroleum products, natural gas, electricity and uranium. Canada is the single largest source of oil imports to the United States, a bigger source than Saudi Arabia. In 2011, the U.S. imported an average 2.1 million barrels per day from Canada, and about 1.1 million per day from Saudi Arabia.
Canada expects to see $160 billion in private sector investment in energy in the coming years, which could support as many as 340,000 jobs in the U.S. and 7,600 in Indiana. In addition, the Keystone pipeline could lead to an additional 20,000 jobs in the U.S. The capacity exists for energy independence in North America.
As we seek business opportunities for our region and state, our friends to the north in Canada present some exciting opportunities.
Jeff Rea is president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County.
Jeff Rea
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