Bill Owens

Congressman Bill Owens spoke last week as part of an expert panel at “Vision to Action,” the North American Competitiveness and Innovation Conference (NACIC) in Toronto, Canada. His remarks focused on possible outcomes of the upcoming U.S. elections and their impact on critical economic policy issues including immigration, taxation, infrastructure investment, energy production and North American trade expansion through programs like the Beyond the Border (BTB) initiative and United States-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC).

“Our relationships with Canada and Mexico make up the largest trading group in the world representing $19 trillion in GDP and millions of American jobs,” said Owens. “Border districts like ours have close economic and cultural ties with their neighboring communities to the north or south. This conference was a great opportunity to collaborate with business and government leaders from across North America on ways to increase our economic competitiveness, grow our economy, and create new, high-paying jobs.”

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico supports nearly 14 million American jobs.  Export-related jobs in the U.S. pay, on average, 15 to 20 percent more than those focused primarily on domestic production (CFR).  The North American economy represents $19 trillion in annual output, making it the largest regional economy in the world.    

Rep. Owens was joined on the panel by North American legislative leaders including David Dingwall, a former Canadian Cabinet Minister, Patrick Brown, a Canadian Member of Parliament representing Barrie, Ontario, and Congressman Agustín Barrios Gómez of the Federal Congress of Mexico.  Other speakers at NACIC 2014 included Gary Doer, Canadian Ambassador to the United States, Penny Pritzker, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Ed Fast, Canadian Minister of International Trade and James Dickmeyer, U.S. Consul General for Toronto.

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