Pitching Canada as a "solutions provider," the head of a recent delegation that travelled to the U.S. says Canadian businesses can help to create a more resilient North American economy in the face of current and future global unrest.
"And that was our main message," Business Council of Canada president and CEO Goldy Hyder told CTV's Your Morning on Tuesday.
"We're in this together. Let's figure out solutions together and in the interests of people, not just in North America but around the world and particularly in Ukraine."
Hyder led last week to pitch Canada as an alternative source of energy and food amid the war in Ukraine.
Along with supply chain issues made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, experts say Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has helped drive oil and wheat prices up. Russia is the in the world, and both it and Ukraine are among the world's top exporters of wheat.
Both Canada and the U.S. have banned the import of Russian oil because of the invasion. With the war in Ukraine affecting global trade, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that countries are looking to Canada as a possible energy, food and mineral alternative.
"We wanted to make sure that Americans understood that we can help Europe together by helping each other, making sure that we make North America first and foremost resilient and create that supply chain integrity, so that inflation that people are facing at the pump and at the grocery store doesn't run away on all of us," Hyder said.
The delegation met with Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia and Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, both of whom Hyder said were "very welcoming" to the delegation's ideas.
In the short term, Hyder said Canada has "hundreds of thousands of barrels" of oil it can send to the U.S. for refinement, but would have to travel by rail. In the long term, he says Canada needs to build greater infrastructure so it can help feed and fuel the world moving forward.
"Things may never be the same," Hyder said. "Let's make sure we control our destiny together."
