This year the CIC is tackling one of the most important questions facing Canadians: How can we be smart about developing our abundant energy, mineral and forest resources? The voracious appetite of emerging economies for natural resources presents Canada with some key foreign policy challenges in the coming years. The resources boom — forecast to continue for at least a decade — offers Canada opportunities to reposition itself globally through new trade and investment alliances. But it also presents new threats. How can Canada, for example, expand its trade with Asia while ensuring that it continues to move up the value chain? How can we resist the pressure to ship raw materials as fast as possible and instead become more deliberative about extracting more value from our resources by building complementary knowledge- and technology-based industries? How should Canada structure its foreign investment regime? What impact will new alliances and the growing role of resources in the economy have on Canada’s global brand? Other resource-rich countries are struggling with these same questions. This research seeks fresh perspectives on these issues through broad consultations within Canada and by looking at whether countries such as Australia, Norway, Finland, Chile and others hold any lessons for Canada. The study will produce a multimedia report with specific and targeted policy recommendations.

The project is co-directed by Jennifer Jeffs, CIC President, and Madelaine Drohan, Canada’s correspondent for The Economist.

An open call for research and commentary

The CIC invites individuals and institutions to contribute their research and commentary to our Natural Resources and Foreign Policy Project.  We welcome submissions of reports, papers and essays that respond to the project’s fundamental question: How can Canadians be smart about developing our abundant energy, mineral and forest resources? More specifically, contributors are invited to consider the following topics:

Aid: Should Canada’s international assistance policy align with its natural resource production policy? Can Canadian expertise in resource extraction take the form of foreign aid? Are Canada’s international contributions to governance and capacity-building sufficiently robust, compared to those of other resource powers such as Australia and Norway?

Environment: Does Canadian environmental policy impede Canadian commodities exporters by damaging our national brand? What is the interplay between environmental performance and international industry competitiveness? Is Canada prepared to manage the opportunities and risks presented by the Arctic’s increasingly accessible resources?

Federal-provincial cooperation and economic adjustment: How can Canada ensure successful federal-provincial cooperation on natural resource management and related issues? Should Canadians consider adopting a sovereign wealth fund for natural resource royalties?

Geopolitics: How should Canada’s natural resources affect the balance of our relations with China and the US? Does a “CARBS” grouping – with resource-producing Australia, Russia, Brazil and South Africa – advance Canadian values and interests? Can Canada leverage its resource wealth to advance Canadian influence in international forums, such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Energy Forum (IEF), as well as multi-stakeholder groups such as the Kimberley Process?

Innovation: How can Canadians ensure that innovation and entrepreneurship do not suffer at the expense of resource rent-seeking, both in business and government?

Trade and investment: How should Canada’s resource wealth influence our approach to trade and investment? What strategic roles do trade and investment agreements play in Canada’s engagement with the world’s fastest-growing economies?

Send submissions of at least 600 words to Naomi Joseph.

View our current list of research and commentary here.

The Resourceful Canadian e-discussions

As part of the project, OpenCanada.org will be hosting three e-discussions that tackle three important questions regarding our resources: How can Canada manage the “dirty oil” brand? How can Canada turn its mining knowledge into international power? And how can we become the most intelligent lumberjacks in the world? Click on the banner below to access the debates.

The CIC’s Global Positioning Strategy (GPS) for Canada project, which culminated in the release of Open Canada: A Global Positioning Strategy for a Networked Age in June 2010, was the centrepiece of the CIC’s 2009-2010 research program. The report was authored by Edward Greenspon, the former Editor in-Chief of Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, who was supported by a panel of digitally savvy, globally focused and professionally networked individuals. This panel took a hard look at Canada’s global role and priorities and made a number of fresh observations and recommendations that have been discussed internationally in newspapers, on television and radio shows, and in blogs and social media networks since the report’s release.

Panelists

	André Beaulieu Vice-President, Value Creation and Procurement, Bell Canada		Cathy Beehan Founding CEO, Action Canada
	Gerald Butts President and Chief Executive Officer, World Wildlife Fund Canada		Mark Cameron Director, Corporate Affairs with Ontario Power Generation
	John Hancock Counsellor, Trade and Finance Division, WTO Secretariat		Jonathan Hausman Vice-President, Alternative Investments and Emerging Markets Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
	Farah Mohamed President, Belinda Stronach Foundation		George Roter Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Engineers Without Borders Canada
	Stéphane Roussel Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal		Mercedes Stephenson Host and Producer, Mercedes Stephenson Investigates and Vice-President, Breakout Educational Network
	Kristina Tomaz-Young Founder and Producer, Venture Capital TV and President and Practice Leader, Smart Initiatives, Inc.		Yuen Pau Woo President and CEO, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada

For more information, contact info@onlinecic.org

The centrepiece of the CIC’s 2010-2011 research program is the International Intellectual Property (IP) project, which addresses Canada’s position in the international intellectual property regime, and its relevance to Canadian competitiveness and innovation. The CIC considers IP to be a fundamental but insufficiently explored aspect of Canadian international policy and engagement and is therefore examining Canada’s IP policies in an international comparative context.

 This project is co-directed by Jennifer Jeffs, CIC President, and Karen Mazurkewich, a business journalist and former Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent.

Intellectual Property Report

The final project report makes specific recommendations for policy action to improve Canada’s IP regime in the context of its innovation strategy and policies.

Rights and Rents
Why Canada must harness its intellectual property resources

Karen Mazurkewich
October 2011

DOWNLOAD REPORT ›

Intellectual Property Conference

The report and its findings were featured and examined at an international conference on intellectual property that the CIC hosted in Ottawa in early October 2011. 

Keynote Speech 

Marshall C. Phelps, Jr.
Former corporate Vice-President for Intellectual Property Policy and Strategy at Microsoft Corp
and IBM Corp., and Co-founder of Intellectual Ventures

IP FAQ

Karen Mazurkewich interviews conference participants and asks key questions about the role of IP in Canada.

Related Links

When Patents Attack!
Source: thisamericanlife.org July 22, 2011

The Strategic Studies Working Group (SSWG) is a partnership between the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute (CDFAI) and the Canadian International Council (CIC), which incorporates the former Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies.

The Canadian Forces in 2025

The Canadian Forces are in transition after Afghanistan. Equipment needs to be replaced, personnel are worn down, and government policy is uncertain. What will the future look like? Five distinguished experts here examine each of the three services, space, and cyberwarfare, postulating the future as it might be – as it will likely be – in 2025. Their accounts will surprise and enlighten readers.

Drone Week: Kill Watch Aid

Whether for their military (kill), surveillance (watch), or humanitarian (aid) capability, drones have begun to make a mark on the world of international affairs. As interest in the use of unmanned systems  grows, so too does the need to scrutinize our assumptions and probe the limitations of knowledge about them. The Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute and the Canadian International Council’s Drone Week provides that space.

Canada’s Strategic Profile

The Canadian Forces Strategic Profile outlines Canada’s military, at home and abroad.

The Future of Fighting

In 2011 came the end of Canada’s longest ever military commitment. Over the course of 10 years, Canada spent more than $18 billion on its mission in Afghanistan. Over the next 10 years, where should military resources be allocated?

The Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute and the Canadian International Council’s The Future of Fighting e-conference explored this question in depth with a 7 week series of op-eds and online conversations moderated by the University of Ottawa’s Philippe Lagassé.

Papers

View SSWG papers

Strategic Datalink

View Strategic Datalink reports

Contact SSWG

Please contact us at:
Phone 613-288-2529 | E-mail contact@cdfai.org

The Arctic is a region currently undergoing massive transformation with immense security and environmental implications for each circumpolar state. Arctic sovereignty and security are about understanding how each of the circumpolar states and, Canada in particular, protects and promotes its Arctic region. The CIC Arctic Sovereignty and Security Working Group involved the work of three CIC research fellows, each of whom published a research paper as part of the Foreign Policy for Canada’s Tomorrow series.

The health and efficiency of the Canada-US border is fundamental to the economic well-being of both countries. Since the events of 9/11, the US government has undertaken various measures to secure its borders from potential additional terrorist attacks. This has hindered the flow of goods, services and people with subsequent negative effects on both the American and Canadian economies.

The CIC Border Issues Working Group explored the Canada-US border from security, economic and political perspectives by looking at how the United States and Canada can protect each other through increased border efficiency and security, while maintaining their competitive edge and quality of life in an era of emerging economies and alarming global forces.

The Americas have historically been, and to a large extent are still, perceived as a region dominated by the United States. Canada has nonetheless played an active role in the region, from peacekeeping in Central America and Haiti, to democracy building throughout the region, to collaborations with regional and national military, judiciary, governance, and aid agencies in efforts to help bring peace, prosperity, and good governance to this region.

The CIC’s Canada and the Americas project examined a range of the strategic, economic, political and social policy challenges which Canada currently faces and will likely need to confront in the future in its relations with Caribbean and Latin American countries.

India is one of the world’s most promising markets, and the country is a priority both for the Government of Canada and for many of the provinces.

The CIC’s Canada-India Relations project explored why the potential for Canadian business in India has never been fully realized, either in terms of trade or foreign direct investment, and made recommendations on what needs to be done by both business and government.

Given the ever-growing importance of China and the enormous impact its growth is having and will continue to have on the world, it is critical that Canada be better prepared and equipped to manage its relations with China.

The CIC China Working Group examined Canada-China relations and prepared recommendations for the bilateral relationship in the context of three thematic areas: domestic contexts for engagement, economic relations between Canada and China, and collaboration between the two countries on global issues.

On October 13, 2010, the CIC China Papers were presented in China at a CIC-China Institute of International Studies conference marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Canada and the People’s Republic of China.

Canada is one of the world’s largest per capita consumers of energy and the largest external supplier of energy to the US market. The energy sector, broadly defined, occupies a significant place in the Canadian economy. As a moderately large producer and very large consumer of energy, Canada has a significant economic and geopolitical interest in the global forces and trends that will drive energy production and consumption in the years ahead.

The CIC Energy Working Group highlighted the nexus of Canadian energy and domestic policy with foreign policy issues and priorities, with a focus on two particular issue areas, climate change and electricity policy, projects that aimed to inform and provoke the Canadian policy debate – federally and provincially – by examining the linkages between climate change policy, electricity policy and foreign policy.