I am working on a project for a client and as a result have been reading that recent study on NAFTA and trade integration with the U.S.
Before you read this finding from the study, remember that the anti-Atlantica crown are deeply concerned that integration will dessimate wages, working conditions and labour standards.
Over the 1988 to 1999 period, increased trade integration was associated with real wage gains for manufacturing workers of 12.0% for Ontario, but only 1.0% for Quebec, 0.8% for Western Canada, and 0.4% in Atlantic Canada.
Now, anti-Atlantica Maude Barlow types will say that Statistics Canada has been poisoned by the American capitalist pigs.
Or maybe, they prefer to have Atlantic Canada in the economic crapper so they can have a whipping boy.
Bottom line?
If Atlantic Canada had better trade integration with the US (and no that doesn’t equate to cultural or political integration), we may have benefitted more.
Vive Atlantica.