The Canadians are coming!
Canadian politicians have decided to upgrade Italy from tourist destination to business and diplomatic endeavor. Dalton McGuinty, Maxime Bernier, Stephen Harper and (probably) Gerry Ritz are all en route. Cars, the Vatican, Italy's right-wing prime minister and food shortages are all on the agenda. Canadian diplomats in Europe can't remember the last time so many government heavyweights descended on the country.
Of the trio, the Ontario premier, Mr. McGuinty, has the toughest job. He is due in Torino Wednesday to visit Sergio Marchionne, the Italian-Canadian CEO of Fiat. The auto maker wants to build its sporty Alfa Romeos, and possibly some of the small Fiat models, like the hot-selling Fiat 500, in North America. Ontario is pitching hard for the factory, but the odds of getting it appear slim. If Mr. Marchionne wants a factory big enough to build both Alfas and Fiats, and supply North, Central and South America (where Fiat is already a big brand), splitting the geographic distance might make the most sense. If so, Mexico would be a strong contender. Of course, freebies talk. If Mr. McGuinty arrives with a cheque payable to Fiat, and invites Mr. Marchionne to fill in whatever amount he wants, Ontario would still have a chance.
Mr. Bernier, the foreign affairs minister, arrives in Italy today or tomorrow, part of quickie tour that includes Croatia and the Vatican. While he is to meet Franco Frattini, his Italian counterpart, to discuss climate change, Afghanistan and European Union-Canada trade, the prize is evidently an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. Whether he will see the pope in a general audience or one-on-one is not known. Mr. Bernier may also visit the Knights of Malta, a 1,000-year-old Catholic order that is devoted to charity and has its sovereign headquarters in Rome.
Mr. Harper, the prime minister, is due in Rome next week and will probably break bread with Silvio Berlusconi, the thrice-elected prime minister who just won something close to a landslide victory against Walter Veltroni's centre-left party. Trade probably will be high on the agenda, as will climate change. Harper likes to talk about climate change and then essentially does little about it. Ditto Mr. Berlusconi. Call it a meeting of conservative minds.
Mr. Ritz, the federal agriculture minister, should be in Rome in early June for the United Nations food summit, sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). But his presence has not been officially confirmed. It might be a good idea if he shows up. Food is the next oil and Canada is one of the few countries with the potential to grow enough grains to take the edge off the food "crisis." Several dozen heads of state will be at the summit. Canada will turn into a laughing stock if it doesn't send its top agriculture people.
Some advice to Mr. Ritz: Tone down your defence of ethanol when you come to Rome. Mr. Ritz has been an supporter of ethanol, that is, turning food into fuel. By now it's apparent that ethanol production is raising food prices everywhere. To argue otherwise would be foolish.
- Post a comment
- Skip to the latest comment
- Back to the blog
-
Paul Collins from Canada writes: Can the G & M do an article on this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?inarticleid=567190&inpageid=1770 Yes it spells opportunity, but at present it spells disaster for UK and EU households.
Mystery of Everyman's Way- Posted 19/05/08 at 11:40 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
-
tom cox from Troy, writes: Regardless of how many times Mr Reguly or his colleagues at the Globe deside to pin the rise in food prices to ethanol it does not make it so. Informa one of the most well respected US grain analytical firms in a recent study had this to say "It may be politically convenient to blame ethanol for rising food prices but it doesn’t make it factually accurate. As far as Informa is concerned, this debate is settled" Similarly, the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) showed little impact from ethanol on food prices. It suggested a rise of 0,2% could be attributed to the US CPI for food. Texas A&M in a report released last month "“The underlying force driving changes in the agricultural industry, is overall higher energy costs, evidenced by $100 per barrel oil. This research supports the hypothesis that corn prices have had little to do with rising food costs. Higher corn prices do have a small effect on some food items.” From Terry Francl, the senior economist for the American Farm Bureau, “While there is plenty of rhetoric in the media about higher corn prices due to ethanol causing higher consumer food prices, nearly all the evidence points to other factors. The reality is that to date higher corn prices have had very little impact on consumer food prices.” From Bob Friesen, the President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture "“Biofuels have been unfairly implicated as a primary cause of dwindling food stocks and high grain prices.” Finally from FO Licht, a European analytical firm "“Grain and oilseed consumption for biofuels is mostly over-estimated and limited in terms of their share in total global usage. In 2007, 4.5% of global grain usage was to make fuel alcohol and 3.3% in 2006. However, once animal feed biofuel co-products are factored in, those figures fall to 3% in 2007 and 2.2% for 2006.” Perhaps when reporting on agricultural issues some understanding of agriculture should be a consideration.
- Posted 19/05/08 at 12:34 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
-
Michael Richardson from OakvilleMontreal, Canada writes: Jeep us posted Eric.. I'm relieved that Canadian politicians have finally decided to court countries of the same economic and political weight class. Next we should be in Spain, then Holland and Switzerland. These are countries where we can have a fair and balanced approach. Not the BRIC/USA countries of the world, where we will inevitably get hammered.
- Posted 19/05/08 at 12:56 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Join the Conversation, Leave a Comment
This conversation is semi-moderated What is moderation? | How do I report a comment?
You must be logged-in to submit a comment — login now!
Not registered with globeandmail.com? Register now. It is quick and free.
close
Alert us about this comment
Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.
Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.
