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In many ways, the Southeast U.S. Canadian Provinces Alliance conference in Savannah this week was a homecoming, returning to the place of its first event 14 years later.
But it could also be seen as a reset for the business-driven conclave, given that the pandemic-era timing and the geopolitical shifts taking place in a dramatically different world.
These facts prompted some soul-searching at the conference among those who helped launch it about how to ensure its continued relevance, and how subnational collaboration — among states, provinces, cities and counties — can be leveraged in the U.S.-Canada relationship today.
The spark for SEUS/CP came when Craig Lesser, Georgia’s commissioner of economic development from 2004-07, took a state delegation to Canada and met in Ottawa with then-U.S. ambassador David Wilkins, a South Carolinian who by some accounts introduced Canadians to boiled peanuts.
“Being from South Carolina, he was very interested in business and other elements of the relationship,” Mr. Lesser said on stage while moderating a SEUS/CP luncheon panel Monday, with Mr. Wilkins in the audience. “I said, ‘Well, why don’t we do something similar to SEUS-Japan, which has been so successful over the years?’ Ambassador Wilkins jumped on a call with his chief of staff and said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Mr. Lesser took the idea back to then-Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, who joined him on stage for a SEUS/CP panel discussion that also included Maryscott “Scotty” Greenwood, CEO of the Canadian American Business Council, partner in Crestview Strategy and an expert on U.S.-Canada relations, having worked in the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa and on projects with multiple provincial governments.
Mr. Perdue’s team worked with that of his counterpart from Quebec, then-Premier Jean Charest, to put together a partnership that was signed by six states and seven provinces during a 2007 ceremony in Montreal.
See Global Atlanta’s coverage of the 2007 signing ceremony:
When Mr. Perdue saw the numbers his staff put together on trade and investment with Canada, the alliance made “all the sense in the world,” but there was also a cultural resonance that reinforced the economic rationale.
Mr. Perdue would go on to become U.S. secretary of agriculture during the Trump administration, and some have credited him with help inject a sense of realism into the former president’s angst over the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“A lot of us were quite worried about what would happen to our economies,” Ms. Greenwood said. “And it fell to the secretary of agriculture to explain to the president that we are so integrated.”
A big part of that, Mr. Perdue said, came from understanding the bottom-up nature of the U.S.-Canada business ties through his work with SEUS/CP and the relationships built with premiers who also took higher positions in government and diplomacy, like Gary Doer, former premier of Manitoba who became ambassador to the United States.
Understanding the people behind the policy made it easier to find common ground, said Mr. Perdue, who was just chosen as chancellor of the University System of Georgia.
“It’s really the essence of trade. Our Canada partners were doing a lot of things better than we were. And we were doing a lot of things better than they were. That’s really what makes trade work. Let’s us do what we do best and swap,” Mr. Perdue said.
Ms. Greenwood agreed, noting that whether it’s potatoes from Prince Edward Island or oil and gas from Alberta — both issues she has worked on — the rules come from the above but the rubber meets the road in states and provinces. And sometimes, as in the case of post-9/11 ID requirements, provinces and states can help inform national-government policy.
“The framework is set by the feds, but it’s implemented at the working level, right across the board, not just in businesses, but also with governors, and it’s not particularly partisan or political,” Ms. Greenwood said.
That squares with the philosophy behind SEUS/CP, which was born out of the realization that all international economic development centered on getting deeply acquainted across borders, said Mr. Lesser, who now chairs the Pendleton Group consultancy.
“As we worked together, everything about our international strategy was relationships: How do we get to know people and peel back the layers of the onion so that they got to know who we were?” he said.
For these relationships to stay strong, Ms. Greenwood, both sides need shared stories and interpersonal connections that at times can be aided by “grand diplomatic gestures” linking people on a heart level.
She shared the story of Nova Scotians sending their prized Christmas tree to Boston for more than a century to thank the Massachusetts city for medical help after a ship collision caused a massive explosion that leveled parts of Halifax, the provincial capital, killing 1,800 and injuring 9,000 more.
“They have this gift, and it tells the story of how interconnected we are as people,” Ms. Greenwood said, suggesting that state societies in Washington get together to host maple tree festivals honoring the Canadian government’s gift of the signature tree to the American capital.
“You can use it to do a business exchange, you can use it to celebrate culture, but you can also use it to connect your state and federal and international elected officials, so that’s that’s my little idea for the day,” she said.
The SEUS/CP conferences, which alternate between the South and the Canadian provinces, have been venues where memories have been made and links have been forged, Mr. Perdue said.
“There’s a young Canadian girl in Canada today named Savannah that’s about 13 years old. Their parents have admitted she was conceived in Savannah at that conference. Culturally, you can’t beat that,” he said.
All this adds up to an endorsement for deepening trade and business ties with Canada, which is often accepted but not always strategically targeted by companies, Mr. Lesser said.
“From a business perspective sometimes we — in the Southeast at least — neglect to think of Canada first,” Mr. Lesser said, noting that many consider penetrating markets in China or Europe without understanding that they can find a more culturally connected customer base just a short hop away.
“It’s so much easier to do our business and develop stronger relationships,” he said. “One of the things I think we neglect to do is make frequent trips, because in two days we can accomplish something, rather than going overseas and having to spend a week or 10 days and thousands and thousands of dollars.”
Ms. Greenwood added that Canadians also need to up their knowledge of the Southeast U.S., which boasts a consulate with trade capabilities in Atlanta and a community of hundreds of existing Canadian investors across multiple states.
And Mr. Perdue noted that time zone, language and culture are all vital points, as well as the fact that Canada is already the top export market for most states.
“As a business person, these folks out here know, the best customers you can have are the ones you already have. And we were already doing business, so let’s go do more,” Mr. Perdue said.
The panelists suggested that more might be done to link academic institutions and researchers in the South and the provinces, as well as support government-to-government links when there is buy-in from both sides.
They also suggested that a hallmark of the conference — business-to-business meetings that in this year’s edition touched nearly 90 companies — should continue to be a focus going forward.
“If we connect our business people, they can figure that out better than we can. We don’t really have to tell them what sectors,” Mr. Perdue said. “We just need to get them together at a meeting like this, and they figure it out. These business to business meetings that go on, that’s really where it happens.”
SEUS/CP heads to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2023.
See more about this year’s event here: Canada Conference in Savannah Brings Deals, Renewed Focus on Resiliency Through Trade Ties
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