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For roughly the past 25 years, under Liberal and then Conservative federal governments, Canada has pursued one or the other of two broad strategies on economic growth and trade.

Under the Chretien Liberals, basically, we permitted our dollar to fall so that goods we manufacture would be cheap (and thus competitive) in the U.S. market.

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Meanwhile, under the Harper Tories, the plan was, largely, to reduce corporate taxes to levels below the U.S. in hopes that foreign companies looking to establish a North American base would be attracted to the Great White North. After all, we couldn’t offer them sunbelt labour codes or weather.

Both strategies, though, were dependent on NAFTA. Whether investors came here for the cheap dollar or the lower taxes, what they were ultimately interested in was the preferred access the trade deal gave us to the vast U.S. market.

So what will be the Trudeau Liberals’ strategy?