Will Carney’s “Third Path” Suffer the Fate of the “Third Option”? |
In trying to make sense of the current chaotic global events, older readers may recall a past period in Canadian history when our economy was threatened by damaging policies adopted by the United States. This was in 1971 with the so-called “Nixon shocks” when President Richard Nixon unilaterally decided to take several measures impacting the global economy including terminating the “gold standard” for its currency and imposing a 10% tariff on foreign imports.
This jolt led the Canadian Government of the day to adopt what was referred to as the “Third Option” policy. As outlined in a 1972 white paper by then Secretary of State for External Affairs Mitchell Sharp, the Third Option was the alternative to two other possible postures – maintaining the status quo or seeking “closer integration” with the United States. The preferred path was a Third Option which would entail diversification of our trade away from the US and the pursuit of a national industrial strategy that would strengthen domestic capacity and expand Canadian ownership.
It seemed like a good plan at the time, but the powerful........