Remembering Captain Mowat: MaineCanada Trade

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Remembering Captain Mowat Maine-Canada Trade

• Wade Merritt
• Maine International Trade Center
• November, 2000

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A long history of commerce

• Maine one of the Boston States
• Jurrien Aernouts
• Captain Mowats torch
• Supplies to Britain
• Shopping, shopping, shopping

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What does it look like now?

• Increasing volumes of trade since 1987, with
  jumps in 1989 and 1995 (CFTA and NAFTA)
• Increasing volumes of traffic through land border
  crossings
• Increased investment in Maine by Canadian
  companies

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Trade

• Maine exports to Canada have increased 76.7
  since 1993 (year before NAFTA)
• Maine imports from Canada have increased 86.4
  since 1993
• Canadian dollar has lost value since 1993
• Objections to NAFTA on both sides of the border

Source US Bureau of the Census (exports),
Statistics Canada (imports)
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Maine imports/exports from/to Canada
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Trade

• Export trade
• increases in commodities
• logs and primary wood products up 60
• blueberries, potatoes and primary ag products up
  156.1 (7.5M to 19.1M)
• fish, lobster, and primary fisheries products up
  236.8 (37.9M to 127.4M)
• increases in value-added and high-tech
• Motor vehicle suspension/steering parts up 267.6
  (2.8M to 10.2M)
• Telecommunications equipment up 58.9 (4.5M to
  7.1M)

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Maine exports to Canada (selected SIC groups)
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Trade

• Imports from Canada
• reimports of processed commodities
• lumber from Québec
• processed blueberries from Nova Scotia
• processed lobster from New Brunswick
• other major import sectors
• gas and oil from New Brunswick
• electric power from Québec and New Brunswick

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Maine imports from Canada, selected SIC groups
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Maine exports to Canada as a percentage of GSP,
selected SIC groups
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Trucks and traffic

• Traffic through Maines primary commercial land
  borders increasing
• Calais-St. Stephen/Milltown ranks as the
  eighth-busiest northern border crossing point
• Houlton, Jackman, Madawaska also increasing

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Trucks and traffic

• Increased flow of US tourists to Canada because
  of low Canadian dollar
• Truck traffic to Canadian parent companies of
  Maine subsidiaries
• Flow of US-origin goods to Port of Halifax
  Calais is primary land border crossing for it

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Increasing traffic through border crossings
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Investment in Maine

• Substantial, increasing over past 12 months
• Prexar (Aliant, New Brunswick)
• Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. (Emera, Nova Scotia)
• Stinson Seafood (Connors Bros., New Brunswick)

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Investment in Maine

• Irving Corporation
• J.D. Irving (pulplands), largest private
  landholder in Maine
• Irving Oil Corporation (convenience stores, home
  heating oil)
• Cavendish Farms (agriculture, potatoes)
• McCains Ltd.
• Major plants in Aroostook

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Investment in Maine

• Cherryfield Foods (Oxford Foods, NS)
• blueberries and cranberries
• Great Northern Paper (INEXCON, QC)
• Quadic Systems, Inc. (Tundra, ON)
• network software developer
• Sabean Cymbals
• Fraser Paper (Noranda, QC)

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Investment in Maine

• Substantial and increasing
• Concentrated in northern and eastern Maine
• 14,000 people in Maine working for Canadian
  companies
• Investments of 1.3 billion in property and
  equipment

Employment and investment figures 1997, USDOC, BEA
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Other projects

• Wild Blueberry Association of North America
  (WBANA)
• joint marketing authority
• MDOT/NBDOT joint project on Calais-St. Stephen
  border crossing
• Governors and Premiers Joint Task Force on
  Trade and Globalization

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