Canada and the European Community: a conference organized by the CIIA in cooperation with Department of External Affairs and the Commission of the European Community. Volume XXXII, No. 6, February 1974

Reford, Robert W. and Soames, Sir Christopher. and Creery, Tim (1974) Canada and the European Community: a conference organized by the CIIA in cooperation with Department of External Affairs and the Commission of the European Community. Volume XXXII, No. 6, February 1974. Canadian Institute for International Affairs.

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Abstract

"The new Europe . . . Will it be a new dynamic community leading to a new wave of prosperity in the world? or will it be an inward-looking regional bloc? Will it look at North America as a continental bloc? or will it recognize that two countries are involved, each with its separate policies? These are vital questions - for Europe and for Canada." This was the outline for the first public conference on Canada and the European Community, which the Canadian Institute of International Affairs organized in Ottawa in November 1973, in co-operation with the Department of External Affairs and the Commission of the European Community. The conference reached no conclusions and made no recommendations. That was not its purpose. It was intended to be an opportunity for Canadians to learn more about the Community, and for the Community to hear what Canadians are thinking. Some 200 people took part, from Europe, from all parts of Canada, and from a wide variety of professions. The impressions they took home with them are undoubtedly many and various. The Europeans present may have been surprised to find the age-old debate about Canadian identity surfacing, and the Canadians are likely to have been impressed with the progress Europe is making towards its goal of complete economic union by 1980. What follows is not a polished analysis of the conference. It is a collection of speeches and reports. As such, it may have a certain raggedness. At the same time, it captures the favour of the occasion. For those present, it will remind and refresh. For those unable to come, it indicates the breadth of the discussions. For everyone, it will raise questions. The Institute is grateful to the Community and to the Department of External Affairs for their support in organizing the conference. We are grateful too to the participants for the part they played in making the sessions come to life. We hope it may have contributed towards a better understanding of relations between Canada and the European Community on which so much will depend in the years ahead.

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