Dawson Strategic

On April 12, 2013, the Mowat Centre of the University of Toronto and the Canada-U.S. Law Institute of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland successfully launched the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR).  Dawson Strategic played a key role in the inception of this organization. While still maintaining DS client work, Laura Dawson will serve [...]

By Jeffrey Phillips, Energy Consultant and Guest Contributor The terms “game changer” and “revolution” are typically used to describe the shale gas phenomenon in North America, and rightfully so.  The combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or ‘fracking’) has made the recovery of natural gas from shale economically viable, leading to increased natural gas [...]

By Stefania Bartucci Receiving this year’s budget, I felt like a kid at Christmas who was really hoping that Santa would pony up for a Nintendo Wii, and instead discovered some new socks and pajamas under the tree.  You know you need them, but socks and PJs won’t entertain you for hours on end. No [...]

I was surprised and delighted to receive a Diamond Jubilee Medal in December 2012.  60,000 medals have been presented to Canadians to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Queen’s Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne.  I was nominated by the Macdonald Laurier Institute in recognition of my contribution to Canada-United States relations. Thanks to Brian Lee Crowley and his team at [...]

Canada and Mexico officially joined the TPP negotiations on October 9. The other members are Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. What are the TPP negotiations covering? What do they mean for our existing FTAs with Mexico, Peru and Chile? Is there a link with the Pacific Alliance process? [...]

Having received the blessing of US Congress on October 9th, Canada will take its seat at the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiating table in New Zealand on December 3rd for the 15th round of negotiations towards what is being dubbed a “next generation 21st century trade agreement”. Some progress has been made in areas such as market [...]

There is no shortage of controversy on the subject of Canada’s investment relationship with China – particularly in the energy sector. Dawson Strategic landed in this issue last summer with “Potash and Blackberries,” a paper written for MLI on Canada’s foreign investment review process. The paper argues that Canada’s foreign investment review process  is adequate – we [...]

The Canada-U.S. Regulatory Cooperation Council and Beyond the Border initiatives are nearing the end of their first year of bilateral meetings and stakeholder outreach.On December 12, Christopher Sands and I will meet at the Wilson Center in Washington to discuss the progress in the first year and to introduce our new paper “A Safe and [...]

No one can argue that international trade consulting opens doors to a lot of travel — sometimes nearby, sometimes halfway around the world.  In October 2012, we spent three days in Buffalo, NY attending the Ontario Motor Coach Association Annual Meeting, working with members of our US-Canada Motor Coach Coalition on ways to make the [...]

Since Dawson Strategic is active in both US and Canadian policy issues, we could not help but be caught up in the drama and speculation leading up to the US presidential elections. Laura honed her punditry skills as a recurring election panelist on CTV’s Powerplay.  Host Don Martin and various US panellists were a lot [...]