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Canada Looks to "Borderless" Europe with Launch of Joint European Studies Institute at York University and the University of Toronto
"There is a need for Canada to become better acquainted with the European Union of today," said York University Prof. Jeff Peck, who will co-direct the institute with Prof. Scott Eddie of the University of Toronto. "The Institutes of European Studies will enable us to focus all of the existing expertise in Canada on European affairs and make it accessible to the public in a meaningful way," said Eddie. He said the York/UofT Institute will connect the teaching programs in European studies at the two universities, provide for collaborative research with European scholars, and sponsor events and programs of interest to the wider community and to European business men and women in Toronto.
Suzanne Gordon, the joint institute's postdoctoral fellow at York University, says the recent changes in Europe are important to Canada and Canadian businesses engaged in international trade. "Every issue of concern imaginable to a nation state, from education and the economy to culture and health, is now being dealt with in a transnational Europe," said Gordon, who has conducted extensive research into the creation of new corporate forms under EU law and the harmonization of national and transnational regulation of these entities. "This offers us lessons in the complexities of globalization, as well as the challenges of integrating the economies of smaller states into larger trading entities."
The 15-member EU is Canada's second largest trading partner after the United States, with two-way trade in goods and services exceeding $59 billion in 1998. Canada now exports about $18 billion annually to the EU, but its exports have not kept pace with EU economic growth. In 1999, the 11 countries of the euro-zone, with a population of 300-million, matched US global economic output of 20 per cent. The EU is now the world's largest single market, valued at US$8.6-trillion. Nevertheless, Canada's trade focus has continued to shift away from Europe and towards the USA and Mexico, while both Canada and the US have lost market share in the EU as intra-EU trade has grown.
The European Commission (EC) has funded four institutes across the country to foster a Canada-wide interest in the changes taking place in Europe in an era of globalized trade. Funding of 55,000 euro ($69,805) for each institute has been awarded also to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Carleton University in Ottawa, and McGill and the UniversitÈ de MontrÈal in Montreal. Ambassador Smadja will attend opening festivities for the Toronto-based Institute at York University's Atkinson building at 9:30 a.m., and at the University of Toronto, Trinity College, 6 Hoskin Ave. at 3 p.m., hosted by the Munk Centre for International Studies (see attached program).
For further information, please contact:
Judy Noordermeer
Susan Bigelow
YORK UNIVERSITY
9:30-10:00 a.m. - Welcome
10:00-10:15 a.m. - Ambassador DaniËle Smadja, Head of Delegation of the European Commission in Canada
10:15-11:45 a.m. - Research Presentations
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
3:00-3:15 p.m. - Opening Remarks
3:15-3:30 p.m. - Ambassador DaniËle Smadja, Head of Delegation of the European Commission in Canada
3:30-3:40 p.m. - Scott Eddie, Co-Director, Institute of European Studies
3:40-5:00 p.m. - Research Presentations
5:00 p.m. - Closing Remarks: Carl G. Amrhein, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Science
Reception at Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 1 Devonshire Place, Toronto
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