Mexico's Pena Nieto Inherits an Underperforming Relationship with Canada Global Insider
go to original December 7, 2012

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper welcomes Enrique Peña Nieto, President-elect of Mexico to Parliament Hill last week. (PMStephenHarper)

Meeting with Enrique Peña Nieto in Ottawa shortly before the new Mexican president’s inauguration, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged to work to reverse a sensitive visa requirement for Mexicans visiting Canada. In an email interview, Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, discussed Canada-Mexico relations.

WPR: What was the trajectory of Mexico-Canada relations under Mexican President Felipe Calderon?

Duncan Wood: At the beginning of 2006 relations were at a relative high point. Canada had identified Mexico as a strategic partner; the Canada-Mexico Partnership had just been founded; and the language, at least, of trilateralism was still in fashion in Ottawa. Within the Canadian business community, a gradual realization that North America extended south of the Rio Grande had taken place, so that a progressive “discovery of Mexico” by Canadian firms was firmly underway. Then a series of negative factors hit the relationship. First, the election of Stephen Harper as prime minister of Canada in February of 2006 brought concerns that Canada would refocus its attention on bilateral relations with the U.S. at the expense of Mexico. Second, Mexico’s catastrophic drug violence severely damaged Mexico’s image in Canada. Third, the handling of visa applications for Mexican citizens created a negative reaction among Mexican political and social elites and strained relations at the diplomatic level. Lastly, the Harper government’s cancelling of Canadian studies funding globally decimated what was one of the world’s most active and enthusiastic Canadian studies communities in Mexico. After that, despite a very healthy business and economic relationship, it was difficult to re-establish strong and active relations.

WPR: What is the significance of the visa-free travel issue?

Wood: The possibility of taking away the visa requirement for Mexican citizens to travel to Canada is intriguing. It would help to smooth relations and would constitute a recognition of Mexico’s status as a partner in North America, rather than as just another Latin American nation. (Prior to 2009, Mexico had been the only country in Latin America whose citizens did not require a visa to enter Canada.) But most importantly, it would signify that Canada is ready to take steps to improve a relationship that has been marked by schizophrenic rhetoric and action from the Canadian side in recent years.

WPR: As Enrique Peña Nieto takes office in Mexico, what are the main opportunities for expanding the relationship?

Wood: The main opportunities lie primarily in the economic relationship, in expanding Canadian trade and investment with Mexico and in encouraging Mexican investment in Canada. The two countries must recognize that, just as in their respective relationships with the U.S., they depend on each other for an integrated production process in which advances in the competitiveness of one country positively impacts the other. Mexico’s long-expected energy reform could open up significant opportunities for Canadian oil and gas firms, and on the foreign policy front, the two countries should work together to develop a unified stand on issues of global importance through the G-20.

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