Barriers at the Border: The Costs of Impediments to Business Mobility

(Conference Board of Canada)

We are pleased to bring you our latest ITIC report – Barriers at the Border: The Costs of Impediments to Business Mobility – which will be publicly released tomorrow [Wednesday]. This report explains how language differences, the shortage of Canadian foreign offices, and visa processing systems have negatively impacted trade, investment, and visits to Canada.

The analysis suggests that to alleviate the costs due to this lost economic activity, policy makers should reduce wait times for visas, increase the use of multi-entry visas, and expand outsourcing of visa processing. Also, some Canadian overseas offices should be expanded, especially in large, emerging economies where Canada has visa requirements, such as China, Russia, India, and Turkey. The resulting increased trade and investment flows would benefit the Canadian economy directly as well as indirectly, through reduced operating costs, productivity gains, and technology transfers.

To download the full report, go to http://www.conferenceboard.ca/ (registration required).