Relations between Canada and the US have not always been convivial, but the Canadian business community nevertheless has good reason for wanting to keep the relationship on an even keel. As the Canadian Chamber of Commerce noted in its June 2002 report, Directions for the Future: “Canadians do not want to become totally integrated with the US, and they do not want to become Americans. But they do want to reap the maximum economic benefits of the economic partnership with the US.”
Of course, Canada’s commercial law firms already understood how important access to the US economy was for Canadian companies. For years, they have watched as their leading clients moved south across the border in search of wider opportunities. The daily trading value of Canadian stocks on the New York Stock Exchange has increased from $305m to $453.8m in the past five years. These companies’ interest in New York is understandable: 56% of the world’s total market capitalisation is invested in New York, against just 2% in Toronto. “When Canadian companies reach a certain size, they have to expand internationally,” says Berl Nadler, senior partner of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg. “The Canadian domestic market is easily saturated.”
