Globalization & Canadian Sovereignty

The globalisation of trade and finance is changing international relationships at several levels of interaction. One expects changing relationships in the conduct of commercial activities, and some people accept that compromises are both desirable and necessary in relation to labour standards, the protection of the physical environment, and other socially and politically sensitive issues. Even many of the people who accept the need for compromise in some areas, however, tend to balk at actions that lead to substantial curtailments on state sovereignty to support unfettered free trade on a global basis (Laxer, 2003).

Nevertheless, there are policy proposals related to globalisation, as well as provisions in existing multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements that hold the potential for the imposition of substantial curtailments on state sovereignty. In some instances, the threats to state sovereignty are greater for smaller countries than for larger countries because governments of smaller countries tend to have less bargaining power than do governments of larger countries. In most instances, however, multinational corporations (MNCs) gain power at the expense of state sovereignty. While more MNCs are based in larger countries than in smaller countries, the major power shift, when such shifts occur, tend to be from states to MNCs than from smaller state to larger state (Laxer, 2003).

onomic action and response (especially so in relation to capital transactions), as opposed to intervals of hours, days, weeks, or months that separated economic actions and responses in earlier periods. To a lesser extent, Heilbronner and Milberg (2002) referred to greater efficiencies in the movement of goods on a global basis. Heilbronner and Milberg (2002) noted that the volume and rapid movement of financial capital in the international economy is the most dramatic mechanism of the latest manifestation of the process of globalisation. Both the capacity and the willingness of the parties who control financial capital to supply or withdraw capital from an economy quickly contribute to the rapid development, as well as to the severity, of balance of payments and debt crises for some economies. Sovereign states find it difficult to influence either the volume or the rapidity of capital movements in the globalised environment. Globalisation's Threats to National Sovereignty Colander (2001) argued that, because the process of globalisation leads to an overall increase in the level of economic activity, everyone benefits from the process. Heilbronner and Milberg (2002) pointed out, however, that increasing the strength of econ