Canada's Diplomatic Strategy Must Shift to State Capitals

The Texas economy has surpassed Canada's in size, and Ottawa needs to adjust its diplomatic strategy to focus more on state capitals rather than Capitol Hill.

A recent analysis by Trevor Tombe found that Ontario ranked 48th and Quebec 55th among the 60 states and provinces in GDP per capita, with a Canada-U.S. gap bigger than it has been since World War II.

Program manager of the New North America Initiative at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy, Alex Giordano, argued that Ottawa needs to engage more with state capitals, where governors and legislators are shaping national debates on key issues such as energy, manufacturing, immigration, and artificial intelligence.