FIPRA Network
View from Canada: Biden beats Trump. Now, the challenges

Few elections live up to their billing as “the most important of our lifetime.” This one did, erupting in several directions, in ways never before seen.
More than one hundred million Americans voted before election day, by far the greatest number ever. The most expensive election by far. Some estimates put the total at $14 billion dollars, or roughly $55 per voter – more than ten times what is spent in Canada. And the narrowest margin of victory since John F. Kennedy’s 60 years ago, but the election of a new president by a razor thin margin in the Electoral College, nonetheless.
That there was not more chaos and dysfunction in conducting the vote was a miracle. The American electoral system is badly broken, with competing rules, vote counting processes, and a rise in voter suppression techniques in too many states. That’s before you contemplate how to limit the damage to any democracy worthy of the name, given the distortions of the Electoral College.
For Canada, the US election results point to a return to the more conventional Ottawa-Washington relationship, with the usual tensions over trade and public procurement barriers being addressed mostly behind closed doors, and typically kicked down the road if not actually resolved.
For Canada, the US election results point to a return to the more conventional Ottawa-Washington relationship, with the usual tensions over trade and public procurement barriers being addressed mostly behind closed doors, and typically kicked down the road if not actually resolved.
– Robin Sears
The Trudeau government will finally need to make up its mind about a new China strategy. There will be serious risks to the Canada-US alliance on other fronts if we do not show some greater spine on China’s transgressive behaviour. For most Canadians, that starts with getting our two political hostages safely home.
Read the full article by Robin Sears in Canada’s Policy Magazine here.
Watch Earnscliffe Strategies’ webinar analysing the 2020 US election results and the way forward here, also featuring Rhod Shaw, President of FIPRA USA / Alpine Group.
Earnscliffe Principal Sarah Goldfeder was featured in a Hill Times piece highlighting the need for policy reform, and on a Communitech webinar on how the US election results may impact business.
FIPRA Canada / Earnscliffe Strategies
The Canadian specialists at Earnscliffe have decades of experience promoting regulatory initiatives, tracking policy decisions and advocating clients’ interests on a wide range of economic, environmental and social issues. Click here to get in touch.

