Andrea Mandel-Campbell

Andrea Mandel-Campbell is the co-host of BNN’s SqueezePlay, as well as a veteran journalist, author and sought-after public speaker. Nominated for the Writer’s Trust Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing and the John Wesley Dafoe Book Prize, Mandel-Campbell is the author of the best-selling book, Why Mexicans Don’t Drink Molson. She takes a penetrating and unapologetic look at why Canadian companies fail to go global and why they must. As a public speaker, Mandel-Campbell regularly travels the country to speak with government, companies and industry associations about the challenges and opportunities globalization offers and what Canadians need to do to be more competitive both from a private and public policy perspective.

Mandel-Campbell is on the board of directors of the Canadian Council for the Americas and in 2008 the Forum for International Trade Training (FITT) awarded her an Honorary Certified International Trade Professional designation (CITP). She also sits on the editorial board of Export Development Canada’s quarterly magazine, ExportWise.

A foreign correspondent in Latin America for close to a decade, Mandel-Campbell was the Mexico bureau chief for London’s Financial Times as well as correspondent in Argentina for Business Week magazine. In Canada, she worked as a feature writer for the National Post, specializing in global competitiveness issues and has contributed to Maclean’s and The Walrus magazines. In 2006, Mandel-Campbell won a media fellowship from the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada to travel to China and write about Canada-China business ties for Maclean’s magazine.

She lives in Toronto with her husband, daughter Isabella, and son, Adrian.

    Why Mexicans Don't Drink Molson: Rescuing Canadian Business from the Suds of Global Obscurity

    SIX DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Globalization and the Rise of China: The world's economic axis has shifted and Canada lacks the single most important defense in a globalized world: multinationals. Canada doesn't boast a single brand among the world's top 100 and its largest companies are almost without exception run by America and other foreign-born executives. With the standard of living stagnant and lacklustre productivity, Canada could become the Argentina of the 21st century unless it learns to compete in international markets.

2. What Trade? Canada is the most trade dependent country of the Group of 8 industrialized countries yet it nurtures a yawning trade deficit with practically every country in the world except the United States. And if it weren't for cars and commodities, Canada would have a trade deficit south of the border as well. At the same time, Canadians invest more in the tiny tax haven of the Cayman Islands then they do in China. With Canada's share of trade and investment diminishing the world over, the country is grappling with the inherent contradiction of its economic survival: it is a trade dependent country that does not trade in the true sense and does not know how.

3. Why Mexicans Don't Drink Molson: An inordinate number of Canadian companies, both large and small, seem to fail spectacularly when they try to expand internationally - often resulting in their sell-off or complete collapse. Canadian companies seem to make the same mistakes over and over again - learn what they keep doing wrong, why and how we can learn from their mistakes.

4. The Milk Mafia: The glaring absence of internationally competitive Canadian companies can ultimately be traced back to fundamentally flawed industrial policies that treat industry as social utilities rather than wealth generators. Onerous regulations, state-sponsored cartels and foreign investment restrictions in banking, telecommunications, agriculture and forestry among others handcuff Canadian companies and ensure Canadians are attitudinally ill-equipped for global competition.

5. The Multicultural Meal Ticket: Multiculturalism is Canada's greatest competitive advantage. New Canadians are like cultural double agents that could be the key that unlocks the door to international success yet Canadian companies routinely overlook their language skills and foreign work experience. How can Canada tap into New Canadians as a bridge into international markets?

6. Team Canada and Tequila: Canadian trade policy is at a critical crossroads - Canada hasn't signed a major trade deal in years and despite a decade of Team Canada trade missions, Canada's share of world trade diminishes. Instead of promoting winners, Canada's still stuck-in-the-60s trade promotion subsidizes losers while Export Development Canada, unlike state-sponsored export credit agencies the world over, actively discourages the private sector from providing trade export finance. As a result "there's not a trade finance banker to be found in Toronto," says one industry expert. "Tell me, how's that good for Canada?"