North America

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, former President of Peru Alejandro Toledo discusses the role the Commission has played in helping reconcile the region's complex past and safeguard its democratic institutions. Adapted from an article originally published in Americas Quarterly.

"Canada should accept the reality that Mexico is likely to become a much more significant player in North America," writes journalist David Crane. In Embassy, he highlights the reasons why Washington pays an increasing amount of attention to its southern neighbor as well as growing Mexican-Canadian trade ties.

Scotiabank President and CEO Rick Waugh recommends that the next U.S. president pursue "an approach that incorporates the private sector and that builds on the successful macroeconomic and financial sector reforms that have been made in many markets."

The next U.S. administration should focus on NAFTA and taking a leadership role in promoting the rule of law, says Grupo Nacional Provincial CEO Alejandro Bailléres.

Mr. President, welcome to the overwhelming responsibility and the awesome opportunity of leading the world’s richest, most powerful nation at a time of global change and trial. I am offering you advice today from a Canadian perspective—a perspective that I fear you will have received from few of your advisers. Read the full article in the Fall 2008 issue of Americas Quarterly.

On balance, both NAFTA and the pending FTA with Colombia promote job growth in the United States, says former COA President Ambassador Everett Ellis Briggs.