A top Canadian official made a stop in western Massachusetts Tuesday, highlighting relations between the Commonwealth and America’s neighbor to the north.
Before making stops in Deerfield, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and more this week, Canadian Consul General Bernadette Jordan of the Consulate General in Boston was in Springfield Tuesday.
Meeting earlier with groups like the local Chamber of Commerce, the diplomat spoke with reporters downtown, touting trade relations between Canada and Massachusetts.
“We build things together - there are things that are produced and built here in Massachusetts that are then shipped to Canada and put in other pieces of equipment that are then shipped back to the U.S. and used,” Jordan told WAMC. “They often say a car crosses the border seven times before it's actually finalized. So, it's one of those things that's really important to keep - to keep those supply chains open, keep those integrated economies flowing.”
According to her office, that integrated economy includes $3.3 billion in goods exported from the Bay State to Canada annually, with “optical, medical and precision instruments” topping the list, valued at an estimated $579 million.
On the flip side, Massachusetts is said to import $11.4 billion in goods from Canada – including $3.1 billion in fuel and oil products and $1.4 billion in fish and crustaceans.
All the while, just under 35,000 workers in Massachusetts are employed by Canadian-owned companies, per the Consulate General.
Hosting the official at Palazzo Café off Main Street were state Representatives Bud Williams and Angelo Puppolo.
Puppolo tells WAMC the trade relations between his state and Canada are worth strengthening.
“The trade partnership has been a robust relationship, and just that - a partnership for so many years,” the 12th Hampden district Democrat said. “We want to continue to make sure we build on that, continue to make sure that we both have the necessary lines of communication open, and look, in today's society, where everybody texts and tweets and all kinds of stuff, there's still no substitute for meeting in-person.”
As Jordan tells WAMC, this was not her first visit to the area. While her office can be found in Boston and the consul general began her role in January, she says she often tries to get out to the other side of the state during the weekend.
"I'm from rural Nova Scotia - I am not a city girl by any stretch of the imagination. I actually like coming to Western Mass on my weekends, so that I can feel like I can breathe, and I'm in a beautiful area,” she said. “I came actually out to Shelburne Falls earlier. I've been in Cummington at the wool and sheep festival. So, I do feel like I'm closer to home here than I am in Boston."
Representative Williams tells WAMC the relationship between the region and Canada also includes Springfield reaching out to the country about prescription drugs some 20 years ago.
At one point in 2003, while Williams was a city councilor, Springfield’s leadership moved to purchase pharmaceutical goods for city workers from the north, citing cheaper prices.
Reports at the time initially estimated as much as $4 million could be saved, depending on how many workers and retirees took part in the venture. The FDA wasn’t exactly happy about the attempt, either, actively dissuading cities and states from doing the same.
Things have changed, though - Williams pointed to cases like Florida, which recently got the green light from the FDA to explore importing prescription drugs from Canada.
Given that Springfield appeared to end the program three years in when it switched to a state health plan, it’s something he says he's interested in exploring again.
“That is an avenue I'm really trying to explore because the price of prescription drugs in Canada, [the system] caps their drugs at like five or six percent … which, it's a great saving. Whether or not they can open up to us, we're going to find out,” Williams told WAMC. “So, I'm going to try to talk to the Speaker of the House ... and maybe take a visit to Canada."
