Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen is helping to host a meeting in Winnipeg this week involving political representatives from Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta as well as eleven Midwestern American states. Goertzen says the big topic at the Midwest Legislative Conference is trade, in view of the changes President Trump is trying to make. He adds all of the state and provincial representatives want the North American Free Trade Agreement to stay in place. Goertzen says part of their discussion is on how to better communicate that view to Washington.

"We are absolutely talking about; How do we get more proactive at the state level to message within the states about the importance of this agreement? I think what often happens is when trade agreements are discussed, there's a lot of discussion about the trade-offs, about what an individual country might be giving up in the negotiations. But, there's not enough discussion about what countries are getting. That focus has to change. We have to focus more on the benefits of the trade between our two countries."

Goertzen says the conference is also hearing from economists who have told them that if NAFTA were to fail, there would be an impact, but the consequences would not be dire.

"I wouldn't use the term dire. The discussion about what happens if NAFTA isn't in place includes that we both have very strong economies and it doesn't mean there would be tariffs on everything. You still would have the vast majority of products, I think, that would be moving between the countries without tariffs. Does it have an impact on the economy? Absolutely, but, from what we're hearing from economists, I wouldn't say it would have a dire impact. So, not dire, but unnecessary. We are both benefiting from free trade, so why would you want to go into a situation that isn't beneficial to either side?"

Goertzen says there is also a lot of dialogue at the meeting about the overall relationship between Canada and the U.S.

"There's a larger geopolitical discussion that's happening at these meetings that hasn't happened before, where we really are discussing; What does that relationship between the United States and Canada really look like? That's clearly being driven by the trade rhetoric that we're hearing out of Washington. If there's a benefit that's coming from the rhetoric, it's that at the state and the provincial level we're starting to say, we can't take this relationship for granted. There are so many good things that are happening between our two countries, that we need to get stronger in enforcing that and speaking about that."

The conference continues through Wednesday.