Canadians suddenly racing not to squander head start in Cuba

[Judi Lynn]

Canadians suddenly racing not to squander head start in Cuba
Peter Kuitenbrouwer | January 30, 2015 7:43 PM ET

Canadians suddenly racing not to squander head start in Cuba


Mark Entwistle could not resist a smile at lunch time Tuesday as he gazed out over a packed room at Gowlings’ head office in Toronto’s First Canadian Place office tower. He had not seen some of these lawyers and business leaders in many years.

“In the mid 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba was the new frontier,” Mr. Entwisle, Canada’s ambassador to Cuba from 1993 to 1997, recalls in a later interview. “We had almost an invasion of junior Canadian mining companies. We were doing all kinds of deals. Then Cuba stopped experimenting as much with foreign investment. Bre-X happened on the mining side, and all the juniors left because the money dried up.” The U.S. Helms Burton Act of 1996, which penalized foreign (such as Canadian) companies trading with Cuba, also scared companies off.

The world shifted again Dec. 17, when Raúl Castro, president of Cuba, and Barack Obama, president of the United States, restored diplomatic relations after 55 years. On Bay Street, Cuba is sexy again.

“You can tell Cuba’s kind of moved its way up the food chain,” Mr. Entwistle joked to the assembled at the Gowlings lunch, “The new Cuba equation: the Cuban economy, Canada’s opportunity and America’s new place,” organized by the Canadian Council for the Americas. A think tank with a 40-year history, the council holds events to discuss politics and business in the Western Hemisphere.

More:
http://business.financialpost.com/2015/01/30/canadians-suddenly-racing-not-to-squander-head-start-in-cuba/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Funny comment from the Canadian who wrote this article. We've heard it from another Canadian, too:

“That was one of the best things about Cuba,” a lawyer at the lunch in Toronto remarked ruefully. “No Americans.”