Canada Study Tour

The Canada-US trade relationship is the largest in the world and therefore it is critical that UW MBA students have an understanding of the market structures and overall political and trade relations between the two countries. The Center works in collaboration with UW's Global Business Center in the Michael G Foster School of Business to offer an annual Canada Study Tour to Vancouver, British Columbia over President's Day Weekend. In addition, the Center supports student applications to the annual Canadian Leadership Institute in Ottawa, Canada for an intensive week of training on the Canada-US trade relationship.

2009 Canada Study Tour
Ottawa Leadership Orientation Program

	2009 Canada Study Tour Chairs: Kelly Voss and MeharPratap Singh Program Article on Study Tour
	2008 Canada Study Tour Chairs: Tania Elliott and Tim Randall Faculty Reps: Dr. Sukumar Periwal, Nadine Fabbi Poster Program Album
	2007 Canada Study Tour Chairs: Saara Romu and Vanessa Brewster Faculty Reps: Dr. Sukumar Periwal, Nadine Fabbi Program Article from the Association for Canadian Studies in the US newsletter

2009 Canada Study Tour

by Kelly Voss and Mehar Pratap-Singh

2009 Canada Study Tour Participants (from top left) - Ryo Yamauchi, Anthony Choi, Jamie Nacht, Lindsey Sheets, David Kim, Randy Brians, Karen Wisont, Mehar Pratap Singh, Kevin Kirkpatrick, Matt Mellinger, Dharmik Mehta, Deep Paknikar, Chris Wilson, Stacy Young, Ann Huang, Lam Ma, Jun Wang, Jessica Didon, Ed Gali, George Wei, and Kelly Voss.

Kelly Voss is a Master in Business Administration and International Studies concurrent-degree graduate student in her second year of International Business studies. She was the co-leader of the annual 2009 Canada Study Tour graduate delegation to Vancouver. Mehar Pratap Singh is second year Master in Business Administration student and has a focus on International Business. He works full time at Microsoft in the XBOX division. He also serves on the board of Canada-America Society. He was the co-leader of the 2009 Canada Study Tour graduate delegation to Vancouver.

Every year a group of MBA students visit Vancouver businesses over the Presidents’ Day weekend during the annual Canada Study Tour sponsored by the Michael Foster School of Business and the Canadian Studies Center.

This year saw a record participation with 21 students taking part in the tour. Most students were from the Business School, with one from the Department of Engineering. The Canada Study Tour is open to all UW graduate students.

A main focus of the tour included discussions around NAFTA, Cross Border Trade, and Immigration Policy. The participants also got a chance to discuss various trade problems that exist between Canada and the US.

The kickoff of the tour was a pre-departure reception that was hosted by the Canadian Consulate in downtown Seattle. The student participants had an opportunity to meet with the staff of the Consulate and learn about the Consulate’s important function in the US-Canada relationship.

The group drove to Vancouver on the evening of February 12th to begin their four-day tour, and started their business visits next day with the US Consulate and the Vancouver Olympic Comittee 2010 Commerce Centre. In addition to visiting government entities the tour also gave an opportunity to experience the diversity of businesses in Vancouver. We visited the Canada Export Centre, a private trading house that helps Canadian businesses venture abroad and also helps foreign businesses find partners in Canada. We also visited a Canadian Law firm, Fraser Milner Casgrain, who introduced us to some of the legal aspects of doing business in Canada, the differences between American and Canadian laws and the impact of those differences on business.

On the weekend the study tour group got a rare game-day visit to the stadium of the Canucks Vancouver Ice Hockey team and met with executives of the company. Some other businesses visited by the group included financial institutes like the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and TD Bank Financial Group. We also visited technological companies like Microsoft Canada and Kodak Canada on our last day of the tour.

In an effort to build cross-border friendships, the study tour also included time with peers from the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business and the Simon Fraser University Business School. We got an opportunity to exchange experiences with each other and to compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of each of the programs.

In addition to meeting businesses, the group also hosted a lunch with Dr. Sukumar Periwal, Executive Director of Strategic Policy and Planning at the Intergovernmental Relations Secretariat of British Columbia. Dr. Periwal, former Canada-US Visiting Fulbright Chair of the Canadian Studies Center in 2006-2007, offered the study tour students some insights on border crossing issues presently facing the British Columbia government.

The study tour also featured cultural activities like bike riding along the Stanley Park sea wall and visits to Granville Island. Participants also got a chance to experience Hockey Night in Canada by going to a local sports bar to watch the Vancouver Canucks play against the Montréal Canadiens.

Overall the 2009 Canada Study Tour was a great success, and opened the participants’ eyes to the importance of improving business relations with our closest neighbor and largest trading partner.

This project was supported, in part, by funding from a Canadian Studies Center Program Enhancement Grant, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

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2008 Canada Study Tour

by Tania Elliott and Tim Randall, Co-Leaders

Dr. Sukumar Periwal (left), Faculty Representative for the 2008 Canada Study Tour with MBA co-chairs, Tania Elliott and Tim Randall with beautiful downtown Vancouver in the background.

Tania Elliott is a second year, full-time MBA student who is also working towards a Masters of International Studies from the Jackson School. Last summer she had the opportunity to be one of twenty MBA students from the US to attend the Canadian Leadership Conference in Ottawa and Montréal, hosted by the University of Ottawa. She used the knowledge gained at that conference to help develop a stellar curriculum for this year's Tour. Tim Randall is a second year evening-MBA student at the Foster School, who works full-time as an engineer at The Boeing Company. He was born in Montréal, Québec, and is a tri-citizen of Canada, Britain, and the United States.

Over President's Day weekend, 12 MBA students from the UW Foster School of Business embarked on the second annual Canada Study Tour. These students took advantage of their long weekend by traveling from Seattle to neighboring Vancouver, British Columbia to learn about trade and sustainability around the region. The 2008 Canada Study Tour explored the rich economic, political and cultural environment of the city of Vancouver and the province of British Columbia. Students also discovered how Vancouver is gearing up for the 2010 Olympics and why it is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in North America.

While in Vancouver, the students met with the US Consulate, the Trade Commissioner of Mexico to the Pacific Northwest, and the Director of International Relations for the Government of British Columbia. They discussed the vast business opportunities of the upcoming Winter Olympics with staff of the 2010 Commerce Centre; the importance of networking with the director of the Vancouver Board of Trade; and the strategy behind urban planning and environmental management with the Deputy Mayor of Vancouver and with a local urban planner, Lance Berelowitz. The group learned about the Canadian health care system while visiting Vancouver General Hospital; met with the Chief Operating Officer of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team; and dined with the executive chef of the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, among other visits. The students were also able to start relationships with MBA students and faculty from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.

The annual MBA Study Tour to Canada is a joint effort of the Global Business Center, Foster School of Business and the Canadian Studies Center. This program is made possible, in part, by a Title VI Grant, US Department of Education and a Program Enhancement Grant, Foreign Affairs Canada. Dr. Sukumar Periwal, 2006-07 Canada-US Fulbright Chair, was the Faculty Representative for the Tour.

14-18 February 2008 - MBA Canada Study Tour

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2007 Canada Study Tour

15-19 February 2007 - MBA Canada Study Tour

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