South Korea, a new step towards market liberalization

In mid-March 2014, the Canadian government and the South Korean government agreed on the basis of a free trade agreement between the two countries. "Ottawa hopes that the signing of the agreement will give Canadian companies active in sectors as diverse as agriculture, aerospace, forestry, textiles and fisheries the elbow room to regain market share lost over the past two years . "
Source: La Presse
This agreement will eliminate customs tariffs on more than 95% of products transacted between these 2 countries. It is not the first of its kind (just think of theNAFTA or more recently the Canada - European Union agreement), nor even the last (it is now a question of a Canada-Japan agreement). Despite everything, it risks influencing the Canadian economy, and that of South Korea as well.
The following activities will deepen understanding and knowledge about market liberalization.
 

Goals

At the end of the activities, the student will be able to:
- See the impacts of market liberalization on the economy;
- Know the arguments in agreement or in disagreement with the liberalization of the markets, particularly within the framework of this agreement;
- Discover different economic partners of Canada;
- Discover the different economic sectors of society;
- Use different software, or Web applications, to illustrate arguments.
 

Suggested Activities

ACTIVITY 1: Selling market liberalization

Historically, states have attempted to establish economic ties with others to stimulate their economies and gain access to the best possible products. This search for the best price is sometimes done to the detriment of the local economy.
In teams of 2, the students will be assigned an economic field that they will have to explore in connection with the Canada - South Korea agreement. Will this new agreement have any impact? They will have to explain its advantages and disadvantages on this particular aspect.
Please note: if your class is located in another country, do not hesitate to adapt this activity based on another existing agreement.
They will then have to present the results of their research to the whole class, in particular via a table explaining the pros and cons for the chosen sector.
Economy sector
1. Automotive industry
2. Textile industry
3. Agricultural industry
4. Food processing industry
5. Pharmaceutical industry
6. Aerospace industry
7. Forestry industry
(Please note, it is possible that one of these sectors will not suffer a major impact as a result of this agreement.)

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ACTIVITY 2: All roads lead to ...

With the liberalization of the economy, products not only come from everywhere, but they are called upon to travel greater distances.
As a first step in teams of 4, ask the students to choose 5 foods that they are used to eating regularly, then to make a census of where they come from. (You can also use other sectors of the economy than this one.)
a) The teams will be invited to compile these different data (by country of origin) in a common shared file (with Google drive or any other application allowing data sharing).
b) Once the data has been compiled, the students will have to transform this data into a graph representing the percentage of foods according to their origin (country or in the case of Canada and the United States a specific region of the country).
c) Using Scribblemaps, or other similar software, students will have to identify the countries where the food we eat comes from. They will also have to trace the routes taken by the different products.

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a) They should then present the results of their research to the class.
 

ACTIVITY 3: It comes from home!

More and more, the various communities, Quebec or elsewhere, or here try to enhance the value of local products. Here, students must determine the advantages and disadvantages of the local economy.
In teams of 2, invite them to develop, using Publisher or any other page layout software, a school-wide advertising campaign, in which they position themselves in relation to the local economy. (they will be "for" or "against"). They should have a strong slogan and should also use images representing their vision of the local economy.
 

More about the magazine

NAFTA
Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada website
Commercial agreements
Government of Quebec website on trade agreements
Local food
Information sheet on local food on the Équiterre website