LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION memorializing Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to
proclaim February 2, 2016, as Canada-Quebec-Ontario Day in the State of
New York

WHEREAS, Canada is New York's primary export market, with $34.2 billion
worth of merchandise goods exchanged and 17 percent of New York's world-
wide exports sold to Canada in 2014; in addition, 680,900 New York jobs
are supported by Canada-U.S. trade; and
WHEREAS, New York and Canada share an international border measuring
445 miles in length with 17 international border crossings, featuring
several important international trade corridors including the Quebec-New
York Corridor, the Capitol Corridor, and Continental One, as well as the
second-busiest crossing between Canada and the United States at the
Peace Bridge; and
WHEREAS, The New York-Canada partnership boasts the largest bilateral
tourism industry in the United States with over 6.9 million Canadians
visiting New York, accounting for over $1.7 billion in expenditures in
2012; and
WHEREAS, Reflective of this strong security relationship, the Eastern
Air Defense Sector, headquartered in Rome, New York, is staffed by
active-duty New York Air National Guardsmen and a Canadian Forces
Detachment; this unit supports NORAD's integrated warning and attach
assessment mission and the U.S. Northern Command's homeland defense
mission; and
WHEREAS, Over 19 million New Yorkers depend on Canada and its vast
energy reserves to fuel our State, importing over $4.7 billion worth of
energy from Canada in 2014; and
WHEREAS, Quebec more specifically has been an important supplier of
clean, renewable energy to New York for decades; and
WHEREAS, New York is the primary international market for Quebec, with
the total value of bilateral trade amounting to $7.4 billion in 2014;
and exports to New York represent 11.5 percent of Quebec's U.S.-bound
exports, with an emphasis on unwrought aluminum, petroleum products,
refined copper and hydro-electricity; and
WHEREAS, Quebec established its first office abroad in 1940 in New
York City, and has maintained this important commercial, investment,
educational and cultural link to New York and neighboring states for 75
years; and
WHEREAS, Financial ties between Quebec and New York go back almost a
century and a half, when Quebec became the first foreign issuer of bonds
on Wall Street in 1879; and
WHEREAS, Ontario and New York are closely linked geographically, both
bordering on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and having border crossing
points in the Niagara and St. Lawrence regions; and the jurisdictions
have in common a significant number of economic, social, environmental,
educational and cultural interests and connections; and
WHEREAS, More than sixty-three percent of Canada's total bilateral
trade with New York (over $24 billion) was between Ontario and New York,
with Ontario's primary exports to New York including unwrought gold and
silver, engines, autos and electrical energy, and Ontario's primary
imports from New York including petroleum gases, metals, motor vehicle
parts and engines; and
WHEREAS, The economies of Ontario and New York are tightly linked
through integrated cross-border supply chains that keeps our firms
competitive, including, for example, auto parts that cross the border
sometimes several times before completion; and

WHEREAS, Canada - and in particular its provinces of Quebec and Ontar-
io - and New York share many more deep economic, historical, cultural
and familial ties as well; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim February 2, 2016 as
Canada-Quebec-Ontario Day in the State of New York; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of New
York; the Consulate General of Canada in New York; the Quebec Government
Office in New York; and the Office of the Ontario Government Represen-
tative in Washington, D.C.