GUADALAJARA - As one might expect from someone in his position, Canadian Ambassador to Mexico Guillermo Rishchynski gave a prudent, if not altogether uninspiring, keynote address Thursday at the 13th Congress of the Mexican Association of Canadian Studies at the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac (UNIVA) in Guadalajara.

Canadian Ambassador to Mexico Guillermo Rishchynski spoke of the need to “tweak” NAFTA at a major bilateral conference in Guadalajara.

The conference is an annual gathering of academics and students designed to strengthen the bilateral relationship between Mexico and Canada. This year’s confab combined seminars, concerts and speeches with a sneaky trip to Tequila. Around 500 students and scholars came from as far away as Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Puebla and the State of Mexico. There was also a strong Canadian presence, especially in the seminars and round-table discussions.

Richchynski gave a historical overview of the recent Canada-Mexico relationship, starting from the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. While arguing that NAFTA has produced many benefits for all three countries, he reiterated his government’s view that it may be time to address some of its more negative consequences.

“NAFTA was never a political project to integrate the three countries, but it is vital and has had many economic successes,” the ambassador said. “However, almost 15 years on, it is incomplete and needs tweaking. The challenge now is to strengthen it, especially when one considers the economic competition the European Union, Asia and, in particular, China and India pose.”

Richchynski also addressed the immigration question. Currently, over 10,000 temporary, seasonal workers go to Canada for between six and ten months to work predominantly in agriculture. Although there have been negative reports about how the workers are treated, the ambassador defended the program and said that 80 percent ask to return the following season. With a lack of workers in certain sectors in Canada, Richchynski sees the agricultural temporary worker program as a potential template for similar initiatives in other industries.

The ambassador was keen to highlight the importance of human interaction between Canadians and Mexicans. With student exchange and tourism (both ways) increasing between the two countries, Richchynski was even able to joke that increased contact “helps spread the news that Canada doesn’t have a permanent winter and that you do not have to wear a warm coat 365 days a year.”

Near the end of his speech, the ambassador made special mention of the importance of energy in both the Mexican and Canadian relationship with the United States. Both countries are vital to the United States in terms of oil. Richchynski described the position of both countries as being like “the bread that holds the sandwich together.”

The ambassador rejected the notion that the current economic woes should be referred to as the U.S. financial crisis. “This is a global financial crisis that requires a global solution,” he remarked.