Canadian firms must look beyond domestic and American markets to survive increasing global competition, said the author of a recent book on exporting.

Andrea Mandel-Campbell said companies in this country have traditionally relied on regional markets and their access to the United States.

Meanwhile, she said, government regulations have created barriers that ultimately discourage export-driven firms from reaching global markets.

"We can't stay safe in Canada, or even North America, any longer," said Mandel-Campbell. "The rules of the game in the global marketplace have changed. We used to be able to shelter ourselves at home and be confident that we had at least our own markets for ourselves.

"But with the likes of China, for example, we really can't think like that any more."

Mandel-Campbell, a veteran reporter who specializes in international markets and global competitiveness, will share her expertise with a group of young leaders in Moncton this evening. The informal exchange will open non-profit firm 21 Inc.'s 10-month training program for up-and-coming business and political leaders.

In her book, Why Mexicans Don't Drink Molson, Mandel-Campbell argues Canadian companies are missing real opportunities to bring their goods to the world.

"We suffer from a certain feeling of inferiority, where we believe we're a small country, we live in the shadow of an elephant and we could never really compete and win against the giants in the U.S. and Europe," she said in an interview.

"And there are a lot of impediments that make it unnecessarily difficult for Canadian companies to compete, whether that's an onerous tax system or interprovincial trade barriers."

The forestry industry is one of the latest victims of these impediments and this narrow-minded economic thinking, said Mandel-Campbell.

Foreign investment in this area has been discouraged by regulations governing Crown lands, which prevent firms from harvesting higher volumes of trees, she said. This in turn hampers Canadian competition against countries like Brazil, where trees grow in six or seven years, she said.

In New Brunswick, global forestry giants such as UPM-Kymmene and AbitibiBowater have blamed the strong loonie and faltering American housing market on their decisions to shut down mills.

But Mandel-Campbell argues a loosening of government regulations would have encouraged these firms to invest in upgrades and compete on a global scale.

"There are some companies like Irving, for example, that have emphasized productivity and technological upgrades," said Mandel-Campbell. "But, overall, if you look at the assets of the forestry industry, some of them are the most antiquated in the world.

"And the result is they are not competitive internationally and they are suffering for it."

The author's comments echo a late 2007 report by the Forest Products Association of Canada, which called for a renewed focus on investment in new technologies that better prepare firms to compete.

According to the report, company consolidation would provide firms with enough capital to make those investments. And a smaller number of firms domestically would enhance the industry's ability to compete globally, the report stated.

Mandel-Campbell argues the effects of onerous government regulations and a simple-minded economic focus are felt in many sectors of the Canadian economy.

Looking to agriculture, Mandel-Campbell notes the high cost of Canadian milk, which she blames on dairy marketing boards, forced global cheese firm Saputo to shut down seven processing locations across the country between 2001 and 2006.

And interprovincial trade barriers prevent Frito-Lay, a world-renowned potato chip maker, from importing potatoes from New Brunswick, she points out.

In the financial services sector, said Mandel-Campbell, the existence of 13 securities regulators hampers investment.

"This is obviously a country that still has its head stuck in the sand," she said. "There is a certain lack of real dialogue between business and government and, in many cases, both sides are to blame.

"We have to start embracing business as a good thing and not as a threat. We have to start doing everything we can to encourage future prosperity and that means embracing business."