Economic impacts on Canada if the UK exits the EU

LONDON, UK (NEWS 1130) – More than 46 million people are eligible to take part in a historic vote underway in Britain to determine whether the UK will remain in the European Union. Either outcome could have ripple effects for our economy.
Canada’s economic relationship with the UK is in the spotlight. John Ries with UBC’s Sauder School of Business says if Britain stays in the EU, you can expect financial markets to surge.

“There are going to be some wounds to heal and some political issues to deal with in Britain and I think there will continue to be anti-immigration sentiment that will have to be coped with. But basically, for the rest of the world it will be business as usual.”

If the UK votes to exit the EU, Ries says worst case scenario is other countries like France decide to leave and that would create financial and trade turmoil.

“I think there is going a lot of issues that Britain and the EU will have to deal with because the European Union is a comprehensive treaty that involves freedom of movement of goods and services and people and capital, those will all have to be renegotiated and that will take time.”

“I think business people view this as a negative that Britain wouldn’t be part of this sort of seamless EU arrangement and there would be a little bit of a cost on the British economy.”

A ‘No’ result could really rock the boat but at this point it is a tight race as results for the Brexit vote should start rolling in this afternoon. The polls close at 10 p.m. local time and after that all the ballots are taken to 382 different regional counting centres. They will each announce their own results overnight.

There are live results events locally including one hosted by the British Canadian Business Association at the Pan Pacific in Downtown Vancouver starting at 4 p.m.

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