Asia's economic renaissance offers Canada new economic and political possibilities while also presenting it with challenges. To a large degree, Canadian foreign policy is still oriented toward the United States and Western Europe. Canada's participation in peacekeeping operations and multilateral institutions has also seen a decline in the last few decades and Canada is well below its 0.7 GDP commitment to foreign assistance. The outward-looking, internationally-active Canada envisioned by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson (and later Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy ), some argue, has not been realized.

This orientation has shifted a bit in the past few decades. In 2006 China was Canada's second-largest trading partner . Census figures show that immigration from Asian countries to Canada has reached a record high. The Conservative government has identified both India and China as "key priorities." Provincial and federal governments have taken steps to deepen economic relations with Asian countries, most notably through the Asia Pacific Gateway & Corridor Initiative, which focuses on increasing container trade between Canada and Asia. Some think Canada could use such a trade-based relationship as a launching point from which to increase its economic, cultural, and political influence in Asia.

Positioning Canada alongside rising powers, particularly China and India, is not as simple as shipping more containers across the Pacific or attracting new immigrants to Canada's increasingly-cosmopolitan urban cores. Having an influence in Asia - and in a world in which Asian powers and others increasingly participate in international institutions - will require strategic political choices. The implications of the emergence of new economic powerhouses in Asia are difficult to understate. Canada's responses to the opportunities and challenges posed will have to also take into account its existing economic and political interests and commitments, particularly those with the US.