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CCCA_V6No2_BusinessInEU-FIN_CCCA_V6No2_BusinessInEU 5/24/12 12:08 AM Page 32 Feature Emilie Bourgeois On secondment as in-house counsel Agrium Europe Brussels “A major issue of doing business in Europe is that Canadian companies don’t treat it as if they’re going to Asia or some other foreign market,” says Daniel Desjardins, general counsel of Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. which has its railway equipment and servic- es division, Bombardier Transportation, head- quartered in Berlin. “You have to do your homework, and don’t treat Europe as one country and culture,”he said in an interview. “It’s one economic zone, but it has a diversity of countries and cultures that need to be understood as well as ample regulations to be aware of. Setting up businesses in Italy and Poland, for example, are two different worlds.” A number of leading Canadian companies are already well-established in Europe, attracted by the educated work- force and the base it offers to build a global business.“If you look at the skill of the labour force and the expertise of our European engineers, that’s knowledge we export around the world,”Desjardins says.“And our transportation division in Berlin not only serves Europe, but the rest of the world as well.” JAVIER BERNAL REVERT For Calgary-based Agrium Inc., whose European division is one of the largest fertilizer distributors in the region, the EU is an 32 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association SUMMER 2012