Well that's encouraging to hear that you are seeing some positive outcomes from NAFTA.
Here in silicon valley the larger question of globalization has put a scare into those of us that work writing software. The threat (perhaps 'possibility' would be a better word) of our software jobs moving overseas has become a lot more concrete in the last couple of years. No big surprise there, but I didn't think it would happen so soon. I naively thought my field might be immune to such migration of jobs. But we've been hiring very compentent indian engineers for years and there are a lot more of them in ....India! And they work a lot cheaper there too. My company already has an office in Bangalore and they are moving more projects there every year.
Certainly, though, you know that your sector is hit for reasons that have nothing to do with foreign competition and everything to do with a) regulation that is holding up "last mile" wiring; b) venture capital shortages caused by 9/11; the TEMPORARY dot.com bust; and 3) basic uncertainty related to world politics. I think your sector will revive, strongly.