Sharing the continent: Evolving public policy challenges for Canada and the United States
We in Canada have just been through what many observers have described as an historic federal election, resulting in the first Conservative government in more than a decade and the first government that represents, in effect, a coalition of the right. Moreover, this election comes on the heels of several years of Liberal minority government, which was precipitated by what many, at the time, were heralding as an historic election. While the current state and future prospects of Canada-US relations was a key issue in both the June 2004 election and the January 2006 election, neither got much press in the United States. This seeming paradox defines Canada-US relations. While this is the most interdependent relationship in the world, with a level of cross border trade, not to mention political and social integration, that is unparalleled, there is considerable ambivalence toward Canada in the United States and considerable frustration over that ambivalence in Canada. Mr. Martin, for his part, described the Canada-US relationship in his government’s International Policy Statement (IPS) as the most important feature of Canadian foreign policy. Moreover, he appointed Frank McKenna, a high-flying former Liberal premier, as Canadian Ambassador to the United States ... presumably to make some noise in a political system that is very much taken with high-flying political types. Interestingly, during the winter 2006 election he distanced himself from the United States and from what his advisors identified as an unpopular US administration. The new Prime Minister, though cautious with respect to the hot-button issue of Canada-US relations during the campaign, is thought to be more sympathetic to a stronger and closer relationship between Canada and the United States. He too appointed a high-flying former politician, Michael Wilson, to act as Canada’s Ambassador to the United States. Having said all of this, and keeping in mind that complex political and economic relationships are often characterized by a mixture of conflict and compromise, Canada-US relations have experienced a number of distinct stages of development. Most recently, after many years characterized by “exemptionalism” and “exceptionalism”, followed by an era marked by an attempt to impose order and stability through the introduction of a more formal legal framework, CanadaUS relations have fallen on difficult times. A number of seemingly intractable issues, ranging from the softwood lumber dispute to marked differences on security priorities, have come to characterize the relationship.