Canada-U.S. RelationsFriends by choice or necessity?

“Far more of the 9/11 terrorists came across from Canada than from Mexico.” (former U.S. Speaker Newt Gingrich, April 2005 – later retracted and apologized).

“We’ve got to remember that the people who first hit us on 9/11 entered this country through Canada.” (then U.S. Senator Conrad Burns, December 2005 – later said he ‘misspoke’).

“For most Americans, Canada is sort of like a case of latent arthritis. We really don’t think about it unless it acts up.” (1992) Pat Buchanan (former US Presidential candidate)

FRANÇOISE DUCROS (former communications director to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien)

“What a moron.” (about President Bush, 2002) PM Chrétien: The President “is a friend of mine. He’s not

a moron at all.” Ducros resigned shortly after.

CAROLYN PARRISH (Liberal MP 1993-2006) “Damn Americans. I hate the bastards.” (overheard after

invasion of Iraq, 2003) “We are not going to join a

coalition of the idiots.” (2004)

Do we have the same values ?

• Same sex marriage

• Abortion and contraception

• Guns

• Capital punishment

• Public provision of health care

• Decriminalization of marijuana

• Levels of military spending

And yet… best friends

• “The United States is our best friend and largest trading partner” – 2006 Throne Speech of Canada’s new Conservative government

Why? What makes the US our “BFF”?

Video- CBC News In Review, April 2013, ‘US Gun Debate’ (14 mintues)

Why friends? Shared Geography

• 9,000 km long border• Cross-border law enforcement and intelligence

cooperation• Shared environment

– Airsheds (and air pollution)– Watersheds (Great Lakes, rivers, ocean)– Migratory species

Why friends? Shared Institutions• 300+ treaties at all levels of government and private

sector– International Joint Commission– NORAD and other long-standing defense ties

• Regional cooperation– Western Premiers – Western Governors Association– Atlantic Premiers – New England Governors– Bilateral cooperation: BC-Washington, Ontario-

Michigan, Québec-New York– Multilateral organizations: Pacific North West

Economic Region

Why friends? Shared History and Values (some)

• WW1, WW2, Korea, Cold War & Afghanistan

• Mutual security interests (NORAD)

• Allies in UN, NATO, WTO…

• Shared values: democracy,

free markets, rule of law,

civil liberties

Why should we maintain the friendship? Big Brother!

Always Allies? Foreign Policy Disagreements…

Persian Gulf War, Episode 1• August 2, 1990 – February 28, 1991, commonly referred to as the

Gulf War

• UN authorized coalition, AKA ‘Operation Desert Storm’

• US $60 billion war, $36 paid by Saudi Arabia

• Started with an Air Attack on January 17th, 1991.

• Ground attack followed on 23rd February

Persian Gulf War, Episode 2• “After all, this is a guy that tried to kill my dad at

one time.” (Sept 26, 2002)

• “We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories. And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them”. (May 29, 2003)

• “I wasn't happy when we found out there wasn't weapons of mass destruction in Iraq”. (Oct 8, 2004)

The Controversy• After 1991 Gulf war Saddam promised to destroy all WMD

• 2003 Bush and Blair declare that Iraq has WMD

• UN says ‘wait, we’ll inspect’. No WMD found February, 2003

• March 19th, 2003 US attacks

• Canada openly opposes the invasion

Our own voice on Iraq. cbc.ca, October 8th, 2008 by Mark Gollomn

"The Liberal party has always believed that Canada must have its own voice on the world stage. He did

the right thing and said, 'No.‘” — Bob Rae praising former prime minister Jean Chrétien's decision to keep

Canada out of the Iraq war.

The question of the Iraq invasion may seem so five years ago for many Canadian voters. But it was

resuscitated in this campaign following accusations of plagiarism over a speech Stephen Harper gave

back in 2003 over support for the mission. Actually, the Liberals have trotted out the issue in every

campaign since Harper became the Conservative leader. In their view, had Harper been prime minister

during the time of the invasion, Canadian soldiers would have been right along with the U.S. marching

into Baghdad. Harper's stance on the issue has, at best evolved, and at worst, done a complete flip-flop.

He registered his profound disappointment that Canada wouldn't be involved before and shortly after

the invasion. But about more than a year later he was massaging his view, saying Canada couldn't be

involved because of the strain it would cause on our military resources. It's Jean Chrétien, Liberal foreign

affairs critic Bob Rae says, who took a principled stance from the start that highlighted Canada’s

independent voice in foreign affairs. But was Chrétien's decision really a show of foreign policy

independence?

'Look, I want to be with you guys…” In his memoirs My Years as Prime Minister, Chrétien said he told

U.S. President George W. Bush and then British prime minister Tony Blair that Canada was set to join in

the invasion if only they could get a UN resolution authorizing force. "Look, I want to be with you guys,

But I can't go without a United Nations resolution and neither can you, in my judgment,” Chrétien

said he told Blair. "But it will be easy to go in under the flag of the UN as happened in the Gulf War.” He

said thesame thing to Bush: "If you get a resolution George don't be worried, I'll be with you.”

Why friends? Economic interdependence $$$

• The United States takes 73% of our exports

• 63% of our imports come from the USA

• In 2009, exports accounted for approximately 30% of Canada's GDP.

Statistics Canada, 2009

Lets look at the History of Canada- US trade

•Read pages ‘The Business of Free Trade’ pg. 373- 378 and answer the accompanying questions•Divisive issue in 1988 election•Mulroney & Conservatives- FOR (43% of vote)•Liberals & NDP- AGAINST (57% of vote)•FTA came into force Jan 1st, 1989•January 1st 1994, Mexico joins the NAFTA

Our relationship…Which statement seems most accurate to you?

•“Mr. King, my old friend. Your course and mine have run so closely and affectionately during these many long years that […] I have always felt at home in Canada and you, I think, have always felt at home in the United States.” FD Roosevelt, 1943•“Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies.” Kennedy, 1962•“Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an ele- phant. No matter how friendly or temperate the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.” Trudeau, 1969

Lets Brainstorm…Advantages Disadvantages

Raptors & the NBA Cultural domination