Canada - US relations are at serious risk.
"Canadians may well crave a special relationship with America, as many others do, but the U.S. seems neither able nor willing to reciprocate. In fact, America is increasingly using its economic influence these days to advance its own national interests."
D.H. Burney, One of Canada's most skilled and seasoned diplomats June 2, 2015
Canada and the U.S. have a long history of being firm allies. We have probably the most closely integrated economies in the world. The trade flows north south are enormous. Relations however are increasingly strained.
They are going to become more strained for a whole variety of reasons. This requires a new realism on both sides of the 49th.
Canadians are often polite to the point of a fault - failing to speak directly and clearly. A frequent Canadian national expression is a self effacing "I am sorry" even when the other is at fault.
This trait sometimes serves us ill.
The world is going to go through gut wrenching change over the next several decades and "I am sorry" will not suffice as an excuse for the lack of North American Vision and a failure to realize that if you want something
you must be prepared play hardball - and be prepared to take the knockdowns that implies. You also have to be a whole lot smarter to weather the coming storms. Canadians have taken it as an article of faith that disputes
when they arose with the U.S. should be contained to that area - with the result nearly always in the U.S.'s favour. This "muddling through" is a failing strategy - failing to realise a wider vision for North America and
a failing strategy for all those who share this continent.
Make no mistake. I have been a long supporter and believer in "AMERICA" - in the American people - their energy, their creativity, their essential goodness - no matter how blundering abroad. I am simply concerned that
Canadian foreign policy has been unsuccessful in the last few decades. I am also concerned about the U.S elites lack of a North American Vision and US Main street insularity, triumphalism and alienation from the modern
globalized multipolar world - the sense somehow that it really does need to be part of a greater whole. U.S. Foreign Policy has been monumental in its incompetence in recent decades with respect to Canada and Mexico.
Quite simply we are taken for granted.
Without broadened involvement with the US political class as a whole - little progress can be made on a North American Vision. A North American Vision is essential in a world
where continental scale and beyond will be critical to preserving
and promoting Western Values. A focus on strong personal relations with the US President is not enough. Deepened relations with the leadership of the U.S. Congress is not enough.
The implications of failing to move on a North American Vision over the next two decades will be to fail on the much wider project of fully realizing democracy globally - for the core democracies must be economically strong and
resilient and possess greater scale and complexity. AIification is going to deeply stress political systems everywhere and Canada - US relations will be tested.
Canada - U.S. Relations are currently deeply troubled and will in all probablity get worse for there is a distinct lack of realism on both sides of the border. It is time to "batten down the hatches".
A new Canadian geopolitical strategy is in order.
