by Gloria Galloway
The Globe and Mail
December 9, 2008, Page A6
www.theglobeandmail.com
A group of influential foreign-affairs experts wants Prime Minister Stephen Harper to develop a close friendship with president-elect Barack Obama and forge deeper ties between Canada and the United States.
The belief that Canada should not get too close to its giant neighbour is the “mantra of elites” and most Canadians do not share such fears, says a blueprint for engagement between the two countries that was release yesterday by the Canada-US Project.
“Stephen Harper and Barack Obama should work quickly to develop a strong personal relationship,” it says, quoting a paper contributed to the project by Robin Sears, who was a member of Bob Rae’s staff when Mr. Rae was leader of the Ontario NDP.
“For Mr. Haper, becoming the first Canadian Prime Minister to have a real friendship with an American president since Brian Mulroney, the risks are smaller than they may appear. Barack Obama is widely popular among Canadians, even Conservatives.”
After the terrorist attacks of 2001 and amid the economic meltdown of 2008, the concerns on this side of the border should be that “the United States, battered and bitter, humbled and apprehensive, may retreat into Fortress America,’ the document says.
Time should not be squandered trying to find trilateral solutions to North American problems if they can more easily be resolved without the input of Mexico, it says.
“The addition of Mexico as a partner could, on some issues, muddy the waters,” the blueprint says. “This is especially true on matters of defence, border security, the environment, Arctic development and regulation — issues which are either of limited concerns to Mexico or where our own national interests are arguably more closely aligned with those of the United States…”
The group is chaired by Derek Burney, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States who was part of Mr. Harper’s transition team, and Fen Osler Hampson, director of the school of international affairs at Carleton University.
It began last spring to request papers from people such as Mr. Sears, who have a deep interest in Canada-US relations. Those 16 papers and the resulting blueprint were presented at a conference in Ottawa yesterday. The document will be vetted to reflect yesterday’s discussions and presented to Mr. Harper before Mr. Obama’s January inaguration.
Canada must be ready, early in 2009, to deploy a strategy aimed at persuading US political leaders of the need to pursue mutual homeland security and domestic economic objectives, the blueprint says.
“We think it’s a unique opportunity when you have a change of administration of this kind,” Mr. Burney said in an interview with the Globe and Mail. “We think it’s a great time to be recalibrating the relationship on a whole host of issues.”
Gordon Griffin, a former US ambassador to Canada who participaed in yesterday’s conference, said of the blueprint: “Put that on the table; that will get the attention of the next United States government.”
