Home The Ambassador Canada's chief representatives to the U.S. Michael Kergin Ambassador Kergin's Speeches April 8, 2004

Working Together Beyond our Borders

Remarks by Michael Kergin, Ambassador of Canada to the United States to the Dickey Center for International Understanding

Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire,
April 8, 2004

Thank you, Kenneth (Yalowitz) for your kind introduction, and for organizing the events over the last two days which focus on the Canada-U.S. relationship. It is an honour to be invited to speak at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College. And of course it is always a pleasure to be with my friend and counterpart, Paul (Cellucci).

In my unbiased (and completely objective) opinion as Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, the Canada-U.S. relationship should be mandatory study for all students of international affairs. Ours is a partnership that is unique in the world.

We have charted new territory through a myriad of innovative agreements which govern everything from environmental stewardship and free trade, to our “smart” border which involves the use of new technologies and extensive information-sharing between our security agencies.

The International Joint Commission, the Permanent Joint Board of Defence, the North American Aerospace Defence Agreement, the Free Trade Agreement, the Canada-U.S. Air Quality Agreement, and the Open Skies Agreement are just some examples of the many creative arrangements that are viewed as blueprints for good neighbours everywhere.

Over 80 years ago, Sir Winston Churchill expressed this observation when he remarked that, “the long frontier from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, guarded only by neighbourly respect and honourable obligations is an example to every country and a pattern for the future of the world.”

Our geographic proximity, similar interests and shared values also lend themselves to extensive cooperation at the sub-national level: between states and provinces, and between local governments, universities and private citizens.

Canadian and American security and prosperity are bound together, not just here in North America but also overseas. Canada and the U.S. are also partners beyond our shores, in the global arena. And it is this aspect of our cooperation that I would like to talk about today.

John Sloan Dickey was known to have articulated, simply but accurately, that “the world’s problems are our problems”. In today’s much smaller, globalized world, this has never been more true.

And so what can Canadians and Americans do about the world’s problems President Dickey referred to?

Well, first and immediately after 9/11, Canada and the US worked intensely together to harden security at our common border and at the approaches to North America. The 30 point Smart Border Accord, concluded in December 2001, was based on the principle of intelligent risk management utilizing information technologies. Simply put, low risk traffic across the border would be monitored by high tech devices; higher risk would be subject to human inspection.

This way security can be enhanced while reducing impediments to the over $1 billion worth of trade flowing across the border every single day.

The 30 point plan also provides a blueprint for securing the access to North America itself. Intelligence-sharing, information exchange, customs and passenger screening overseas are some of the cooperative endeavours designed by Canada and the United States to reduce the risk of terrorism succeeding in our shared real estate.

It is also clear terrorists find haven in failed states, and that poverty and poor governance contribute to violence and instability which can transcend borders.

So how do Canadians and Americans attack this unhappy phenomenon?

Well, first we collaborate closely together in the world’s multilateral financial and trade organizations. Both of us strongly emphasize the importance of using development and stability funds provided by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in a way that promotes good government, public accountability and the rule of law.

In short, democratic values and institutions.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have also asserted that trade liberalization is the single most powerful tool that countries, working together, can deploy to generate economic growth and raise living standards. Coupled with equitable social policies, such as healthcare and education, economic growth can bring about a corresponding reduction of poverty. This, in turn, can create the stability necessary for democratic and social development, and improve lives everywhere.

Canada and the United States are the closest of allies in international trade negotiations. Like the United States, we believe strongly in the linkage between free trade, market economies and democracy. Accordingly, in the WTO, most recently when trade ministers met in Cancun last September, we (Bob Zoellick and Pierre Pettigrew) worked closely to try to remove artificial impediments to trade.

Canada, however, is further out front in the effort to eliminate agricultural subsidies. Did you know that the combined agricultural export subsidies of all OECD countries equal two thirds of Africa’s total GDP, or $360 billion annually?

The effect is that African countries cannot pull their economies up in areas of their comparative advantage because, we western countries, are displacing their exports to both the developed and developing world. And that means we are locked into ever- increasing capital transfers as the least-developed fall further and further behind.

The western taxpayer suffers twice: once in providing subsidies to his own country’s agricultural exporters; secondly, in having to fund larger aid and development programs to the Third World.

Canada and the U.S. are working together through the WTO to reduce and eventually eliminate agricultural export subsidies. We must get the Europeans on side.

While each country is an important actor on the international stage pursuing its own national interests, Canada and the U.S. most often play very complementary roles. Our efforts can be mutually reinforcing.

As the world's unique superpower, the U.S. has awesome resources and force, providing leadership, when deemed necessary, to create a more secure and prosperous global community.

Canada, on the other hand, is a wealthy middle power whose influence comes less from military strength than from a wide network of country associations and memberships. This allows Canada to act as a bridge, advocating and building consensus in ways that a superpower cannot.

Our different approaches are inevitable by virtue of our histories. Canada’s outlook is shaped by our beginning as a bilingual nation of French, English and Aboriginal peoples. Canada has never been a super-power or a colonial power. Our country has never seen a civil war or a revolution.

Indeed, Canada welcomed the hemisphere’s first counter-revolutionaries, or contras, in the 18th century, when United Empire Loyalists fled northwards from the American revolution. I can say, with some hint of facetiousness, that with regard to our common colonial master - the British - Americans revolted; Canadians merely evolved.

The Canadian federation also has evolved in a different direction from the U.S., becoming less centralized over time. Discussing federal-provincial relations is a well-known Canadian sport. Perhaps we do well in multilateral negotiations because we train for them every single day as we wrestle internally with our unique brand of federalism.

Because both Canada and the U.S. cherish the rule of law, we can manage our North American differences peacefully despite our asymmetry in terms of economic and military might. For Canadians, the rule of law has the effect of levelling the playing field. For both our countries, it ensures predictability and stability in the myriad of interests that define our relationship.

Since World War II, Canada has worked with the U.S. to establish institutional frameworks to regulate international transactions and lower the risk of conflict in such areas as overseas trade, defence and the environment. By applying rules and imposing obligations, these institutions over time have brought common benefits to us all. They have allowed us to accomplish by working together what none of us could achieve by ourselves.

In many of these endeavours, Canada plays a role which is complementary to that of the U.S. Some countries may talk to Canadians in ways which they do not with the U.S. We make suggestions which may appear less threatening if proposed by Canada, than seemingly “imposed” by the U.S. -- even if the policies are largely similar.

And of course, there are times when Canadians and Americans take different paths. One recent example which comes to mind is Canada’s decision not to join the military coalition against Iraq one year ago – largely because of a lack of UN Security Council mandate.

The Canadian Government did not officially object to or obstruct U.S. military intervention. We simply declined to join it. And, once the invasion ended, Canada was very quick to contribute financially to Iraq’s rehabilitation.

The U.S., for its part, refrained from strident rhetoric criticizing the Canadian decision. Rather, the Administration diplomatically conveyed Americans’ “disappointment” with their northern neighbour.

When it came to our differences over Iraq, as Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister at the time aptly put it, “We agreed to disagree without being disagreeable.”

There are many international associations where North American values can be promoted by Canada – and some of these groupings do not include the U.S. For example, Canada’s history and commitment to the French language make us a member of la Francophonie, through which we promote democracy, human rights and good governance among developing countries where French is spoken.

Amid current global tensions, it is particularly valuable to have this forum as a means of civilized dialogue with the many Muslim countries which are also members of la Francophonie.

Canada is working toward similar objectives through the Commonwealth. For instance, we are cooperating with member countries to find a solution to Robert Mugabe's misrule in Zimbabwe.

In other institutions where the U.S. is a member, we frequently do work together. For example, through the Organization of American States (OAS), both of us are encouraging democracy to take root and flourish in the hemisphere. When the recent crisis broke out in Haiti, the OAS became a critical forum for deciding how the international community would respond.

In the end, the UN approved a Multilateral Interim Force (MIF) of peacekeepers which is comprised of Canadian, U.S. and French forces.

In the G-8, Canada initiated the creation of the New Partnership for African Development (or NEPAD), to alleviate poverty and improve governance. We recently became the first country in the world to pass legislation permitting the export of affordable medicines to impoverished countries for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The US enthusiastically supports the NEPAD initiative.

Canada also plays an important role in NATO, which recently welcomed seven new European democracies into the fold. Along with the U.S., Canada has been at the forefront of encouraging NATO contributions to Afghanistan. And we are leading by example.

Recent NATO figures indicate that at this point Canada has a larger proportion of its total armed forces complement in combat zones than any other NATO member, with the exception of the U.S.

Canada currently commands and is making the largest contribution to the NATO peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan, called the International Security Assistance Force (or ISAF). Last week in Berlin, Canada joined the U.S. and other members of the international community to pledge new funding for Afghanistan and to renew our commitment to its democratic, social and economic development.

Of course, there are important initiatives outside established multilateral frameworks. Canada is a member of the U.S.-initiated Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) which seeks to curb those illegal activities which enrich terrorists and rogue regimes -- illegal trade in weapons, narcotics and counterfeiting.

There is also a new form of multilateral cooperation emerging on the world stage with the development of the G20, a group of countries that includes the G8, as well as major regional players in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It provides an opportunity for such emerging powerhouses as China, Brazil and India to discuss critical economic matters with the G8 on an equal basis.

Prime Minister Paul Martin was instrumental in establishing this group a few years ago as a way of addressing global financial crises. Today it is helping emerging economies to stay on course. Expanding the Group’s mandate beyond the financial sphere could bring some new energy to global problem-solving, and help promote understanding between the developed and developing world.

Canada will be seeking US endorsement of this proposal pitched at the Head of Government level.

To conclude: my message today has been to illustrate that the great challenges facing humankind cannot be overcome by one country alone, however wealthy or powerful.

Canada brings distinctive experience and an independent perspective to its global responsibilities. At the same time, the fact that we share North American geo-political space and, more fundamentally, similar values, ensure a complementarity in how our Canada and the U.S. view the world and how we craft our foreign policies.

Our immediate task is a common one: the pursuit of the war against terrorism. Both countries also agree that a longer-term strategy to improve North American security requires greater world stability, economic development, good governance, the rule of law, access to health care and education, and respect for human rights.

Canadians and Americans bring different assets to the tasks and sometimes work in different fora. But it is very, very rare that we work against each other.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos a couple of months ago, Prime Minister Martin underlined the importance of partnership when he said, “no one nation on its own can manage the consequences of the world’s interdependence on its own. We can work with our neighbours, with our friends and allies, with our regional and global partners. But work together we must.”

This sentiment has been the title and theme of my comments today. And it is the reason why I know that Canada and the U.S. will greet their futures together -- as close neighbours, successful friends and great allies.

Thank you.