Home The Ambassador Speeches and Statements November 17, 2005

Frank McKenna, Canadian Ambassador to the United States

Notes for an address to the Association of Canadian Studies in the United States
St. Louis, Missouri
November 17, 2005

Thank you George for that generous introduction.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen for inviting me to speak at the biennial conference of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States.

I also want to take a moment to thank you, George; and David Archibald, the executive director of ACSUS, for your hard work to enhance knowledge and understanding about Canada in the United States. My colleagues have told me about the monumental tasks that you have accomplished in the past two years to strengthen ACSUS.

I want to recognize your much appreciated efforts before your peers here today. On behalf of the Canadian government, let me say how much we appreciate your efforts and good work.

I’d also like to salute the University of California at Berkeley for creating its first endowed chair in Canadian Studies, with USD $250,000 seed money from Foreign Affairs Canada. The chair is named the Thomas Garden Barnes Chair in Canadian Studies in recognition and appreciation of Tom Barnes’long service to the Canadian Studies program at Berkeley. It will first be held by Tom Barnes himself, past president of ACSUS and who is with us here today. Congratulations Tom!

We have yet another reason to celebrate tonight: this year marks the 15th anniversary of the Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program. The Fulbright Program has facilitated the exchange of more than 800 scholars between Canada and the United States. Many of those scholars are here today.

I am also very pleased to see that Michael Hawes and his team at the Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program are launching a new initiative that promotes U.S. Studies in Canada. We certainly need more Canadians formally trained in U.S. Studies. And I hope this will lead to joint projects with Canadian Studies programs in the U.S.

Conversely I have been impressed with the growth of Canadian Studies in the past several years. The embassy received 111 proposals for research grants this year, the most we have received since 1991.

We have seen the emergence of Canadian Studies programs throughout the United States in such places as the University of Missouri, Kansas State University, Western Oregon University, Vanderbilt University, the University of Tennessee, the University of Connecticut, and the University of West Gorgia. There is even a vibrant Southern Association of Canadian Studies. So Canadian Studies is booming!

The Canadian government benefits tremendously from the work produced by Canadian Studies scholars. Earl Fry’s research on the role of sub-national governments in North America, for example, has had a significant impact on policy makers in Canada. Others have done important work on Canadian and American attitudes toward NAFTA and trade issues; North American integration; cross-border aboriginal issues; Canada-US environmental cooperation; Ontario-Michigan waste – the list goes on.

Anyone who has followed my speeches of late will know that one of my recurring themes is that Canada must boost its productivity. I am convinced that part of the solution to boosting our productivity is to get more out of our post-secondary education system. Our universities and colleges must find more applications for the knowledge they develop. ACSUS is doing just that, and I commend ACSUS and all its members for their work.

You don’t have to know me to know that I am passionate about Canada. So you can imagine how happy I am to be in a room filled with people who everyday bring passion to their teaching and research about Canada.

What can I tell you that you do not already know?

I bet most of you do not know that 108,000 Missouri jobs are supported by trade with Canada. Missouri enjoyed a $900 million trade surplus with Canada in 2004, with $4 billion in exports and $3.1 billion in imports.

Did you know that the Canadian Air Force flies F-18 Hornets, manufactured at the Boeing facility here in St. Louis, and now being modernized through avionics upgrades?

There is also great potential for growth in new economy links between St. Louis and biotech clusters in Guelph, Ontario and Regina, Saskatchewan.

You probably know that Canada is the United States’ largest supplier of uranium, electricity, natural gas and oil.

But did you know that Canadian oil supplies the ConocoPhillips Wood River Refinery?

That today there are 34 cross-border natural gas pipelines, 22 oil and petroleum product pipelines and 51 cross-border electric transmission lines that bind us together and increase the energy security of both our countries? With expanded production in the oilsands more pipelines and refinery capacity will be needed.

There are several proposals, including one, Keystone, by TransCanada pipeline, which would by-pass St. Louis on its way to Patoka, Illinois and supply oil to the Wood River refinery. There is another proposed pipeline, by Altex, that would keep going all the way to the Gulf Coast. These are just another example of the benefits to both our countries of an integrated energy sector.

In the face of such integration people often take for granted what a success story we have to tell.

• That Canada is a great country.
• That Canadians have perhaps the best quality of life in the world.
• That we are blessed with immense and diverse human and natural resources.
• That after years of sacrifice our fiscal house is in order and our economy strong.

• That the United States is a great country.
• That the United States, our neighbour, friend, ally and largest trading partner is the engine of the world economy.

That all across the continent, from Cascadia and Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) to New England and the Atlantic provinces, from Alberta and Texas oil country to Acadia and Cajun country, from the Great Lakes to the Prairies, from Tim Hortons to Krispy Kreme, our people live and work together to build a better life for themselves and the next generation.

That together we have forged the best bilateral partnership the world has ever seen.

Can we make it even better? Yes.

Will it take continued hard work to make it so? Yes.

Does misinformation arise out of this complacency, inaccuracies that are also taken for granted and that can have a corrosive effect on the relationship? Yes.

That is why I so appreciate your efforts to reach out to young American minds. It is critically important that Americans and Canadians have a better idea of what each other is all about.

It is a major part of both my job and yours to ensure that Canadians and Americans know the facts about our two great countries. It is also in both your and my job descriptions that we correct inaccuracies about Canada and the United States as swiftly and as firmly as possible. In that regard, since starting in Washington I have tried at all times to deal with Americans directly. I do not find that my counterparts take offense with that approach. More than that, they respect it. And with that respect comes credibility.

And I’m delighted to say that recent steps taken by our government have added greatly to Canada’s credibility in the United States. Our swift and very substantial response to Hurricane Katrina was deeply appreciated all around Washington and the United States. The International Policy Statement was well received. Military and foreign aid budgets have been increased and our commitments to Darfur and Afghanistan widely acclaimed.

From where I sit, General Hillier’s appointment as Chief of Defence Staff was brilliant. We’re walking the walk again. And we’re seeing the results. We just have to dot the i’s and cross the t’s on the Devils Lake agreement. The border has been re-opened to beef again, thanks largely to the United States administration moving just as quickly as it could. We’re closely coordinating on the threat of avian influenza, because influenza will not stop at the border.

We have also pledged to work with the United States on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, or WHTI. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requires that by Janurary 1, 2008, a passport or passport-like document must be used by all persons – Americans and non-Americans alike – to enter the United States. Canadian and American stakeholders across the country are concerned because of the negative impact the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative could have on border communities and trade.

All along the border US communities rely on Canadian communities. Just like we rely on them. The Buffalo airport gets 30% of its traffic from Canadians. Communities like St. Stephen, New Brunswick and Calais, Maine are really one city tied together by the border. And senators and members of Congress all along the border have expressed similar concerns. Because they see the social and economic impact this measure would have on their communities.

Canada agrees that a more secure border-crossing document requirement should be put into place and that the pre-cursor documents used to obtain passports, like birth certificates and drivers licenses, must be strengthened. We have pledged to work with the United States on these issues, to identify and test the best options for alternative documents at the border.

In this light, and given the technical and logistical challenges in developing alternative documents and getting them into the hands of Americans, the Janurary 1, 2008, deadline seems overly ambitious. Because when we do it, we should do it right.

Of course the big issue that remains is softwood lumber. Earlier I said we need to keep working hard at the Canada-US relationship. This is where the hard work comes in. We’ve been working at softwood lumber for over two hundred years. The softwood issue in the United States is a classic example of narrow parochial interests trumping the broad long-term interests of both our countries.

The world’s superpower does not advance its interests by not abiding by its treaty obligations. Nor is it in either of our interests to allow a narrow interest group to undermine NAFTA, the foundation for our trading relationship. So we will continue to work at this issue, and to argue our position directly and truthfully, using all the levers at our disposal.

That includes each one of you here today. Because Washington is a complex, competitive place. The checks and balances written into the Constitution make it so. You have to compete to have your issue heard.

Most Canadians do not realise that Congress is the co-equal of the Administration. And that 100 senators and 435 representatives have something to say about everything. Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican, said, "I agree with the president one hundred percent of the time – when he’s right."

That’s why in the 108th Congress almost 9,000 bills were introduced and under 500 passed. In fact, between 2002 and 2004, Congress passed roughly only 50 major pieces of legislation. And that includes spending bills.

Because the system is so complex, there is an army of navigators in Washington to help people navigate the system. Some 35,000 lobbyists are registered in Washington to help people get heard and noticed in Washington; 35,000 people to help navigate this complex system. Every one of them has a ready-made solution to take off the shelf and throw at whatever may be the issue-de-jour. And that’s just the lobbyists. Washington also has more lawyers per capita than any other place in the entire world.

And to top it off, every two years every house member and one-third of the senate runs for re-election, not to mention presidential elections. Washington is in perpetual campaign mode. And we think minority government is tough! So it is natural that Washington is inward looking.

My point is this. There are thousands of people being paid to protect the interests of particular interest groups. You all know the size and diversity of our relationship with the United States.

• 86% of our exports come here, representing over a third of our GDP, almost $2 billion CDN a day.
• Some $500 billion or more a year in trade between our two countries.
• A truck crossing the border every 2 seconds, 300,000 people a day.

So it’s not just the Canadian embassy in Washington that must fight for Canada in the United States.

It’s not just our nineteen consulates across the country, our twelve honorary consuls or the eight new honorary consuls we will soon have. The more people Canada has on the ground, the better we will be able to a) identify potential problems; b) develop solutions; and c) identify the U.S. interest that will get us through the maze to the prize at the end. We need to work together and use all our tools to manage our relationship.

Strong and close personal relationships are important to help get us there. The president and prime minister have a good relationship. Cabinet secretaries and cabinet ministers do too. And so do Ambassador and I. But we need more than that.

We must consistently identify and work with US allies that share our views on any particular issue. This is the single most important criteria to get our issues to the front of the line and to resolve them.

For example, we recently had a case where there was a missile being launched from Cape Canaveral and the solid rocket booster looked like it was going to fall on Newfoundland. Well Newfoundland didn’t like that one bit. So we tried to rattle some chains and it was like, "Where’s Newfoundland? Why do we care? What’s the big deal?" Well did you know that a lot of Texas-based oil companies have oil rigs there? "Well why didn’t you say that in the first place?"

We saw the same thing with Devils Lake. Our advocacy went from trying to convince Americans that they would potentially pollute Canada to letting them know what they might be doing to Michigan and Missouri, and their neighbouring states. Once we got those communities involved, the White House got involved and we got a deal. If we focussed only on Canada, we would have gone nowhere.

The same holds true for the Arctic Refuge. We’re working closely with our U.S. allies to preserve this pristine wilderness and the Gwich’in way of life, and we are encouraged by recent developments in Congress. When Canada wants an issue resolved we may have to jump up and down and holler a bit. But we shouldn’t take that personally, because that is just the way the US system works.

One of the other tools we are using to get our message across is Connect2Canada. Many of you in this room have become part of the Connect2Canada network, which we at the embassy launched this past Canada Day. More than 20,000 people are now part of this broad interactive network of Canadians and friends of Canada in the U.S.

I have really been heartened by the feedback we have received from Connect2Canada members. One professor from Portland State University recently wrote to say he is asking all his students this year to enroll in Connect2Canada so they can keep up with developments in Canada.

I encourage you all to visit Connect2Canada.com and see what is new. One initiative we hope to achieve is to list Canada experts on Connect2Canada as well as Canadian Studies programs. Please contact the Connect2Canada team if you wish to participate. And please encourage your students to visit and sign up too. We all have a stake in keeping up-to-date with developments in the Canada-U.S. relationship.

Harry Truman – a great son of Missouri said about this relationship:

“Canada and the United States have reached the point where we no longer think of each other as foreign countries. We think of each other as friends, as peaceful and cooperative neighbours on a spacious and fruitful continent.”

The research and teaching done by ACSUS members is key to stimulating the ideas, imagination and cooperationthat keep the Canada-US relationship vibrant, modern, and a model for the world. Keep up the great work. Now I think I have done enough advertising for tonight, so thank you for your hospitality and I wish you all the best.