The President Comes to Town

The former President, but one of only five living men that can say he is/was the President of the United States of American, Bill Clinton, will be coming to Halifax on Wednesday to discuss Canada-U.S. relations. Thanks to the folks at Dal, I've got a ticket to be there. I'm looking forward to the event, and I hope that a good number of major issues are discussed, including, but not limited to:

1. The divergence between security and trade priorities. Post-9/11, south of the 49th, it's security, security, security. Up here, it's trade, then security. This has caused a lot of frictions, as the current Administration clearly horse-trades on the two issues: cooperate on security, get trade benefits. It's not a coincidence that a U.S.-Australia free trade pact came shortly after they signed on for BMD while Canada found itself in the cold on softwood lumber after Martin snubbed the Bush administration.

2. The lack of understanding. Americans are misunderstood. When you're a David living next to Goliath, there are going to be some natural resentments and disconnects. It's even worse when David doesn't "get" why Goliath has to ramp up security despite being Goliath. By the same token, Canadians are misunderstood. Part of this is because our government has from time to time seemingly gone out of its way to confuse us. Imagine how it looks on the other side. All that said, there needs to be more dialogue between Ottawa and Washington so that there are clearer intentions and less room for confusion that leads to more misunderstandings. Some variation of the Bush Doctrine will endure beyond January 2009; Canada needs to understand that America's posture will not be altered by Bush's departure, and America needs to understand why Canada has its share of skepticism about American intentions for the world.

3. The opportunities to strengthen our bilateral and multilateral alliances. We've just re-upped NORAD, we both agree that there's a need to reform the UN, and NATO is in need of revamping for a new century. Washington is coming to recognize that it has not used its unipolar power to the maximum benefit for international public goods. Canada desires a stronger role in the world more reflective of our G8 status and historical traditions. This presents an unique opportunity for us to get together and move ahead. We have so many common goals and ideals, that a phony rivalry and knee-jerk anti-Americanism has endured for as long as it has is embarrassing for both countries.

4. Will Hilary run in 2008?

That's what's I'm thinking I'd like to hear discussed. If anything else pops into my head, I'll post about it. If there's anything that you think will be discussed that I've missed out, you post about it and we'll chat on it.

Also, for my Dal colleagues: how many of us are still in town and going to this?