President Obama and Canada

I hope this is so...

Privileged position with U.S. remains safe
National Post
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Page: A10
Section: U.S. Election
Byline: John Ivison
Column: John Ivison
Source: National Post

In Derek Burney's view, the most serious threat to Canada's well-being at a time of economic upheaval would be a breach of security along the Canada-U. S. border or a severe bout of protectionism by the new American administration.

The U. S. has not elected a protectionist president since Herbert Hoover, yet Barack Obama has campaigned on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), claiming it has hurt the U. S. because it does not contain provisions to force its trading partners to adopt U. S. labour and environmental standards.

You might imagine that as a result, Mr. Burney, a former Canadian ambassador to Washington, and the entire Canadian government might be nervous at the prospect of an Obama victory.

But Mr. Burney says Canadians should not lose any sleep about the possibility of the Americans retreating behind high tariff walls.

"It has to be kept in perspective that what he wants to address is labour and environmental standards. Those are not directed at Canada, they're directed at Mexico," he said in an interview.

"The issue could be dealt with by side deals without opening up the whole agreement. Does he really want to get into a discussion about energy exports?"

Canada is the largest supplier of oil, natural gas and uranium to the U. S., not to mention its largest export market.

Mr. Burney's relatively relaxed approach was mirrored in comments made by Lawrence Cannon, the new Foreign Affairs Minister, after he was sworn in last Thursday. He said he had attended the Democratic convention in Denver in August and had met Mr. Obama's advisors.

James Morton
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