Blame Washington, Instead

[metis]

winnipegfreepress.com
Blame Washington, instead

Fri Jan 2 2004


A big swath of Canada's movers and shakers have made getting out of America's bad books their top New Year's resolution.
Those who believe Canada is solely to blame for whatever problems exist in the bilateral relationship must have been away from North America since the Bush administration took office.

Any objective review of U.S.-Canada relations since President George W. Bush entered the Oval Office, and particularly since the terror attacks of 9/11, would have to conclude that it is America who should be seeking to mend fences with Canada.

Without exception, the U.S. has treated its most important trading partner with disrespect bordering on contempt. And all because we have exercised our sovereign right to make independent social, economic and foreign policy choices.

It is free trade for the Americans to strip billions of dollars out of Canada's softwood lumber industry, essentially because our forests are publicly owned. But it is not free trade when Canada sets up online pharmacies to sell cheaper prescription drugs to U.S. seniors suffering from the highest drug prices in the world.

It is free trade for the Americans to devour our oil, gas and electricity without any regard for Canada's environment and future needs. But it is not free trade when Canada uses a single-desk selling agency to market its wheat to the world, an agency the World Trade Organization has just ruled -- for the 11th time in response to U.S. trade harassment -- is fully in accord with international trade law. Perhaps the most egregious example of America's insouciant double standard is the mad cow crisis. When Canada had its first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) last spring, the U.S. slammed its border shut -- no questions asked or answered. When the first U.S. case appeared last week, Canada imposed only a partial ban on American beef.

Despite the fact both countries tacitly acknowledge there is really only one North American herd and it is just a matter of luck where a BSE case occurs, the U.S. went into a high-voltage Blame Canada campaign the moment it found its cow could have been born in Alberta. And, in unconscious parody, American agriculture officials used the same arguments they had turned a total deaf ear to from Canada to urge the rest of the world not to overreact.

An excellent description of the Imperial America syndrome that has gripped Washington since Mr. Bush's inauguration can be found in former Liberal deputy prime minister Paul Hellyer's latest book, One Big Party.

Mr. Hellyer asks Canadians to take with a grain of salt U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci's tug at our heart-strings when he feigned hurt at Canada's refusal to go to war in Iraq. "We would be there for Canada, part of our family, and that is why so many in the U.S. are disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now," the ambassador said.

Mr. Hellyer notes sardonically: "There are many ways the U.S. has been there for Canada." For one thing, the U.S. is the only country ever to have invaded Canada, doing so on five different occasions -- 1776, 1812, 1866,1870 and 1871. Nor did the Americans feel any need to rush to Canada's side when it declared war in 1914 and 1939, waiting three and two years respectively to join the two world wars. And while it is true the U.S. provided the major defence of Canada during the Cold War, Canada's protection was simply an automatic byproduct of the U.S.'s concern for its own territory.

Mr. Hellyer observes that Canada should not be so quick to reproach itself and assume all the blame for supposed strained relations. Thanks to the Bush administration's unilateralism, the U.S. has antagonized much of the world community and is offside with all of its traditional allies except Britain. American designs on Canada are as old as the U.S. itself. Former president Ronald Reagan proclaimed free trade "a new economic constitution for North America." His secretary of state, George Shultz, stunned Doug Roche, Canada's disarmament ambassador, with this indignant remark: "Look, let's get one thing straight. That land that you people occupy up there, north of the 49th parallel, geographically speaking, is part of the U.S."



There is nothing wrong with Prime Minister Paul Martin seeking ways to improve the tone of our relations with the U.S. But obsequious appeasement and forelock tugging will infuriate as much as humiliate the vast majority of Canadians -- and encourage even more aggression from the bullies in the White House and Congress.